Red Arrows makeover for 2014.
 

RAFAT are teasing the general public with promises of a make-over for 2014. Between the lines it is hinted that one or more of the changes will be seen on the airframe itself.

Paint job or Hawk T2?

Retro colour schemes frequent the civil airlines, and one wonders if the Hawks are about to loose the white go-faster stripe or the cheap option of messing about with the iconic tricolour tail fin. Anyone in the know?

BBC News - Red Arrows plan 'surprises' for 50th anniversary season

Its gonna be a 5 ship team...

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psf766ac5d.jpg

Cheers

More likely Low Viz black. :ok:

It won't be T2. Unless a mystery donor has gifted them £200,000,000.

Smoke pods:ok:.

OAP

All girl team?:E

So they finally found a use for the Puma Mk2....

Nah ... 9 Red Reapers ... Think of all that Flying Pay saved :E

A coat of paint or ten new jets? Let me think…..

Preparing to be underwhelmed.

I have a feeling that this'll be the result of a request that appeared somewhere on the web - think it may have been an Airfix modelling site - that people contribute ideas/designs for a special paint job on the tail - TM's cheap option. This was done in 2012-13, the notion being that a design could be chosen, costed and then approved by their Airships during 2013 and painted onto the aircraft for this year's airshow season.

A retirement party?

Possibly following the UAV pilot route but going to the next stage..

Virtual Red Arrows - Pushing the boundaries of flight simulation

BBC Lincolnshire - William Wright, The Virtual Red Arrows, Virtual Red Arrows


Btw that is hard to do on a PC.

:}

Cost cuts will strike even RAFAT. Synchro pair will reduce in size by 50%.

I'm here all week :E

Would that be the 6 1/2 day one?

Mildcat would be better, the 'lift' would not be lost and we have more ISTAR than you can shake a stick at

Coff

The Reaper idea has already been done by a famous aerobatic team (plus Reaper aircrew get flying pay!). But apart from that, what a great idea!

http://op-for.com/thunderbird-replacement.jpg

LJ :ok:

My guess is they are going to be privatised or made part of a private finance initiative. Especially if someone is leaving the RAF soon and wants to set themselves up with a nice civvy job :-)
Then the raf will pay the privatised company twice as much to borrow the red arrows on a weekend as what they pay now. Of course the privatised company would be calling the shots.

Emirates' RAFAT. Like a bloody soccer team? I worry, deeply.

Or perhaps The KSA Arrows?

You mean Reaper 'operators', of course. Aircrew sit in aircraft, drone operators sit on the ground.

Accept it.

Leon ... You wouldn't be trying to wind our BEagle up would you :p

Anyway ... I hear Courtney has been asked to get a 9 Ship 43 Squadron "Tribute" formation together for the 2014 display season :}

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...pse4b8fbec.jpg

Nice choice of mount Courtney :ok:

Is that one of them fighting chickens, Coff? :ok:

BEags - nope!

Nope, that ones far more scarier.

Well, if they are going down the route of sponsorship surely it would be the Sunday Express....seeing as how it's saved the Reds countless times over the last few years :}

Is the sponsorship issue really a deal-breaker?? Many of the worthwhile and impressive things done by the services, the Royal tournament for instance, wouldn't exist without commercial link-ups.

The Red Marmites would be rather trendy. Then you can love them or hate them.

Presumably it will be a black paintjob to commemorate the original Black Arrows.

Or green flying suits to save money. :rolleyes:

There might be a set of the old pale blue "airtex" flying suits hidden away in some forgotten store - cheaper still.

9 of these for the team
 

Jet Art Jet Provost JP5 for sale

:8

So Flightline UK have shared RAFA YOUTH's photo showing that the first elements of the special scheme for the RAF Red Arrows 50th Display Season have started to appear on their jets!
According to facebook aircraft XX311 and XX264 have been painted with a blue tail the only jets so far and 2 more are expected to appear very soon. It is suspected that there will eventually be an eye-catching 50th logo on the tail..

https://www.facebook.com/flightlineu...51805361051020

Looks like you were right in post one, unless of course they’re painting the jets in instalments.

How fabulously underwhelming it looks.

You are a cynic L72. I suspect that, having painted the tail, they will then apply the commemorative decals, but not until nearer PDA.

So that's it, slap a bit of paint on them?

Sorry, but what do you expect? Neon lights and garlands?

Perhaps a guarantee they would address the manning issues rather an wasting monies on paint.

Genstabler
 

Dancing girls?:sad:

Hmm, was thinking that they might paint a black band on the port wing.

(BTW, no, I'm not trying to be 'funny'.)

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps886cebf4.jpg

SMT