Red Arrows "Historic" Announcement, To Get "New" Planes!

Be a bit difficult to form up the signatory Diamond Nine with only five, and to give the Reds that many Typhoons the MoD would need to disband a squadron, wouldn’t they?

How come no one is putting up the Lightning II as a potential Arrow mount?;o)

If the Hawk T1’s are broken (but to expensive to fix), if there are not enough Hawk T2 for the Red Arrows, then using a smaller number of Typhoon could be the answer.
I understand the maths, but lets not forget the older Typhoons are already in storage, ie they are surplus and only required as replacement for loses at squadron level, problem is they are an older specification so would require expensive upgrade for front line use. Maintaining five additional Typhoons for the Red Arrows suddenly does not look so expensive. Obviously the cost per flying hour is greater than the Hawk, answer is simply to reduce flying hours and the number of events attended. Sadly the ‘big show’ and diamond nine loops and rolls would be a thing of the past, more likely a solo display by Red 1, a few synchro pair passes with a couple of four ship passes.
One further advantage of using four Typhoons for the Red Arrows is that it would allow the rest of the ‘standard’ squadron Typhoon pilots to joint in for Royal events, trooping the colour etc as required.

Get any sort of a Labour government……..especially a musty smelling , coffee and cigarette breath Corbyn one and you won’t have the Red Arrows or BBMF.
Seriously though, if they aren’t able to field a jet I think it will be time to bring the curtain down on the Red Arrows.
I’m sorry to say I never take any notice of the prop teams like Team Horlicks or whatever they are called or any of the rest and use them as a toilet break or browse the stalls opportunity.
The RAF would still need a team but they’d have to give them a new name.

Don’t forget 100 Sqn at Leeming still used the T1.

And QinetiQ at Boscombe Down, including the oldest one.

Sorry Agent K. Did not intend to edit your quote, rather answering its two parts. Previous post has be edited.

No worries and thanks!, and yes, would I like to see a team with 5 or 6 Typhoons? having been fortunate to see and hear the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds a good few times, that would be a nice thing!

Be a bit difficult to form up the signatory Diamond Nine with only five, and to give the Reds that many Typhoons the MoD would need to disband a squadron, wouldn’t they?

How come no one is putting up the Lightning II as a potential Arrow mount?;o)

Sorry Agent K. Did not intend to edit your quote, rather answering its two parts. Previous post has be edited.

Technically not 9, but 12. There are 3 spare aircraft currently alongside the 9 display aircraft. All of these were ferried out to Asia for a recent tour, meaning 12 pilots etc. Again, there will need to be spare aircraft whatever they choose.

And what is wrong with that ? Its called progress. If the RAF has to make choices than saving the Red Arrows in their current form might not be the best choice, especially if that means losing the solo Typhoon display ?

Errr…. Cadman please don’t quote me to a paragraph I didn’t write, namely:

“The RAF solo display Typhoon has no more than a ‘man and a van’, couple of ground / service crew and the commentator. By reducing the Red Arrows to a smaller team, your saving ground personnel costs, more so if the Reds are embedded within one of the standard squadrons at Coningsby. The pilots obviously have to be dedicated to the team, but as stated that is four pilots + commentator, not nine + 1. Remember people cost as much as machines.”

Firstly I know how to spell and use you’re correctly!, and also here I think you’ll find that a pilot costs a lot less (including training) than a machine (£5M for a pilot, £100M+ for a Typhoon?).

Also I wasn’t knocking or supporting the idea, just adding my own observations on operational costs. Something I am very familiar with. I’d fully expect that it would still cost more to operate 5 Typhoons vs. 9 Hawks.

I guess their Hawks T1s will be instant historics once the Reds are done with them

Technically, and post-Shoreham, the current Hawks will qualify as historic jets and so would come under the much tightened regulations for display flying.

However the military are exempt.

Moggy