There were sixty Empire Air Days in 1939 but the war intervened until 1947 when the jet age had started with 54 Squadron Vampires as pioneers. In 1952 there were 38 RAF teams: 15 with Meteors, 20 with Vampires, 2 with Chipmunks and 1 with Prentices.

    1957 brought 111 Squadron’s ‘Black Arrows’ Hunters with their 22 aircraft loop. In 1961 92 Squadron’s ‘Blue Diamonds’ took over, also with Hunters. The Lightning F1 came on the scene with 74 Squadron’s ‘Tigers’. This led to large turning circles which was not a good display of skill but the Lightning’s fire and noise was impressive. In 1964 the CFS team Jet Provosts, the Red Pelicans, (the Pelican is CFS emblem) showed plenty of skill but not much spectacle.
    When the Folland Gnat came on the scene formation aerobatics in it were banned by the A&AEE. However, Lee Jones, ex 111 Squadron, set up an illegal photographic session with loops for a Bristol Engines photographer. Jones, who had the ear of the Air Marshals, showed them the photos and soon a local team of five Gnats, the Yellow Jacks, led by Jones, was flying at RAF Valley. At the 1964 Farnborough show both the Yellow Jacks and the Red Pelicans performed. Next year the Red Arrows Gnat team was formed as the first professional full-time RAF aerobatic team. The primary purpose of the Red Arrows was to be recruiting. In 2014 the 50th season was celebrated and 2015 was the 36th anniversary of the introduction of the Hawk.
    Turning to his own career Chris said that in 1965, at 19, he became a qualified jet pilot and moved on to fly Hunters. He volunteered to become a CFS instructor and in 1971 joined the Red Arrows, a year marked by a mid-air collision which killed four pilots who were buried at Little Rissington. There have been nine fatalities in the history of the Red Arrows. The remaining seven Gnats completed the season but for 1972 there were once again nine aircraft in the team for a tour of USA and Canada; ‘Exercise Longbow‘. The northern crossing would be made from Kemble to Washington DC via Stornoway, Keflavik, Frobisher, Baffin and Goose Bay.
    The Gnat was very small and carried little fuel so the slipper tanks were fitted and, because the magnetic compass would be unreliable in northern latitudes, a Vulcan would accompany the Gnats for navigation. As range was limited a second Vulcan flew ahead to report on weather conditions to be sure that the head winds were not too strong. A Hercules carried the support crews and starters for the Gnats. The USAF would provide search and rescue services using the CIA ‘skyhook’ system where a Hercules would hook a wire suspended from a balloon attached to the downed pilot in his dinghy and drag him up to safety! This was necessary because a quick rescue was essential as sea temperatures would be very low.
    Turning to the techniques of formation aerobatics Chris said it was primarily a station keeping task where most pilots formated on the leader, not his neighbour. This is not an easy task, whilst also checking his position left-right, fore-aft, up-down etc. It is a bit easier with smoke operating as that gives ‘tramlines’ in the sky. Perspective affects the view of the formation as seen by public on the ground so the formation has to be adjusted to maintain the correct appearance of, say, a diamond.

Displays are filmed for later analysis to see who was out of position so corrections can be made. Aircraft on the outside of the formation suffer from the yaw effect due to ailerons, known as ‘dishing’, making it necessary to fly with crossed controls. Precise and careful planning is necessary with a display datum established in relation to the prevailing wind; W-E in the UK. The trickiest and most risky part of a display is rejoining where eight aircraft have to home on the leader after, say, a ‘bomb-burst’. Each pilot must carefully fly his own profile  as he may be blind to other aircraft also homing on the leader.

    Chris opted out after two seasons partly because he was having trouble concentrating due to the fact that he had got too used to formation aerobatics and his mind tended to wander.
    The basic principle of formation aerobatics are, said Chris:
    1. Impress the professionals.
    2. Entertain the public.
    3. Frighten nobody.