The Red Arrows • IWM Duxford - Flying Finale

Video from the channel Biggsy about Duxford Flying Finale 2026, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 30:39. Language: English. Video type: Air show.

The video shows the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force's aerobatic team, performing as the closing act of the 2025 Duxford Flying Finale, the team's last display of the season. The commentary is given by the team's supervisor (Red 10), in his last display in that role. The formation is led, for the second year, by Squadron Leader Jon Bond. That day only eight aircraft flew because one suffered a technical fault: Red 5 was missing, although his pilot was riding in the back seat of number nine. The commentator introduces the pilots and their previous careers, mostly on Typhoon and Tornado, and also bids farewell to Red 11, Wing Commander Adam Collins, who was leaving the team at the end of the season.

The first half strings together figures in close formation: the Swan, the Concorde, a Typhoon figure for the 20th anniversary of the RAF Typhoon display, an Apollo silhouette to represent the RAF's space capability, the Big Vixen and the Tornado. In the second half the team splits into two sections: Enid (Reds 1 to 4) and Hannah (Reds 6 to 9), named after Ray Hanna, one of the team's earliest members. The Twister, the Hannah Break, the Boomerang, the synchro pair's heart, the Double Roll, the Corkscrew, the Circus, the Tango and the final maneuver, the Cross, are all shown. The Chainsaw and the Tempest, the two new figures for 2025, also appear. During the crosses, the synchro pair descend to about 100 feet with closing speeds of over 800 mph. At the end, the team makes one last formation pass before departing.

The commentary explains that the colored smoke comes from a container under the fuselage: it provides about five minutes of white smoke and one minute of each color, and each color has its own button on the stick. In some maneuvers the aircraft fly with the ventral airbrake deployed, which requires more power and makes the smoke brighter and denser. The pilots keep formation by following the leader's radio calls and always using Red 1 as their reference. The team has more than 140 people, mostly engineers and technicians.