Red Arrows at RAF Scampton - 26th October 2007 - Part 2 - Simon Oldfield

Red Arrows

Red Arrows at RAF Scampton - 26th October 2007

Photos by Simon Oldfield

The Red Arrows are the public face of the Royal Air Force. The Red Arrows exist to demonstrate the professional excellence of the RAF and promote recruitment to the Royal Air Force.

All Red Arrows pilots are volunteers and must have completed at least one operational tour on a fast jet such as the Tornado or Harrier. They must also have been assessed in their annual reports as being above average in their operational role. The volunteers are shortlisted to about nine pilots then attached to the current Red Arrows for a week to meet the Team and fly in the back seat during display practices. The pilots are not only judged on their flying skills and formation flying but also assessed on their personal qualities and motivation. The current Red Arrows pilots make the final choices at a closed meeting.

The pilots undergo a rigorous winter training programme and initially fly in small groups of four to six aircraft. As they gain experience the formation is increased and the base height lowered. By mid-January the Team will be practising with all nine aircraft at display heights.

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Each Red Arrows pilot usually stays with the Team for a three year tour of duty. This keeps a high level of experience within the Team. Three new pilots join every year and so there is always three first year pilots, three second year pilots, and three final year pilots. The Team Leader will be of at least Squadron Leader rank and have served a three year tour with the Red Arrows earlier in his career.

The Synchro Leader (Red 6) who is a third year pilot is allowed to choose Synchro 2 (Red 7). The following year Synchro 2 (Red 7) becomes Synchro Leader (Red 6) and he can then choose who will be Synchro 2 (red 7).

If one of the pilots is sick during the season then the Team can still fly with an eight-ship formation however if the Team Leader is unable to fly then the Team do not fly at all.

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

The red, white, and blue smoke trails used by the Team are produced by releasing diesel directly into the exhaust which oxidises leaving a smoke trail. Dyes are used to produce the different colours and the diesel is stored in a pod on the underside of the aircraft which is usually used by the 30mm ADEN cannon. The pod contains a 50 gallon tank of pure diesel, and two 10 gallon tanks of blue and red dyed diesel. With the smoke system using 10 gallons per minute, each aircraft can produce five minutes of white smoke, one minute of blue smoke and one minute of red smoke. The smoke not only adds impact to the whole display but also serves to make the Team more visible to the Team Leader so he can determine wind speed and direction. It also helps the Synchro leader and Team Leader to keep sight of each other when the display Team is split into two sections.

The Red Arrows do not fly directly over the crowd. Manoeuvres in front of and parallel to the crowd can be flown down to 300 feet. The Synchro Pair are allowed down to 100 feet in straight and level flight in front of and parallel to the crowd line. Inverted flight by the Synchro pilots is not below 150 feet above the ground.

The Red Arrows unveiled a new paint scheme for its Hawk aircraft on 31st October 2007. This is the first time a new paint scheme has been applied to the aircraft since they were delivered to the Red Arrows in 1979. The aircraft are still red with a red, white & blue tail fin and white stripe running along the side but now has 'Royal Air Force' in large white lettering on the side of the aircraft.

They will be leaving for a tour of the Middle and Far East on 4th November 2007 until returning on the 18th December 2007. The Red Arrows will be performing 18 displays and visiting 13 countries including Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Malaysia, India and Pakistan.

2007 is the Red Arrows' 43rd display season. Since the team's creation in 1965, the Red Arrows have performed over 4,000 displays in 53 countries.

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

Red Arrows

All photograph copyright / credits: Simon Oldfield

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