Red Arrows Bases

📍 Gloucestershire 🗓 1965 ✈ Folland Gnat T.1

RAF Fairford was the operational base for the Red Arrows' debut season in 1965. Flying seven Folland Gnat aircraft, the team completed an impressive 65 displays across the UK and Europe in that first year.

The team's first official display — a press event — took place on 6 May 1965 at RAF Little Rissington, home of the Central Flying School which had formed the team. The first public display followed on 9 May 1965 at Clermont Ferrand, France, and the first UK public show was at Biggin Hill Air Fair on 15 May. Fairford was vacated when the airfield was needed for Concorde development flying.

📍 Gloucestershire 🗓 1966–1983 ✈ Folland Gnat → Hawk T1

RAF Kemble became the Red Arrows' home for 17 years — the longest consecutive period at a single base in Gloucestershire. During the Kemble era, the team grew from seven to nine aircraft, and in 1968 adopted the Diamond Nine formation that remains their signature to this day.

It was also at Kemble that the Folland Gnat gave way to the BAE Systems Hawk T1, with the transition completed ahead of the 1979 season. The Hawk's greater performance opened new manoeuvres and higher-energy displays that defined the team's modern era. The Red Arrows left Kemble in 1983 when the Central Flying School relocated to Lincolnshire.

📍 Lincolnshire 🗓 1983–2022 ✈ BAE Hawk T1

RAF Scampton became the base most associated with the Red Arrows in the public imagination — home for nearly four decades and the setting for some of the team's greatest achievements. The station has its own extraordinary RAF history as the base from which 617 Squadron's Dambusters launched their famous raids in 1943.

The Scampton years saw the team reach a truly global audience. Key milestones include the team's 1,000th display; the landmark 1995–96 World Tour covering 52 countries across six continents; the 2012 London Olympics flypast watched worldwide; and the 2016 Asia-Pacific Tour — including the team's first ever display in China — reported to have reached over one billion people.

In 2010, Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Moore became the first female pilot to fly with the Red Arrows, a historic milestone during the Scampton era.

The final Red Arrows Hawk jet took off from RAF Scampton on 21 October 2022, ending a remarkable chapter in British aviation history. The base was subsequently decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence.

📍 Lincolnshire 🗓 1995–2000 ⏱ Temporary relocation

While RAF Scampton underwent infrastructure upgrades in the mid-1990s, the Red Arrows temporarily relocated to RAF College Cranwell — the RAF's prestigious officer training establishment, also in Lincolnshire. The team returned to Scampton in 2000 once works were complete, maintaining their Lincolnshire base throughout the interlude.

📍 Lincolnshire 🗓 October 2022–present ✈ BAE Hawk T1

RAF Waddington is the current home of the Red Arrows, just ten miles from the team's beloved Scampton. The relocation in October 2022 required moving 24 tonnes of equipment, 13 shipping containers and two static Hawk aircraft by road. The 150-strong team — pilots and Circus ground crew — now operate from Waddington's modern facilities, with dedicated hangar space and engineering infrastructure.

Waddington is an active, operational RAF station — home to several other RAF units — providing the Red Arrows with a fully supported environment and strong strategic access for UK displays and overseas deployments. The team's transit routes throughout the 2025 and 2026 seasons regularly use Waddington as a departure and return point, as shown in NOTAM data.

The 2024 60th anniversary season was marked with special commemorative artwork on the jets. From January 2026, the team is led by Wing Commander Sasha Nash — the first woman to command the Red Arrows — as they embark on one of their most internationally ambitious seasons, including a major United States tour.