[Closed] Should the Red Arrows be scrapped?

the Red Arrows are just a display team

No, they are noy JUST a display team. They are THE BEST aircraft display team in the World. Bar none. And for that alone £8.8 million is worth it just to rub the Yanks faces in it. 😉

Tell you what, I've just worked out they cost everyone about 15p a year. I'll give you £1.50 and they you're not paying for them for the next 10 years, eh? 8)

Given the amount of people crowded round Falmouth & the general area last night & the amount that'll be in Fowey next wednesday & I'm sure that's replicated where ever they turn up, I'd say it's money well spent.

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I'll give him £1.50 as well.
15p a year's a bargain.
How much was claimed by MP's last year I wonder, probably not 8 million but I know where I'd rather see my money go.

My wife and daughter watched them in while they were in Minehead yesterday, supposedly Butlins paid the (£6000?)fee.

I think it would cost a [i]lot[/i] more than 6k to get them all off the ground for a display, but if they are anything like the Vulcan (my father-in-law works for/with them) they string several displays all over the country together in the same sortie: it only takes them half an hour to get from one to the next so as long as they make sure they've done a wee before they leave....

Keep 'em. If for no other reason than whenever there is a flypast in London they (and the rest of the flypast, but just the jets) fly right over my house. When I say right over, I mean right over!

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Also get lots of other nice shiney loud stuff 😀

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More [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheesyfeet/sets/72157594168375196/ ]here[/url] and [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheesyfeet/sets/72157605602589482/ ]here[/url]

Saw them flying over the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year..they made me quite proud and emotional. I wonder how many international visitors looked up and commented that they wish their country had something similar?

Typical if this country....something works....let's discuss scrapping it,

Jeez they install far more pride than those idiotic overpaid footballers that have spawned 50 years of moronic idolisation and zombie like followings!

Fly high for as long as you can - long live our great Red Arrows!

Love the Red Arrows... £8.5 million a year? Bargain! 8)

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Do any of the knockers consider that doing this sort of thing hones the skills needed to fly a plane?

It hones the skill of flying very close formation for ten pilots out of I don't know how many, yes. It has the square root of bugger all to do with tactical combat flying though.

(I'm not a knocker.)

Any RAF types care to comment?

Given the amount of people crowded round Falmouth & the general area last night & the amount that'll be in Fowey next wednesday & I'm sure that's replicated where ever they turn up, I'd say it's money well spent.

You live in Falmouth?

We're nearby and saw the whole lot from our garden - amazing!!

yes, also the italian version of the red arrows are better!

mmmmmm....not as precise, but they do have a better commentator

I love the way that my point has sailed spectacularly over some of your heads, leaving a red white and blue smoke trail...

Elfinsafety - you appear to have no understanding of the Armed Forces as a whole

They exist to serve the nation; to defend our borders and our interests overseas. By and large most of those who serve do a fantastic job. But a large part of the 'job' involves the potential for killing and destruction. I don't see much glamour in the armed forces. I find it disturbing that some seek to glorify their role. To me, they are a necessary evil. As for the defence industry, I'd much prefer it if all those people weren't employed making guns and bombs, and making benign things instead. So much effort going into the mechanics of War. Wouldn't you much rather see them build bicycles?

[b]When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.[/b] ~H.G. Wells

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As usual, you see the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

I fail to see the value in wasting taxpayers' money on frivolities at a time when public services are being cut. I think it's long overdue that many military 'traditions' were looked at as part of the 'austerity drive'. Why should they remain beyond scrutiny? If there is a 'value' in retaining them, fine. Certainly the soldiers in funny hats outside Buckingham Palace seem to be part of the tourist attraction, so maybe provide good value for money. I'm not talking about destroying tradition, I'm just asking if certain things could be funded in different ways, this saving money for more important things like healthcare, education, etc which will undoubtedly suffer with all the cuts that are going to be made.

I would like to think I've got life expectancy of at least another 40 years ahead of me. So if anyone who wants to pay me so that the cost of the Red Arrows isn't coming out of my pocket, great. Oh can I add on all the other 'traditional ceremonial stuff' that I see as unnecessary as well please? I'll round it up to about £20 a head, is that ok? So each of you that want to keep paying for it all out of your taxes, could you give me £20 each? Thanks.

I might be able to afford a new bicycle! Woohoo! 😀

Epicyclo

I think it gives the main-line pilots something to aim for and introduces a healthy competition to encourage pilots to perform to their very best.

It also has the added benefit that when the guys return to the front-line or training units they can export some of their techniques to the rest of the pilots; I've had first-hand benefit from this.

However it is far from operational; many pilots (no names named!!) haven't and probably won't see the operational flying that us lesser pilots have enjoyed. To me that's the crux of being a military pilot; spending time on operations doing 'THE' job.

It's also used as a break from the front line; there is only so long you can sustain ops before burning out, however the Reds work bloody hard and it's not a rest by any stretch in the true sense of the word!!

Went to see the red arrows at Eastbourne yesterday. They are superb.
I am sure there are ways to reduce the cost, and I'm sure they will be asked to tighten the belt, but it would be terrible if they were no longer flying.

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To answer to the OP yes... The planes are sh1te anyway, you want alpha-jets.

They are THE BEST aircraft display team in the World

The image of the Queen and the Royals is part of the reason they come and spend their dosh here. It's a big part of our "brand image" as a tourist destination.

Now you are just so ****ing wrong. Utterly, massively just plain wrong.
I would say for 85-90% of the people who want to vist the UK want to visit (please lets pray fred don't see what I am going to write) London. The goldne eyes, the bridges, the millenium dome, camden town. When you ask foreigners (and I bet I have ask a lot more than you) about UK, answers are:
Bad weather
Bad food
Red phone booth
Boddy hats
and London (ok not in that particular order, but we can't have fred get a heart attack).

The queen comes way down the list.

The Red Arrows are crowd pullers wherever they go worldwide, and I also personally believe they are the best aerobatics display team in the world. They are ambassadors for the Royal Air Force, and even more so for UK Aviation, a lot of aircraft and equipment sales are generated off the backs of Red Arrows visits to other countries.

Also, there is quite a bit of behind the scenes work done by the team. You all probably don't know that this year is the 150th anniversary of Cadet Organizations in the United Kingdom. As part of this, a number of Army, Navy, ATC and CCF Cadets were given a Red Arrows visit, and a lucky few Cadets were given the opportunity to fly with them in the Flypast of Buckingham Palace during the Anniversary Parade. To me, the red Arrows giving once in a lifetime opportunities like that is worth the price alone!

There are certain things at airshows which a crowd stopppers - one of those is the Red Arrows, as soon as they start their display, all eyes are turned skywards.
The same happened at Waddington earlier this year, but I must admit, I enjoyed these guys more....

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[b][u]Red Arrows at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2010[/u][/b]

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Just seen the display at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta (Pictures courtesy of BBC Bristol) absolutely awesome and worth every penny of the £8.8M

juan: I meant [i]real[/i] people, not the French 😀

Obviously a country of republicans will be less interested in Royalty, but try asking Americans or anyone from the Commonwealth (or even former Empire countries).

Bad weather
Bad food
Red phone booth
Boddy hats
and London

Yeah but people don't come for those except maybe London - and part of the attraction of London is the royal stuff anyway.

They've just flown over my house and they're superb.

Excellence like this deserves such funding.

Plenty of other things out there that should be scrapped ... but not this.

tell the pope to stay home, run the red arrows for nearly three years...

Dont know if anyone has mentioned this but the pilots themselves have done all the training and tours in various other fast jets before applying / being selected for the arrows. I believe they are a genuine bunch, i know the guy who ejected out of his earlier this year - I work with his wife - I can honestly say that while it may seem to some that they are just 'messing in jets' they genuinely are hard workers and when not flying they are raising money for charities, they ran the London Marathon this year for a charity that gives RAF staff better call facilities when on tour back home, they are currently planning a Lands end to John O Groats trip for charity.

Since joining the RAF all he wanted to do was be a Red Arrow pilot, it is the highest accolade for some pilots, to do so he did his service and all that was required of him. i also know a Typhoon pilot who says the arrows arent for him, its each to his own.

Forget scrapping them, put a stop to all illegal benefits, dont allow any illegal immigrants any money from the UK, etc etc etc

I hope not. Paid a fortune to overfly the stw forum mendip today 🙂 yes they really did!

Right, so after all that, not one justifiable reason to keep paying for them with taxpayers' money at al then? As I suspected. 🙂

a lot of aircraft and equipment sales are generated off the backs of Red Arrows visits to other countries.

Utter tosh. The sales would go through regardless, the Arrows are simply part of a global travelling trade show; they're simply the 'dancing girls' while the warmongers sit around feasting on the blood of innocents. Somone about to buy £X billion quid worth or war machine doesn't sit there humming and hawing 'ooh should I, shouldn't I- OOH LOOK PRETTY PLANES where's my chequebook?'. Do they bollocks.

Nope. Scrap 'em, use the money for a drug rehabilitation centre in Rochdale, I say. 😉

Night all!

BTW, where's my refund?