A day with the Red Arrows

The date was February 14 2013 a very cold winters day which from the outset was set to be one of the highlights in aviation for me and by god it was and it was all thanks to this lady Maureen Hanson. 

The day started with a 1 hour car ride from Barnsley to RAF Scampton where i was treated to a tour of the Brand new museum which celebrates the bases history from the 2nd world war with the Lancaster's and 617 squadron all the way up to present with the Red Arrows and everything in between. 

After the tour of the downstairs of the hanger i was taken upstairs to see Guy Gibson's office the ex commander of 617 squadron the team at the museum have down an amazing job in recreating how the office would of looked and felt in war time.

 

After the tour of the museum was complete i was treated to a tour of the gate guards at RAF Scampton one being a folland Gnat XR572 and the other a Bae Systems Hawk T.1 XX253 and i must say i felt very privileged to be able to be so close to these two very special aircraft and i have to thank Maureen again for making this possible. XX253 particularly is very special as it was one of the hawks which was involved in a mid air collision over Kasteli Airport, Crete, Greece in 2010.

Now the exciting part began the time was 10.10am and i heard the distinctive voice of Red#1 Squadron leader Jim turner Call up over my scanner asking for the team to form into arrow formation then i saw them four bright red Hawk T.1 aircraft flying down the runway from the right. I immediately realised that 3 of these aircraft where Red#6 Chris Lyndon-Smith, Red#7 James McMillan and Red#8 Ben Plank or more formally known as Gypo the daredevils of the team you may call them.

 The team then preceded with there practice sortie over RAF Scampton one of three which they do daily during the winter training season but this training session was no normal one as i was soon to find out. It began by the team setting up for there trade mark Gypo break and i must say they did it perfectly as you would expect from the worlds best aerobatic team.

Immediately after the break we where then treated to many passers from the death defying synchro pair  Red#6 Chris Lyndon-Smith and Red#7 James McMillan.

Now at this point i thought this was just a normal practice they normally last for around 30 minutes but at this time it had been going for around 40 so i thought this was a bit strange the next thing i knew i saw the synchro pair heading directly towards me they then proceeded to do two complete orbits above mine and Maureen's head's and wave at us i thought well that's something a little special.

I then watched as the pair went off in the distance behind us only to hear the words on the scanner pulling up now so i look directly in front of me think it was the other pair of aircraft but after not seeing anything i was wondering to my self if i was hearing thing or not but then as i turned to my left i saw the synchro pair just completing the heart right behind our heads it was a very special moment and it was as if they had done the heart just for us.

  

The pair then departed and so did the rest of the team back to RAF Cranwell which is there temporary home until the runway at RAF Scampton is replaced.

After standing outside for almost 1 hour it was time to go back into the hanger and have a cupper and warm back up as it was so cold outside and i could not feel my finger tips which is not good when you are trying to take photos. After about 30 minutes inside i was told to my surprise that i was going to RAF Cranwell to watch the 2nd sortie. So we hopped in the car now at this point i would like to say a big thank you to roger who was my driver for the day and without his help in transport i would not even have got to RAF Scampton in the first place. We set of at around 11.30 destination RAF Cranwell the drive there was beautiful going through the countryside of Lincolnshire. As we got closer i could hear activity on the ground at RAF Cranwell on my scanner it was the Red Arrows doing there ground checks so we knew we did not have long to get there or we would miss there takeoff luckily we where only around the corner and just as we arrived we could see all the aircraft lined up on the parking ready to go.

We parked up in a near by lay-by just in time to catch them taxi to the runway unfortunately they where using the far end of the runway to take off from so it made it difficult to get any photos of them. 

We watched as they taxied all the way down to runway 27 at the far end of the airfield then as they lined up ready for take off then the loud roar as the engines where pushed into full power and the breaks released and they began to role down the runway and before no time at all they where airborne bang on time.

 

They then proceeded to climb and make a right hand turn away from the airfield at this point we began to worry thinking that we had got the timings wrong and that they where going to display over RAF Scampton instead we watched on as they where still heading in the direction of Scampton. They put there smoke on and at this point we where almost certain that they where going to display over Scampton.

As we continued to watch i took my eye's off the reds for a few seconds and i noticed a small crowd of people had gathered along this small lay-by along with a few lorries and a white van. As i looked back towards the Red Arrows i noticed that they had now began to turn back towards Cranwell a huge sigh of relief came over me as i now was sure that we had got the right time and they where going to display over Cranwell.

As they came closer they once again put there smoke on and spread out into line a breast to form up to do the Gypo break again just like what we had seen earlier over Scampton but this time it was going to happen right over us.

The light was spot on with the sun just in the right place to reflect off the smoke and the aircraft we watched as the 4 aircraft approached us from almost directly behind they then proceeded to do the gypo break just in front of us but we where standing behind it this time and a very unique opportunity to get some different photos as it is very rare to get photos from behind a display.

 

The team then proceeded to do the same as they did over RAF Scampton earlier in the morning. Where the synchro pair split off from the other two aircraft and did there head on passes and because we where behind where the runway was we where treated to a number of low passes as the synchro pair repositioned for there next run in. 

 

 

 

 

After around 30 minutes it was time for the team to land and as the they had took off from runway 27 that meant that they had to break to land from the same side so we watched as they ran in from the right with white and blue smoke on and then break off one by one to land and to our surprise they broke right over where we where standing and each aircraft passed just feet above our heads. 

 

They then proceeded to land in turn and taxi back to the parking area. 

It was now time for us to head back to RAF Scampton but first we had to stop of for a toilet break and some food thanks to Maureen and roger again here. On our way back to Scampton we had quite a surprise as when we where stopped at a roundabout a boy racer behind us was not paying attention to the road and came inches from smashing into the back of us.We arrived back to Scampton at about 2pm where i was in for another treat and this was to go and meet the red arrows photographers Rob "Kodak" Travis and Craig Marshall too very friendly people. After a good chat with them i was invited out onto the pan to watch the last training session of the day with Rob "Kodak" Travis in front of the control tower.

Being out in front of the control tower was a experience in its self let alone i was standing with the red arrows photographer and about to photograph the reds with him. I thought the session was going to be the same as the ones i had seen before during the morning but little was i to know that in actual fact it was going to be the full 2013 display flown as a 5 ship for the first time this year. 

  

And that was that the end of an amazing day with some amazing people thank you to everyone who made the day possible and a big thanks to Maureen and roger and all base staff.

If you would like to see more photos from this day you can find them on my facebook page here : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.457011691031562.102232.415137828552282&type=1&l=ce14588178