It was in 1964 when the Royal Air Force amalgamated its display teams into one, premier unit – the Red Arrows. The name was taken from the Black Arrows team and the colour scheme as a tribute to the Red Pelicans, while the aircraft chosen to be flown, the Gnat, had been used by the Yellowjacks.

In the first season of 1965, the team – flying seven aircraft in a display and based at RAF Fairford – performed 65 shows. A media event at RAF Little Rissington on May 6 was the team’s first official display, with the first public performance in the UK on May 15 at Biggin Hill Air Fair. The team permanently increased to nine display aircraft in 1968 and the Diamond Nine became the Red Arrows’ trademark formation.

The Gnat, which had flown 1,292 displays, was replaced by the BAE Systems Hawk, a modified version of the RAF’s fast jet and weapons trainer, for the 1980 season. Also that year, permission was given for the team to have the motto Eclat – meaning excellence.

RAF Scampton – the station famous for its role in the 1943 Dambusters raid – became the team’s new home in 1983, moving from RAF Kemble – its base since 1966. Apart from a period at RAF College Cranwell between 1995 and 2000, the Lincolnshire station has been the Red Arrows’ permanent home ever since.

During the team’s world tour of October 1995 to February 1996, the Red Arrows performed to nearly a million people in Sydney on Australia Day.

In 2002, the Red Arrows flew with a British Airways Concorde over London to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

A decade later, the Red Arrows performed another series of flypasts over the capital, for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony – seen by a global television audience in excess of one billion people – and the Athlete’s Parade.

The 4,500th Red Arrows display took place at the RAF Waddington International Air Show in July 2013 – in the team’s 49th season and the year concluded with a highly-successful tour of the Middle East.

In 2014, the 50th display season was marked as a major milestone with a series of celebrations throughout the year. The Red Arrows were the main feature and theme of the year’s airshows. There were also television and radio documentaries, magazines produced and even a high speed train named after the team.

A special, one-off, tailfin was revealed on the team to recognise the anniversary season, with the design incorporating both a Gnat and Hawk jet outline to reflect the two types of aircraft flown by the team in its history.

For the 2015 season, instead of returning to the traditional three-stripe tailfin livery used since the 1960s, a fresh new paint scheme was revealed on the jets during a live television broadcast from RAF Scampton. This Union flag-inspired design features flowing red, white and blue lines and emphasises the Red Arrows’ role as national ambassadors for the United Kingdom.

In September 2016, after a busy domestic season, the team embarked on its biggest overseas tour in a decade. The nine-week deployment to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions covered 20,000 miles. The tour took the Red Arrows to 17 countries – including visiting China for the first time in the Squadron’s history. It is estimated the team’s activities were seen by a global audience, in person or through media channels, of up to one billion people. The deployment contributed to the Government’s GREAT campaign, supporting UK interests across business, trade and education and promoting the best of British innovation, technology and creativity.

Image: Red Arrows flying over Buckingham Palace, summer 2012