Chapter 17  - White Feather

a chapter from "Red Arrows - A Year in the Life" by Tony Cunnane, published by
Andre Deutsch Ltd in 1997

The only other extraneous object found during the flight was a single white feather which was duly presented to Smithy as a memento of his experience

"We have Ministerial approval for the tours," announced Simon on 20 June 1997 at one of the regular meetings of the Squadron executives. Earlier in the year the Team had been invited to take part in the Dubai Air Show in the United Arab Emirates and the Langkawi International Maritime and Aeronautical Exhibition 97 (LIMA97) in Malaysia but approval had been delayed following the change of government in the UK. Now that approval had been given, detailed planning could begin in earnest. As in 1995/96, costs would be borne by British Industry not the tax-payer.

John Howard, the Adjutant, had already made provisional arrangements with Embassies and High Commissions along the way and started booking hotel accommodation. Now John Leonard, Joanne Midgley and Nick Johns in the Admin office had to get down to the complicated and time-consuming task of obtaining visas for some 60 squadron personnel. The two engineering officers would have to work out where, and how, to pre-position bulky equipment that might be needed along the route. Upstairs in the Flight Planning Room, Tim Smith and Andy Foxhall had to start ordering the hundreds of maps, charts and airfield information documents that would be needed.

Mike Williams, the Manager, had the preferred route, little different from the one used in 1995, already mapped out. There would be transit night stops in Italy, Crete, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India and Thailand on the way to and from the holiday island of Langkawi off the north west coast of Malaysia. Fortunately the timing of the two air shows, Dubai in mid-November and Langkawi in the first week of December, was such that it was easy to combine both events into one long round trip consisting of 28 transit flights plus at least 16 public displays and practice displays, and lasting a total of 42 days.

As soon as word of the proposed routes started to filter out through Embassies and High Commissions, requests started to come in for displays in countries through which the Team intended only to transit. It is sometimes quite difficult to explain, without giving offence, why having travelled several thousands of miles the Team cannot always fit an extra public display into their very tight schedule. Even one additional night stop disrupts the diplomatic clearances and hotel plot for the rest of the route.

"This tour means that the 1997 season will not really end until we get back to Cranwell on 20 December," said Simon. "The three pilots leaving at the end of the season, Tim Couston, Richie Matthews and Sean Perrett will all have their tours extended - I haven't heard any complaints yet about that. The FFNGs will have less time than normal to get up to speed for the 1998 season. Of course, by way of compensation, they'll join the Squadron in September as usual and fly with us to Malaysia and back. On some of the transits they'll have to fly in the back of the Hercules - good experience for them - on other sectors and on most displays they'll fly in the Hawk back seats gaining experience. The wives and children will have to manage without their husbands and fathers for another six weeks and what is more they'll miss most of the Christmas shopping, although not all the husbands see that as a disadvantage."

But the winter tour seemed a long way in the future as the summer display season progressed. June 1997 was officially the wettest June for 137 years. Only six full looping displays were flown, the lowest total for many years; 13 other displays had to be restricted to either the rolling or flat variants. Three displays were cancelled altogether by the organisers because of the weather, always a heart-breaking decision to make after many months of hard work. A display at Goodwood was flown in the minimum acceptable weather conditions but 80,000 spectators, including King Hussein of Jordan, watched enthusiastically as the Red Arrows brightened their day. The local show just up the road at Waddington right at the end of June seemed likely to be washed out altogether but on each of the two mornings the clouds rolled back, the sun shone brightly and the flying displays went ahead as planned. Sadly, many people did not bother to turn out, probably put off by adverse weather forecasts, and so gate receipts were well down

On 1 July XX264, the aircraft badly damaged in Ian Smith's bird strike, took to the air again for the first time since January. The first flight was an air test flown by Dick Johnston. As part of the test he had to invert the aircraft and apply negative 'g' to see if any loose objects had become lodged out of sight. One tiny piece of Perspex floated into view and Dick deftly caught it. The only other extraneous object found during the flight was a single white feather which was duly presented to Smithy as a memento of his experience.

On 21 July, 41 days after his accident, Gary Waterfall was declared fit to fly by the Senior Medical Officer at Cranwell.

"My knee was hurting more this morning than it has done for several days," confessed Gary after the inspection. A couple of hours later he was airborne with Sean Perrett for a check ride, mandatory because he had not flown in the preceding 28 days. Two days later the full Team flew three practice sorties to get everyone back into currency and the first 9-ship public display was at Lowestoft on 24 July.

The Team was scheduled to give a display at Ostend on 27 July but the Air Show there was cancelled following a tragic accident the day before when a small, piston-engined aircraft crashed into the crowd killing the Jordanian pilot and several spectators. A display in eastern Belgium at Sanicole on 27 July did go ahead and the Belgian authorities particularly requested the Red Arrows to take part although Simon had been ready to cancel the show as a mark of respect. En route to Sanicole, the Red Arrows made a straight flypast over the show ground at Ostend as their tribute to the dead and injured.

The Red Arrows pilots, like pilots the world over, take a keen and professional, but not morbid, interest in all flying accidents. As one of the Red Arrows said, "The day you start brooding about accidents is the day to give up flying altogether." The media, inevitably, tried to predict the findings of the Belgian Board of Inquiry even before it had been set up and some media commentators suggested that this latest air show accident presaged the end of air displays altogether. The only connection between the sad accident at Ostend and display flying such as that performed by the Red Arrows is the fact that flying machines were involved.

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