Red Arrows - Royal Air Force Aerobatic Display Team

Who are the Red Arrows

The Red Arrows are nine pilots who fly Hawk T Mk 1A aircraft supported by either a C-130 Hercules aircraft, which carries all the spares and equipment to support the detached operation, or a road train of coaches and articulated lorries that carry the support team and all equipment to the airshow.

(On Team aircraft, the difference between the Mk 1 and a Mk 1A Hawk aircraft is that, as well as removal of the centre-line tank, which contains all the smoke systems, and installing in its place an Aden gun pod, the Mk1A can carry two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, one under each wing).

A pilot will normally complete a three year tour of duty with the Team before going onto 'pastures new'. Some return to the regular RAF, some are promoted, some leave the RAF for flying jobs in the airline industry. The Leader, however, must have been a Team Member in previous years, and is selected on merit to become the Team No 1.

The Team operates under the overall command of a Wing Commander, but the Leader has command for the day-to-day operation of the Team. No 6 and 7 are called "the synchronized pair", (The Synchro's), and, apart from providing the basic stability of the formation, have the aim to demonstrate what the Hawk is capable of in flight, by keeping the public's attention as the main formation prepares for next manoeuvre.

No 10 in the Team is the team manager. He does not fly an aircraft in the display, but provides the commentary to tell the public information on the pilots, the background of the Red Arrows, what displays the Team are doing, and the name of the manoeuvre being flown. The aircraft he had flown becomes a spare aircraft in case of a problem being encountered by any of the team pilots which would require them to change aircraft. If this were to occur, the Travelling Groundcrew would attempt to fix the defect while the display is being flown.

The technical personnel of the team consist of some 70 people who are commanded by one senior engineer officer who has one junior engineer officer. They are two separate parties, about two thirds remaining at the Team Base, and the remaining third are the Travelling Team. The Base Party are responsible for all rectification tasks that are required when the Team are at home. The Travelling Team are responsible for the day-to-day engineering tasks in support of the actual flying task of the Team.

Nine people from the travelling groundcrew called "(The Flying Circus)", (which includes a junior engineering officer who is in charge of the groundcrew, fly in the rear seat of the each of the aircraft. These back-seaters have the responsibility of cleaning their nominated Hawk aircraft, so it will always be ready to be photographed by the public. As well as the Circus, the main Travelling Groundcrew, the rest of the Teams Groundcrew, will travel, either in the Hercules support aircraft, or occasionally by road.

At the end of the display year, all of the Hawks are given a thorough scheduled servicing inspection to prepare it for the next display year.

Every one candidate for a position on the Team is a volunteer and must be a current, fast-jet pilot in the RAF. i.e. a pilot of Tornado, Harrier. The candidates must have a category rating of 'excellent' in their annual report.

From the applications for the current year a number of pilots are selected to join with the current members of the team at the annual trip to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. In Cyprus they will fly in the rear seats of the Hawks during training flights, which will enable the current pilots to form an opinion as to their suitability to become a member of the Team. The Team will then have a meeting at which the Boss, (the Leader), will listen to their opinions and they will select the most suitable pilots to join the Team. The leader of "the Synchronised Pair" who is No 6, chooses the new No 7. At the end of his time on the Team, the then No 6 is replaced by No 7.

The normal tour of duty for a pilot on the Red Arrows is three years.

Every year three pilots leave and three new pilots will join the Team. This may include the Leader, who is always an ex-member of the Team. Depending on their then current appointment, if they can be released from it, new pilots will join the team in September and fly with the Team in the rear seat with the Team during the last displays of that season to give them some experience.

New Team pilots begin by flying small basic formations, at high altitude, to learn the art of close formation flying. Once they have the feeling of what is expected of them, they then learn it all again at lower levels.

The Red Arrows do not have their Formation Numbers painted on their aircraft, unlike most aerobatic teams.

The Show

The Red Arrows perform three types of show depending on the weather conditions. These are 1) Full Show, 2) Rolling Show and 3) Flat Show.

For the full show the lower limit of the clouds will be no lower than 1400 meters.

If the weather limit is between 760 and 1400 meters the Red Arrows perform rolls only - although the Leader will always be on the look out for a chance to put in a loop.

If the weather limit is under 760 meters they perform a "flat show" which is basically a series of 'fly-bys' of the crowd in formation. At any time the Leader may have to change from one type of show to another because of the actual weather.

If one of the pilots is not well enough to fly, the rest of pilots fly without him.

If the Leader is not capable of flying, the show has to be cancelled.

During their display show the Red Arrows do not fly directly above the public. During their display, the Synchro's, the synchronized pair flies at about 30 meters and when they are inverted they do not get under 45 meters.

The levels of 'g' experienced by the Team during a display are a maximum of 5g, with the Synchro's a maximum of +8g. All of the pilots will wear anti-g suits, to give them a degree of comfort while they experience these 'g' loads.

When flying from one location to another the team flies in a loose formation at around 300 meters altitude.

The Plane

The Hawk aircraft of the Red Arrows was designed by Hawker Siddley (now British Aerospace (BAe)), as a basic trainer and as a weapon trainer aircraft, and is perhaps one of the most popular trainer aircraft in the world. The plane differs from the standard trainer by having a Smoke System fitted. The Smoke System is installed in a pod, similar to the Aden Gun pod, and consists of three tanks internally in the pod, which have pipes leading from them which inject the fluids into the jet exhaust where they are vaporised by the jet engine exhaust. The fluids in these tanks are, for the White System, plain diesel fuel (DERV).The Red and Blue systems consists of a commercial dye which is mixed with diesel before being pumped into each aircraft.

RAF Red Arrows