After five weeks entertaining and inspiring millions of people, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team (RAFAT) has returned home from a hugely-successful tour of Canada.
The Red Arrows landed back at RAF Waddington on time yesterday evening.
Engineers and team support staff – known as the Blues and travelling on RAF Atlas transport aircraft – were also reunited with families as they returned to the Lincolnshire base.
It marked the end of a tour called Maple Hawk, which took the Red Arrows across the Atlantic to help celebrate the centennial of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
Across the entire 37-day campaign, the team didn’t miss a single display, performance or planned event – spanning a series of airshows and high-profile flypasts in major cities, including Ottawa and Toronto, and at landmark locations such as Niagara Falls, as well as completing a packed ground engagement programme.
Group Captain Robbie Lees, Commander Display Air Wing and Maple Hawk’s Detachment Commander, said: “Maple Hawk has shown the strength of our partnership with our RCAF colleagues as we helped to celebrate their centenary.
“But it also showed the wider strategic use of the RAFAT to support wider British strategic objectives internationally.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the way that RAFAT, in their 60th display season, have worked in perfect partnership with the British High Commission in Canada, and other partners, to deliver an outstanding Maple Hawk. Eclat!”
Squadron Leader Jon Bond, Red 1 and Team Leader, said: “My proudest moments were seeing how the whole team came together to produce an epic five-week tour of Canada – whether that be the Reds and Blues here at the RAFAT, or those skilled people that joined from across the Royal Air Force to support.
Together, we delivered 100 per cent success during Maple Hawk.
“Even on the one occasion the weather wasn’t fit to perform a flypast, the team did brilliantly to re-plan and re-schedule to make it happen before the end of the tour.
“It takes a huge amount of effort to get a 1980s aeroplane across the North Atlantic and to arrive back on time – it’s a very special achievement.
“This is a fantastic job by the engineers to keep the jets going over the last couple of days, as we crossed the Atlantic and some reasonably inhospitable land and austere bases.”
Waiting at RAF Waddington were several team members’ families – eager to see their loved-ones.
Sqn Ldr Bond said: “It’s great to return to our families, they’ll be very pleased to have us all back.
“They give us so much support over a long season – sometimes with big periods away.”
Having completed a final flypast on Friday over St John’s, in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Red Arrows began the long journey home from Canada at the weekend.
With the team’s BAE Systems Hawk jets being unable to refuel in the air and having a flying range of approximately 1,000 nautical miles, the Atlantic crossing had to be done in stages.
First, there was a stop at Goose Bay before leaving Canada and heading to Narsarsuaq in Greenland, then Keflavik in Iceland, Stornoway in Scotland and finally RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
Accompanying the outbound and inbound transits were Atlas C. 1 (A400M) transport aircraft from RAF Brize Norton and Poseidon MRA1 (P-8A) maritime patrol aircraft based at RAF Lossiemouth.
Wing Commander Adam Collins, Officer Commanding of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, said: “The support received from these aircraft and their excellent crews in particular was indispensable and shows the flexibility of these fleets and how accomplished they are operating in a range of roles and environments.
“Indeed, the outstanding success of Maple Hawk is the result of the hard work and year-long planning undertaken by the RAF Whole Force – regular and reserve personnel, civil servants and contractors all contributed at various stages to produce one of the most successful Red Arrows tours to date.”
The visit to Canada was part of the team’s own 60th diamond anniversary, which got underway in May and has been marked through a new nine-aircraft 25-minute display routine.
During Maple Hawk, the Red Arrows team:
- Flew for a total of 394 hours and 50 minutes.
- Completed 90 of these hours as displays – including nine full displays, one rolling and one flat show (each type of show determined by cloud base) and four in-season practice displays, which were all full.
- Joined with the Canadian Forces’ Snowbirds team for spectacular mixed formations and with the CF-18 Demonstration Team’s jet at shows to carry out a hugely-popular flypast named the Commonwealth Pass.
- Performed at four back-to-back Canadian airshows – Airshow Atlantic at Greenwood in Nova Scotia, the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Aero Gatineau-Ottawa in Quebec, and Airshow London, Ontario.
- Visited new locations for the first time in the team’s 60-season history – completing flypasts above both Montreal and St John’s.
- Carried out flypasts at Ottawa (with the Snowbirds for the opening of the British High Commission’s new building) and at Niagara Falls, with one of only two still-airworthy historic Lancaster bombers.
- Landed at 14 airfields – Stornoway, Keflavik, Narsarsuaq, Goose Bay, Greenwood, Ottawa International, Toronto Pearson, Gatineau-Ottawa Executive, Hamilton, London International, Montreal St-Hubert, Stephenville, St John’s and RAF Waddington.
- Had 61 flight services completed by the RAFAT’s skilled engineers and technicians with 36 refuels and smoke replenishments.
- Arranged for a Hawk jet to be made available for six days of static display.
- Had zero public display flights cancelled with 100 per cent technical availability of the aircraft for public events.
- Posted daily social media updates to the RAFAT’s online channels, with traditional press interviews or contributions every two days.
- Generated more than 400 million media impressions through a range of dynamic content.
- Staged or attended 35 ground events, from hospital visits and airshows to STEM sessions and diplomatic receptions.
- Resourced 116 hours of engagement at the RAFAT’s branded airshow tent.
- Took approximately 34,000 unedited still pictures and 25-hours of raw video footage – by the RAFAT’s three-strong imagery section.
Wg Cdr Collins said: “The response to the team’s diamond season display and vibrant outreach programme during Maple Hawk has been overwhelming.
“We were able to meet countless individuals and families and hopefully inspire through this combination of precision flying, teamwork and ground events.
Spotting the smiles on so many faces at airshows, hearing the crowds cheer loudly during city flypasts and seeing the huge, positive response to our imagery on social media has been both rewarding and humbling.
“This engagement was busy and extremely meaningful throughout, particularly when joining our display counterparts the Snowbirds and we were honoured to meet the Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
“These events underlined the close, enduring relationship enjoyed between not only the RAF and RCAF but also the UK and Canada across many areas – being strong partners on the world stage.”
He added: “On behalf of the entire Red Arrows team, thank you to the RCAF for the incredible invitation to join them for their centennial celebrations.
“We’re also extremely grateful to all of those who supported us across Maple Hawk, whether they be from other units in the RAF, the British High Commission or – crucially – Canadian friends, airshow organisers and aviation fans that made this tour a success story to remember.”
The Red Arrows’ 60th diamond season now continues in the UK, with a display at the Imperial War Museum’s Duxford Flying Finale on October 5.
