Red Arrows
| Red Arrows | |
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| Country: |
 United Kingdom
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| Currently used aircraft type: | Hawk T1A |
| Sponsor: | Royal Air Force |
| Base airfield: | RAF Scampton ( Lincolnshire ) |
| Airfield in winter: | Akrotiri and Dekelia |
| Founding: | 1964 |
| Colours: | Red, white, blue |
| Weblink: | raf.mod.uk/reds/ |
The Red Arrows are the aerobatic team of the British Air Force, the Royal Air Force . They are considered to be one of the best aerobatic teams in the world.
history
Until 1964 there were a number of small aerobatic teams within the Royal Air Force. Among them were z. B. also the predecessors appeared as Black Arrows . The pilots practiced aerobatics as a hobby in their spare time, a tradition that goes back to 1920. In 1964, the establishment of a professional aerobatic team and the dissolution of the existing squadrons were decided.
On May 6, 1965, the Red Arrows took off from Little Rissington Air Force Base for their first flight display. In the same year, demonstrations followed in France and Germany to present the new season to the public. In this first season the team completed 65 demonstrations. Originally the team consisted of 7 red jet trainers of the type HS Gnat T.Mk.1 aircraft, which were originally produced by the company Folland Aircraft Limited . This was the training aircraft for the Central Flying School , RAF Kemble. The squadron has been flying since 1968 as the only aerobatic team in the world with 9 machines. The Italian Frecce Tricolori also fly most of the formations with nine aircraft, but supplemented by a tenth machine that performs individual maneuvers. For overflights, both the Frecce Tricolori and the French Patrouille de France , which normally flies with eight planes, have also been using nine planes since the 1970s.
In 1980 the previous Gnat aircraft were exchanged for the more modern BAE Hawk , with which the Red Arrows still fly today. The team has been based at RAF Scampton Air Force Base in Lincolnshire since 2001, and the move to the neighboring RAF Waddington base planned for 2011 has been discarded. Since 1986, the Red Arrows have been training annually during the winter on the British RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus due to the better weather conditions.
By September 2006, the Red Arrows had flown over 4,000 demonstrations in 51 countries, 170 of them in Germany . The annual appearances at the Royal International Air Tattoo in RAF Fairford , as well as the flypasts with extraordinary aircraft such as the Concorde or the B-2 Spirit on official occasions, are legendary . They are also regularly used to present new Airbus aircraft.
Composition of the team
The Red Arrows consist of nine pilots. At the beginning of the year, fighter jet pilots of the Royal Air Force whose performance was rated as above average can apply to join the team. In a corresponding selection process, three of the applicants are then generally selected for the team. These usually remain with the Red Arrows for three years . The average age of the pilots is 33 years.
There is also the team leader who coordinates the maneuvers of the Red Arrows . He is selected from former squadron pilots who have flown with the Red Arrows for three years . As a rule, the team leader becomes the one who has been selected as a "Synchro Leader" during his regular 3-year tour (see below). The team leader is part of the team for another 3 years and is the only pilot in the formation who flies in the same position, the Red 1 , every year . Red 1 is the top position in the famous Diamond Nine formation. All other pilots rotate to a different position within the formation for the next year after the end of a season.
Occasionally a 10th Red Arrows machine can be seen at flight demonstrations , which is flown by another Royal Air Force pilot. This aircraft films the flight maneuvers or takes photos, which are used both for the evaluation of the demonstrations and for later publication. The 10th machine also serves as a backup aircraft should one of the nine regular jets malfunction. In the event that one of the pilots falls ill, there is deliberately no replacement. It can happen that the squadron appears with only eight aircraft. This is for safety, as a substitute pilot would never be able to perfectly fly all positions of each individual aircraft due to the complex maneuvers during the various maneuvers.
There are special requirements for pilots with aircraft numbers 6 and 7. These pilots represent the so-called soloist pair, in the original “synchro pair” of the team, which in the “second program part” of the show remains separated from the “remaining formation” with the exception of a few figures and is mainly responsible for spectacular encounter maneuvers. The first five machines are called Enid or The famous five among die-hard fans , the remaining four including the soloist couple Gypo . The gypobreak is legendary at every Red Arrows show .
safety
The Red Arrows generally keep a greater safety distance from the audience during their performances than internationally prescribed. All aircraft in the squadron have several back-up systems that protect the aircraft in the event of technical problems.
The formations
The formation name is a designation for the aerobatic figure to be flown, which the aircraft fly together at a close distance (approx. Two to three meters). Here are a few examples for the 2007 screening season:
- Big Battle to Short Diamont Loop with 9 aircraft
- Caterpillar made a loop with 5 planes staggered in arrow shape, in the configuration 1-2-2
- Champagne Split with 9 aircraft
- Concorde with 9 aircraft
- Corkscrew with 4 planes
- Diamond 9 Arrival with 9 planes, representing a diamond, in the configuration 1-2-3-2-1.
- Diamond to Swan Bend with 9 aircraft
- Double rolls with 2 planes
- Eagle to Chevron Roll with 9 aircraft
- Gypo Break with 4 planes
- Gypo Pass with 4 aircraft
- Goose to Sleep Climb with 6 planes
- Heart with 3 planes
- Lancaster Pullover Up with 9 aircraft in the configuration 1-4-1-1-2
- Lancaster 1/4 Clover to 5-4 split with 9 aircraft
- Mirror roll with 4 planes
- Opposition barrel rolls with 2 aircraft
- Rollback with 5 aircraft
- Short Diamond to Eagle Bend with 9 aircraft
- Swan to Apollo Roll with 9 aircraft in the 1-2-1-2-3 configuration
- Tango Bend to Big Battle with 5 planes
- Vertical break with 5 planes
- Vixen Loop a loop with 7 aircraft
- Vixen Break with 7 planes.
- 4 aircraft cyclone
Accidents
In the team's forty-year history, 17 aircraft have been lost, eight pilots and one mechanic have been killed. The last aircraft loss occurred in March 2018.
- On December 16, 1969, the engine of a Gnat caught fire during a training flight from RAF Kemble Air Force Base . However, the ground control accidentally asked the pilot of another machine to get out with the ejector seat , so that both the pilot of the burning machine, as well as that of another with the ejector seat, saved themselves. Both planes were lost.
- On November 13, 1970, the engine of a Gnat failed during a training flight, and the pilot saved himself with the ejection seat.
- On January 20, 1971, during a training flight, the wings of two machines touched and crashed. All four crew members of the two machines are killed. It is the Red Arrows' worst accident to date.
- On March 3, 1978, a machine hit the ground during a low-level flight maneuver at the RAF Kemble base and crashed. Both crew members die.
- On May 22, 1979, the engine of a Gnat failed and the pilot saved himself with the ejection seat.
- On May 17, 1980, a Hawk collided with the mast of a yacht during a demonstration in Brighton and fell, the pilot saved himself with the ejector seat.
- On March 21, 1984 a machine touched the ground during a training flight in Cyprus , the pilot saved himself with the ejector seat.
- On August 31, 1984, an engine fault occurred during a flight demonstration at Sidmouth . The pilot steers the aircraft into the open sea and uses the ejector seat to save himself.
- On November 3, 1986, during a training flight from RAF Scampton Air Force Base, a Hawk got caught in the exhaust jet of the aircraft in front, which led to an engine failure. The pilot saves himself with the ejection seat.
- On November 16, 1987, two machines touch each other during a training flight near Scampton. The pilots of both planes save themselves with the ejection seat.
- On June 24, 1988 a Hawk crashed during the start-up process from Scampton, the pilot was seriously injured.
- On March 23, 2010, after a collision with another Hawk, a Hawk crashed onto the runway at Kastellani Airport on Crete. The pilot was able to save himself with the ejection seat and was admitted to hospital with minor injuries. The other Hawk landed successfully despite being damaged. The accident occurred during a training flight.
- On August 20, 2011, a Hawk crashed into a field near the airport after a demonstration at the Bournemouth Air Festival. The pilot was killed, there were no other injuries.
- On November 8, 2011, a pilot died at RAF Scampton Airport after the ejection seat of his aircraft on the ground had come loose when the machine was checked before a flight. A judicial investigation found the ejection seat manufacturer Martin-Baker Aircraft Company to be guilty and sentenced the manufacturer to a fine and payment of the legal costs
- On March 20, 2018, a Hawk crashed shortly after take-off at 1:30 p.m. GMT during a training flight at the military section of Anglesey RAF Valley Airport in Wales . A mechanic on board the aircraft suffered fatal injuries, the pilot survived injured.
Trivia
- On July 14, 2004, the Red Arrows were the first foreign aerobatic team that was allowed to lead the overflight over the Champs-Élysées on the occasion of the French national holiday .
- A Red Arrows flight demonstration in Jordan in 1966 impressed a Jordanian businessman so much that his company immediately ordered 1 million postcards with motifs of the Red Arrows.
- Including 1988, the Red Arrows completed 170 screenings in Germany, more than in any other country outside the British Isles; the last on August 22, 1988 on the flight day in Wildenrath - exactly one week before the Ramstein flight conference accident . Since then, the Red Arrows have only been to a few refueling stops in Germany, initially at RAF Germany bases such as RAF Gütersloh , and most recently at Hanover Airport on August 30, 2003.
- During the International Bodensee Airshow (IBAS) in August 1998 , the Red Arrows were stationed together with the Frecce Tricolori at Friedrichshafen Airport on Lake Constance in Germany, and only flew over Lake Constance to the Swiss side for the demonstrations. During the approach maneuvers were flown in formation over Friedrichshafen.
- As the last flight show team in Europe, including the 1997 season, the Red Arrows still traditionally opened their show from the back of the audience, while all other teams stopped doing this after the flight conference accident in Ramstein in 1988 . Eleven years later, for the 2008 season, the Red Arrows are starting their program again from behind.
References
Web links
- Official website of the Red Arrows
- Video of a flight demonstration of the Red Arrows in Fairford 2002
- Video of a Red Arrows flight demonstration from 2006
- Red Arrows over Jersey, filmed in 2008 by incoming ocean-going sailors (start 9:39 pm)
Individual evidence
- ↑ FUG REVUE +flugwelt international 9/1974, page 58
- ↑ Red Arrows pilot in hospital after mid-air crash , BBC News. March 23, 2010.
- ↑ FAZ: Fighter jet crashes
- ↑ n-tv: aerobatic pilot dies on the ground
- ↑ Helen Pidd, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/23/ejector-seat-maker-fined-11m-death-red-arrows-pilot-sean-cunningham , in: The Guardian , February 23, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018
- ↑ Josh Halliday, RAF engineer dies as Red Arrows jet crashes at north Wales airbase , in: The Guardian, March 20, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018
- ↑ www.airliners.net