The RAF Aerobatic Team left RAF Waddington on 15 April and touched down in Greece two days later. Their destination: Exercise Springhawk — the intensive five-week pre-season training block that stands between the Red Arrows and their 2026 display season. The stakes this year are higher than usual. Before the team can pull on their red flying suits, they must first earn Public Display Authority from senior RAF assessors. And what’s waiting on the other side of that assessment is the most consequential U.S. tour the team has mounted since 2019.
What Springhawk Actually Means
Springhawk is not a shakedown. It’s a crucible. Based at Tanagra Air Base with training windows running five or six days a week from mid-April through mid-May, the team flies up to three sorties daily in their BAE Systems Hawk T.1s — logging as many as 15 sorties per week. Greece is chosen deliberately. The reliable Mediterranean weather gives the team the uninterrupted flying hours that Lincolnshire’s skies rarely guarantee in spring.
The format is intentional pressure. The nine-ship formation rehearses the full 2026 display programme: synchronised formation aerobatics from Reds 1–5 — the “Enid” section — followed by the higher-tempo second half driven by Reds 6–9 (“Hanna”), anchored by the opposition manoeuvres of the Synchro Pair at Red 6 and Red 7. Senior RAF officers observe throughout. When they’re satisfied, Public Display Authority is granted, and only then do pilots trade green overalls for red, with ground crews changing into royal blue display coveralls. The 2025 PDA came through on 22 May. The team is targeting early June for 2026.
“Once we’re out here, it allows us to isolate in a bubble and just get back up to the speed we need to be so we’re ready for the display season. It’s the first time we’ve gone back into three flights a day, five days a week, and I think we’re all getting a little tired — but it’s really good to prepare ourselves, especially when you get into the summer season where we’re doing two or three displays a day over a few days over the weekend.”
— Flight Lieutenant James Turner, Red 4 (from a prior Springhawk deployment)
Three New Faces in the Formation
Three pilots are joining or returning to the team for 2026. Flight Lieutenant Matt Brighty steps into the Red 2 position — the first pilot in the team’s history to have flown with both the Red Arrows and the RAF Typhoon Display Team, with operational time on the Tornado GR4 and Typhoon before his 2023 Typhoon display season. Flight Lieutenant Chris Deen takes Red 3, bringing Typhoon experience and a completed exchange tour on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Then there’s Squadron Leader Stu Roberts, returning as Red 10 — team commentator, display scheduler, site assessor, and spare aircraft pilot — having previously led the Synchro Pair as Red 6 in 2024.
“My reaction to finding out I had been selected for the Red 10 role was a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I’m really looking forward to getting out with the team but I’m acutely aware I’ve got big shoes to fill.”
— Squadron Leader Stu Roberts, Red 10
The U.S. Tour That’s Reshaping the 2026 Calendar
The Red Arrows haven’t performed in the United States since 2019. When they return this July, they’re doing it with two of the highest-profile bookings imaginable. On 4 July, the team will fly over Washington D.C. as part of America 250 — the capstone celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Organisers expect more than a million people on the National Mall, with the day headlined by the largest pyrotechnics display in the history of the world.
Three weeks later, 24–26 July, the Red Arrows make their first-ever appearance at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — the world’s largest airshow, which drew a record 704,000 visitors from 94 nations in 2025. They’ll share the Oshkosh flight line with the USAF F-22 Raptor and F-16 Viper Demonstration Teams.
That American commitment comes at a cost on the home calendar. The U.S. dates place the team squarely in conflict with RIAT 2026 at RAF Fairford, running 17–19 July, and the Red Arrows are not expected to appear at their traditional home-crowd showcase this year. Aviation enthusiasts tracking the RIAT programme should plan accordingly.
What’s Next
The first confirmed UK public displays are scheduled for the English Riviera Airshow in Paignton, Devon, from 29–31 May, followed by the RAF Cosford Air Show on 14 June — both contingent on PDA being awarded beforehand. Washington D.C. on 4 July opens the U.S. chapter, with Oshkosh following on 24–26 July. The Hawk T.1, which the team is confirmed to operate through at least 2030, will fly all of it.
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