GRAEME BAGNALL (SH 85-91) is now flying with the Red Arrows:

“Six months have passed since I joined the Red Arrows as Red 10, the Team’s Display Manager. When I applied for this job (not something you do very often in the Royal Air Force), I did not really envisage what exciting times lay ahead. After 14 years in the RAF, of which 6 years were as a Tornado GR4 pilot and 3 as a tactics and weapons instructor on the Hawk T Mk 1, I was staring a desk job square in the face. And then the Red 10 job presented itself to me, purporting to be a staff job with the added attraction of flying the Hawk alongside the Red Arrows. I could not apply fast enough!
Our winter period between October and May is spent preparing for the display season. For Reds 1 to 9, they fly 3 times a day training up to the display standard. For Red 10, the display season has to be organised and the very many flypast requests that we receive start to come in. I also fly several passengers throughout the year; we have a number of VIPs who visit the Team and fly with us. Passengers of the Red Arrows are lucky enough to experience formation aerobatics, although we are not permitted to fly them with us during display practices – they take part in other training sorties. At the same time, there is some photochasing to be done. All of the air-to-air photographs that you see of the Red Arrows flying their display are taken from my aircraft. For this, I chase the display in a tenth aircraft with a photographer in the rear cockpit.  At the moment critique I must position the aircraft at the right position in relation to the 9-ship formation so the cameraman can get the shot. Most photographs are shot looking through the side of the canopy, rather than the top where there is explosive cord that can spoil the photo. Therefore, in looping manoeuvres I must roll the aircraft about 90° out-of-plane from the formation and hold it while the photo is made. In barrel rolls I sit slightly wide of the formation and lag the roll rate so we get the shot looking through the belly of the formation at the ground below. There then follows the inevitable chase-down where I have to catch up the 9 aircraft ready for the next shot! For me, this is by far my most exciting flying and has its rewards when we get a really nice photo.
We are into the display season in earnest now. Before we can display to the public, though, we spend two months in Cyprus at RAF Akrotiri, where the weather allows us uninterrupted training. The culmination of all the hard work is PDA, or Public Display Authority, which is granted to us by our Commander-in-Chief, who spends a couple of days observing the Team. By this point, we have built a real camaraderie and team spirit which is essential for us to operate so effectively. It is at this point that we don our red flying suits and begin our busy summer season.
In short, we’re away every weekend. So, there is no chance to go to summer BBQs or weddings! However, despite living out of a suitcase and spending a lot of time away from home, there are some fantastic experiences to enjoy. By way of example, I will recount a day recently where we flew 10 Hawks to Shannon in Ireland. The following day the display cameraman and I flew by helicopter on a beautiful summer morning to Galway, where the Team displayed and I gave the commentary. I must be on the ground at all displays as the Team’s safety supervisor, or there will be no display – we can’t afford to get stuck in airshow traffic on the way to an event. The crowd lining Galway Bay was estimated by the authorities to be well in excess of 100,000, and the atmosphere was gripping – so typically friendly and charismatic were the Irish. We then returned to Shannon by helicopter and flew the jets to Villacoublay, a French Air Force base just south of Paris and very close to the Palace of Versailles. From there I was flown in a light aircraft to a place called la Ferté Alais where we landed on a small grass strip while a B-17 was displaying. I struggled through the commentary with my schoolboy French and the help of a French interpreter while the Team displayed.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon. At the end, I flew back in the light aircraft to Villacoublay, where the team had landed some 30 minutes earlier. What a day!  To cap it all, we were accommodated overnight just 200m from the Palace of Versailles.
Meeting the public is a large part of the job. The red flying suits are recognised all over the place, and people always seem to want to have their photos taken with us. I’ve lost count of how many family photo albums I have spoiled!  Inevitably, we bump into the odd hen party or wedding when we get to our hotel at the end of the day, and we’re always happy to oblige the requests for photos with the hens or brides – much to the chagrin of one or two grooms! However, it’s the kids who are the most fun. After all, they are the potential future members of the Royal Air Force, and that’s where we play our part in inspiring them. If you ask a group of children who would like to be a Red Arrows’ pilot, there are always an awful lot of hands that go up…
Every now and then, old acquaintances ask for a Red Arrows presentation, and I was thrilled to be invited back to St Bees earlier this year to speak to the CCF.  So much has changed, but so much is still as I remember. It was a particular pleasure for me to bump into Doctor Tony Winzor, my old Physics teacher, who made such a lasting impression on me during my time there. I had a great day out and the drive back to Lincolnshire went by in a flash!
So, if you want to see what the Red Arrows are up to, then log on to www.raf.mod.uk/reds and have a look. It is easy to apply for a (free) Red Arrows flypast if you have an event in the summer period. We don’t do weddings, birthdays and funerals, but if it’s a community event of any kind and we’re in the area, we’ll try to get by. All the details and the application form are on the website.
I look forward to seeing you at one of our many displays this summer.”