Tag Archives: Red Arrows

A Little RIAT Reds Editing

Why, when my last visit to RIAT was in 2019, am I still working my way through some shots from that show?  There are many potential reasons but none of them reflect too well on me so we shall move past that topic and on to what I shot at that show.  Specifically, let’s look at the Red Arrows.  When we used to live in the UK, we would see the Reds on a regular basis and would sometimes get a bit blasé about them.  When you live elsewhere, they become a bit more fun to see.

Consequently, I did make the effort to get a few good shots of their displays.  It would have been nice to have some slightly better light to shoot them in, but that show was not the best for weather.  Take off is always nice since you are close to the formations, and they are potentially tightly grouped in the frame.  There are always the crossing shots to go for and then the bigger formation breaks will be a target.  All of these were part of my efforts that year.  When I was young, the rollbacks were a favorite of mine.  They do a variation on this now, but I am not quite so keen.  It is a tough one to shoot anyway since you really want to be on the display axis to get the best effect.  Even so, I was still pretty happy with what I got overall.

The Arrows’ Display Itself

I have posted a few times about the Red Arrows at RIAT covering their prep for display and post display.  I haven’t actually shared any good shots from the display itself.  Here are a few that I got over the course of the show.  Some were taken close to show center and others were taken from the end of the display line to give a different perspective on the same maneuvers.  They put on a great show and it is funny that, when you see them regularly, you get blasé but, when you haven’t seen them for a while, you come to appreciate the display a lot more.

Red Arrows Launch and Recover

The Red Arrows operated from ramp space at the eastern end of the show grounds at RIAT.  I spent some time down there on one of the days.  It provided a chance to watch them brief, crew up, start and then recover after the display.  Here area. Few shots of the team in action.

Welcome to Seattle Red Arrows

The Red Arrows have conducted a North American tour this year.  It commenced just after RIAT so, while I saw them there, I hoped to catch them at some point during the tour.  Their closest displays were in Oregon and Vancouver and I wasn’t able to go to either sadly.  They did stage through Seattle, though, so I figured I would go and see them arrive.  The twelve jets showed up on a heavily overcast day.  They did some flybys over the city and then a run in across Boeing Field.  A pair of jets landed directly while the remaining ten flew around a little more – nine ships in formation and one getting some photos.  Then it was run and and break to landing before taxiing off to parking.

BOAC and the Red Arrows

RIAT is known for special formations and British Airways has been part of them in the past.  Concorde with the Red Arrows and an A380 with the Red Arrows spring to mind.  For 2019 and BA’s 100th anniversary, they wanted to do something special.  The focal point was to be the BOAC liveried 747-400.  I shot this jet at SeaTac and covered it in this post.  To see it in formation with the Red Arrows sounded pretty good.  They put together two passes.

The first was from the right and involved a gentle turn in the direction of the crowd to give a slightly topside view of things.  This was nice but the distance involved did mean there was a bit of heat haze to combat.  The second pass in the other direction was a more straight pass along the display axis.  The sun was popping in and out during this time so the colors popped sometimes and not others.  It made for some tricky shooting but it still looked pretty good and it was nice to just watch when not shooting.

Concorde Formations Flypast

RIAT is known for putting together formations of different types to celebrate certain events.  The fiftieth anniversary of the first flight of Concorde resulted in two display teams getting together.  Concorde was an Anglo-French collaboration and so was the celebration in this case.  The Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France both fly formations to represent Concorde so, for this joint effort, both teams got airborne and flew their two Concorde formations in line astern.  They made passes in each direction with the national anthems of each country playing – one on the first pass and the other on the second.  It was a simple demonstration but an impressive one all the same.