The Red Arrows

I think without the doubt whenever i hear that the arrows are coming to do an air display i feel a shiver of excitement. I absolutely LOVE going down to the seafront in Weston and wandering down onto the sand so i can get some uninterrupted shots of these amazingly skilled pilots as the speed across the sky.

I am no photographer i just aim and hope but each year i manage to get some fabulous pictures of them. These are some of the pictures that I took this summer.

Here they come!!! There are some super facts about the Red Arrows on their official site or on Wikipedia.

You cant be a reserve pilot in the red arrows if one pilot is away they will only fly with 8. If the main pilot -Red 1- is unable to fly, none of the Red Arrows fly.

To be a pilot in the the Red arrows means you have to be the best of the best. Each pilot flies for 3 years and every year 3 pilots are changed.

                                                                                                                                         
the new pilots always fly at the front with Red 1, while the more seasoned pilots fly at the back.

 The Diamond Nine Formation has become the Red Arrows trademark.  Pilots always fly the same position in formation, and they spend 6 months training before the summer air shows start.

The display is usually in 2 parts, In the first part The Arrows display team fly in formation , In the Part 2 they split into 2 groups where reds 1-5 stay together formation flying ,and 6-9 zoom off to do the scary stuff.

Each plane can trail 7 minutes worth of smoke

The height they soar too is incredible especially when it is vertically up.  when they perform certain maneuvers the Gforce can be as high as 7 or 8.

I really like this picture of the T1 Hawk as you can see the underbellies of the planes as they plummet back down towards the ground.

Here are Red 6 & 7 doing the fly by. The syncro pair can fly as low as 100 ft above the ground. The roar as they fly overhead is unbelievable!!

Inverted!!!

 Smoke trails are important for the pilots to judge wind speed and direction, and to be able to keep an eye on each other when the sections break up.

The Red Arrows are based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire.

 Reds 1 -5 are known as Enid. After Enid Blytons Famous five books.While Reds 6-9 are named Gypo a nickname given to a previous team member.

 This one should be called Maverick!!!

One day i really hope i get a shot with the pilot grinning at me.... i doubt i will never get this shot.

.God bless the pilots and crews that make these displays so awe inspiring and long may you fly the skies