It almost didn’t happen. With high winds, sand in the air and temperatures hovering in the low 40s, Monday’s weather was hardly ideal for commercial aircraft operations, let alone the complex maneuvers of a crack aerobatic team. But just about an hour before sunset they appeared on the horizon. Before an enthusiastic crowd of thousands, the Royal Air Force Red Arrows dropped from the sky and thundered into Alkhobar.
For more than 40 years, the Red Arrows (www.raf.mod.uk/reds) have been high-profile ambassadors for both the Royal Air Force and the United Kingdom. The high regard in which they are held was seen in the enthusiastic response to their performance from both the dignitaries and the public. For the children, many perched on their father’s shoulders, the show was a mixture of shock and awe. Only the journalists, sniffing about for a quote on the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft deal, were more interested in the action on the ground than the magnificent aerial display.
“It has been a splendid day,” said the UK’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles. “It is very good that Prince Turki ibn Abdullah and a large number of senior Royal Saudi Air Force officers were present. This was a demonstration of the real friendship between the RAF and the Royal Saudi Air Force. They have the same professional skills and attitude. Both here and in Britain they fly the same aircraft. They truly are comrades.”
Cowper-Coles thought that the formations that produced the “heart with arrow” and palm tree enhanced by vapor trails or “smoke,” were highlights of the display. There were also other amazing maneuvers such as the Vixen Break, Mirror Roll and Cyclone.
The French Air Force lent assistance to the event by providing the C130 aircraft that flew all the support personnel and equipment for the Red Arrows. Terry Evans, head of the British Trade Office in Alkhobar, hosted a reception after the air show during which members of the Red Arrows mingled with hundreds of their admirers. The officer commanding the Red Arrows, Squadron Leader Dicky Patounas, also known as “Red One,” took a moment to discuss the team’s regional tour.
“Each display in this tour has been unique. There have also been some things we’ve not done before,” he explained. “Here in Alkhobar we’ve displayed at a beach front. Often, our shows are done at airfields for a closed audience and the public doesn’t get to see us. Today it was lovely to fly over the Corniche. Yes, there was a VIP area, but then there were so many people lining the seaside and having a look see. I enjoyed that.”
There was quite a challenge though in putting on an aerobatic display in such high temperature conditions.
“The heat has a massive effect,” Patounas observed. “We were very concerned about today in Alkhobar, being able to achieve a display that was up to our standard. We did have to change things quite a lot. The show is designed for England. During the year we do some 90 displays in England and only a few abroad. So the display is designed for a temperature of about 25 degrees maximum. All jet engines are less efficient when it’s hot or when you’re high up. Here, it being +40, we get a lot less performance from the engines. In England the display is quite tight because we’re trying to show the extreme of the aircraft and there’s not much margin or much flexibility. In this heat the aircraft really struggles so the display can’t be as tight or as quick.”
While Red One to Red Nine are all charming fellows, the full Red Arrows team is actually more than 100-strong. Increasingly, that team is made up of RAF women who help keep the Red Arrows’ Hawk aircraft in top shape. The Team Manager is Squadron Leader Paula Hunt and other women perform duties in flight planning and supply. Junior Technician Abbie Stevens, “Circus 7, ” is a passenger in the seat behind “Red 7,” Flt. Lt. Jim Turner on the way to and from each event. The nine “Circus” members service the display aircraft before and after each show. Asked what women can do to make their way in a field dominated by men Stevens thought for a moment and replied, “Try your hardest and give as good as you get.” That’s a strategy more and more women in Saudi Arabia already seem to have taken to heart.
