THE Red Arrows have been given a makeover to celebrate their 50th display season.
The jets have retained their famous red and white fuselage but have been given a striking new tail design.
The team said the new tail paint design, in the shape of the Union flag, reflects the best of British and emphasises the Red Arrows' role as ambassadors for the UK and as the public face of the Royal Air Force.
The design was unveiled at the team's home at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire yesterday.
The team originally flew Gnat jets but switched to the BAE Systems Hawk in 1980.
Designed by the Air Media Centre at RAF High Wycombe, the tail fin features outlines of both aircraft as a tribute to the team's heritage.
Squadron Leader Jim Turner said: "The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, are extremely proud of our heritage and we hope that this tail fin design brings with it a sense of pride for both past members of the team and for members of the public to share in.
"I wanted a design created that reflected the very British soul of the Red Arrows.
"Repainting the entire aircraft would have taken too long and been too costly and I think the balance has been struck perfectly.
"The Red Arrows captures both the spirit of British excellence and the quality of its engineering and I hope we are able to continue inspiring young people to join the Royal Air Force."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article