Britain gallery: Red Arrows 5

The Red Arrows motto, Éclat, meaning 'excellence', applies as much to the RAF's display team

as to the BAe Systems Hawk T1A aircraft that they fly, and will continue to fly until 2030

when it is scheduled to be replaced by the Mk2. The Arrows' Hawks are based at RAF

Scampton, the WW2 base that launched the audacious 'Dambusters' raid by 617 Sqn's

Lancasters against the German Ruhr-valley dams in 1943. In their distinctive Red Arrows

colours, the Hawk T1As are very capable, fast, fully aerobatic two-seat pilot- and

weapons-training aircraft that have been in service with the RAF, as an earlier type, since

1976, and to date have been by far the most successful British export since the Hawker

Hunter.

The Red Arrows motto, Éclat, meaning 'excellence', applies as much to the RAF's display team as

to the BAe Systems Hawk T1A aircraft that they fly, and will continue to fly until 2030 when it is

scheduled to be replaced by the Mk2. The Arrows' Hawks are based at RAF Scampton, the WW2

base that launched the audacious 'Dambusters' raid by 617 Sqn's Lancasters against the German

Ruhr-valley dams in 1943. In their distinctive Red Arrows colours, the Hawk T1As are very capable,

fast, fully aerobatic two-seat pilot- and weapons-training aircraft that have been in service with the

RAF, as an earlier type, since 1976, and to date have been by far the most successful British

export since the Hawker Hunter.