The Red Arrows have embarked on the British team’s biggest overseas tour in a decade. More than 20 displays and a series of fly-pasts are now in progress across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions by the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team. The Tour visits Hua Hin on Friday 9th November. The Tour will see 12 Hawk T1s flown from the Red Arrows’ base of RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire UK, to the deployment locations. The major tour will take two months to complete. The Red Arrows is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force. During an aerobatics display, Red Arrows pilots experience forces up to five times that of gravity (1g), and when performing the aerobatic maneuver ‘Vixen Break’, forces up to 7g can be reached, close to the 8g structural limit of the aircraft.
The team uses the same two-seat training aircraft used for advanced pilot training, the BAE Hawk T1. The Hawks have an uprated engine and a modification to enable smoke to be generated; diesel is mixed with a coloured dye and ejected into the jet exhaust to produce red, white or blue smoke. Squadron Leader David Montenegro, said: “Ever since the team’s first season in 1965, the Red Arrows have performed on a global scale. The team, flying British-built aircraft, has displayed to millions of people in more than 55 countries around the world.” “Indeed, our colourful, dynamic aerial displays of precision, formation aerobatics; together with the associated events on the ground are a vivid showcase of British engineering, teamwork and creativity.”
The Red Arrows departed their base in the UK on 29th September before visiting Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Vietnam and China in October and the first week of November. The Hua Hin fly-past and display, the only Tour destination in Thailand, is scheduled for Friday 11th November. India, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait are destinations to follow before returning to base on 1st December.