Squadron Leader Tony Cunnane, Public Relations Officer, takes time out to review the succeses of the 1996 season, and to look forward to the future.

The Red Arrows completed their 32nd Season when they landed at Cranwell on 30 September after two displays over the weekend of 28/29 September in Malta. It was the last flight with the Team for Squadron Leader John Rands, after his three year tour as Leader. Also leaving at the end of their tours of duty are: Squadron Leader Kelvin Truss, Synchro Leader; Flight Lieutenant Spike Jepson, Red 8; and Flight Lieutenant Mark Zanker, Red 9.

The Red Arrows flew 90 displays in the 1996 season in 11 overseas countries plus the UK. The Red Arrows have flown a grand total of 3132 displays in 50 countries since the Team was formed in 1965.

The four departing pilots officially leave at midnight on 19 October, the night of the End of Season Guest Night which is when Squadron Leader Simon Meade, the new Leader, and three new pilots take their places. Two days later the winter training season will get under way when the pilots start preparing for the 1997 Season. Photographs and mini-bios of the new pilots will appear on these pages very soon now – earlier than you can find them anywhere else.

The 1996 annual display total is the lowest since 1975. However, the mid-summer visit to the Indonesian Air Show caused the cancellation, or non-scheduling, of about 15 shows in UK and western Europe. We were particularly sad not to be able to display at the Waddington Open Days. On top of that a number of RAF shows were cancelled completely, or not scheduled, due to manpower and financial constraints and two or three other shows were cancelled by Display Organisers for a variety of reasons.

It did not seem like a short season to the pilots and ground crew. On the contrary, when added to the 136 shows flown in 1995, the 2 yearly average is still 113. Because of the winter tours of 95/96 to the African continent, Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, and Australia, there was no break between the 1995 and 1996 seasons. In the middle of all that, of course, the Team had the major upheaval of moving base from Scampton to Cranwell. There is no doubt that all ranks are looking forward to a well-earned spot of leave before launching off into preparations for the 1997 Season.

Diamond Nine Over Sydney Harbour

Although the number of shows is down for 1996, the number of people who had the opportunity of watching the world’s premier aerobatic display team reached an all-time high. It all started in Australia in January when virtually the entire population of Darwin turned out to watch. Then, five days later there was an estimated 1.2 million spectators in the Sydney Harbour area. Dedicated PRO though I am, I cannot claim that the entire crowd came out especially to see the Red Arrows but see them they did and we claimed that as an all-time world record for any aviation event.

No-one has any idea how many people were watching from the ground or on TV on 2nd June for the 50th Anniversary of London’s Heathrow airport when the Red Arrows flew past in formation with Concord; nor how many watched the Red Arrows’ flypast over Wembley Stadium at the opening of Euro 96 (400 million according to the TV organisers). Over one million watched the Team in action on the two public days at the Indonesian Air Display later in June. But the Red Arrows value just as much the far smaller figures for the many regular air shows they attend.

I was asked by a TV interviewer somewhere on one of this year’s tours, "How many people have watched the Red Arrows since they were formed in 1965?" What a question to be asked on live TV with no pre-warning! I did a quick bit of mental arithmetic. Roughly 3,000 shows over 32 years and I came out with a figure of 300 million total spectators, or an average overall of 100,000 per show. On reflection that seems a bit high for full shows at proper air displays but that figure dwarfs into insignificance if there really were 400 million watching the opening ceremony of Euro 96 alone. Just as well we were not doing a flypast at the closing ceremony! (No insult meant to our German readers!)

A splendid tribute was paid to Squadron Leader John Rands on 23 September when he became, much to his astonishment, the subject of a well known BBC television programme that involves a man with a red book. The entire programme was recorded here at Cranwell. Now that the programme has been broadcast, I can tell the whole story. Full details, complete with photographs, may be found on the "This is Your Life" page of this site.

An astonished John Rands is confronted by "That Man with his Red Book"

Finally, I have just signed a contract together with Chris Bennett, the well known photographer, to write a book about the Red Arrows. I have long felt that there was a need for a book about the Team which tells the real inside story – and to tell it in layman’s terms not specialist aviation language. Chris has many titles to his name; this will be my first. The book will cover a year in the life of the Team – Simon Meade’s first year as Leader. It is scheduled for publication by André Deutsch in the autumn of 1997. Watch this space for more information.

The 1996 Red Arrows

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