The Red Arrows Story

The story of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, is not difficult to tell.
A great deal has been written in books, magazines, newspapers and brochures in the years since the team was formed as part of the Central Flying School in 1965.
What is more demanding is to find new information concerning both past and recent activities.
I am therefore very grateful to Glen Moreman for giving me an account of the team's 'Kemble Years' and some interesting contemporary photographs to use in this book.
Jamie Hunter's description of a flight with the Red Arrows in April 2006, the introductory account of the team's Springhawk pre-season training at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, and an outstanding collection of air-to-air photographs has given new life to the story.
I am also grateful to Mike Jorgensen/Air Action lmages for allowing me to use some of his recent photos of the team in Cyprus.
Selecting a relatively small number from the huge stock of Red Arrows' Hawk photographs available to me was a nice problem to have.
I would like to thank Gordon Bartley, Katsuhiko Tokunaga, Adrian Balch, Pete Mobbs and Daniel March for providing so many outstanding images that capture both the routine and the significant moments in the Red Arrows years.
Once again I am indebted to Brian Strickland for his patient research, both for the text and the photographs.
I have also received help from Ben Dunnell and Michael J.F. Bowyer, and through the published works of former Red Arrows manager Andy Stewart and public relations officer Tony Cunnane.
I would like to dedicate this small book to the memory of the late Ray Hanna.
There is no doubt that his skilled leadership from 1966 to 1969 set the team on its incredible path to worldwide acclaim.
Ray epitomised the excellence of the Red Arrows throughout forty years of airshow flying, initially while serving with the RAF and subsequently while displaying his Spitfire IX, MH434, and other warbirds.