Red Arrows launch Diamond 60th season with help from vintage display jet

The type of jet used by the original Red Arrows has flown alongside the present-day team to kickstart the display team’s 60th season.

The Folland Gnat, from 1964, joined the RAF’s Red Arrows in the skies above Lincolnshire to mark the launch of their Diamond display season.

Veteran pilots and engineers, as well as Air Cadets, were at RAF Waddington for the special 60th season celebration.

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Wing Commander Adam Collins, Officer Commanding of the Red Arrows, said the vintage aircraft is "synonymous with the earliest days of the Red Arrows".

"Reuniting the aircraft, at our home base in Lincolnshire, with some of those who helped establish the team during the 1960s… has been a great backdrop from which to launch our Diamond Season display dates.

"It's through these forthcoming summer shows, colourful flypasts and engaging ground events that we hope to inspire even more generations," he said.

Squadron Leader Ray Hanna, was the Red Arrows Leader and Red 1 for four consecutive seasons between 1966 and 1969, still a record to this day.

He was also a wingman in the team’s founding year and attended the celebration with his daughter Sarah.

She said it was always a "a point of great pride that my father led the team through those formative, critical years".

Squadron Leader Jon Bond, who will lead the team as Red 1 for the first time this year, said to have the "the past, present and potential future of the Red Arrows" together was "the perfect way to launch our 60th season display calendar".

"The Red Arrows will perform a new, nine-aircraft show at locations across the UK this summer," he said.

"And the whole team of 140 people, both air and ground crew, are humbled by the countless individuals whom have already got in touch to say how they can’t wait to see this diamond display..

"I know, from my own childhood experience at airshows, just how many people – of all ages and backgrounds – these events bring together and how important they are to communities.

"Generations of families, up and down the country, have enjoyed watching the Red Arrows display ever since the first public show in 1965 and this 60th season will remain faithful to our aims – to entertain, inform and inspire."

The first public appearance for the Red Arrows this year is scheduled for late May in Greece.

The team will also perform at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in June for the 80th anniversary of D Day, the RAF Cosford airshow, RIAT in July in Canada for their five-week tour marking the Royal Canadian air forces 100th birthday.

They will also take part in a number of flypasts, including the King’s Birthday in June and the Farnborough Air Show.