October 24, 2022 10.29 am This story is over 29 months old

Landmark moment as final Red Arrows jet leaves RAF Scampton

The team has moved over to RAF Waddington

Here is the final jet that took off from the RAF Scampton runway. | Photo: UK MOD © Crown copyright 2022

By Ellis Karran Local Democracy Reporter

The end of an era has been signalled as a Red Arrows jet left the RAF Scampton runway for the final time, bringing the curtain down on decades of history for the base.

The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team has been completing the permanent move to RAF Waddington for several months now, prompted by the Ministry of Defence announcing the closure of former home RAF Scampton.

The move to RAF Waddington was celebrated within the Lincolnshire community, as the county’s rich Royal Air Force history looks to continue in a significant manner.

On Wednesday, October 19, a moment of sombre remembrance took place as a Red Arrows jet took off from runway 04 at Scampton one final time.

The jet with this honour was one of the team’s BAE Systems Hawk T1As, with a distinctive Union flag livery and registration XX323.

Wing Commander Neill Atkins, Station Commander of RAF Scampton, said: “This is both an historic and a somewhat emotional moment for us at Royal Air Force Scampton. The Red Arrows have been based here since 1983, which makes them one of the longest-resident flying units in the Station’s history.

“We wish the team all the very best for their future, operating from their new home at RAF Waddington and we are all sure they will continue to go from strength-to-strength as fantastic ambassadors for both the Royal Air Force and the nation.

“While we will dearly miss being the team’s home, we are excited to know that they will continue to train in the skies of Lincolnshire.”

A closure parade was held at RAF Scampton back in September, ahead of the base shutting for good at the end of 2022 and bringing to an end 106 years of service.

RAF Scampton history

RAF Scampton. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Serving a key role in the UK’s aviation industry over the last century, RAF Scampton possesses so much history that it actually predates the Royal Air Force itself.

The site was first opened as Air Station Brattleby Cliff in 1916, at the height of the First World War, before transitioning to RAF Scampton in 1936.

Two Vulcans escorted by four Lightnings fly over RAF Scampton during the 1960s. | Photo: RAF Scampton Heritage Centre

During the most intense times in recent British history, RAF Scampton became a base of operations for some of the most essential operations in the RAF.

The now iconic 617 Squadron – best known as the Dambusters – had RAF Scampton as its home during the Second World War, and the nuclear-armed Avro Vulcan bombers used during the Cold War were also situated at the Lincolnshire base.

RAF Scampton is the only base across the entire Royal Air Force to have earned three separate Victoria Cross awards, and it hasn’t just been wartime aircraft and personnel that make the base famous across the globe.

The Red Arrows returning to base at RAF Scampton. | Photo: Royal Air Force

It was 1983 when arguably the base’s most recognisable tenants arrived, as the Red Arrows moved across from RAF Kemble to Lincolnshire for the first time – and they’ve been in our county ever since.

Since the Red Arrows move to Scampton, the base has bared witness to multiple high-profile visitors and events, including an episode of cooking competition show Masterchef, and a Boeing 747 flying children, local media and charities to the filming of an episode of BBC programme Songs of Praise.

The runway was graced with the presence of Formula 1 legend Sir Lewis Hamilton in 2013, who filmed a sequence ahead of the British Grand Prix by driving across the 9,000ft tarmac strip with a Red Arrows jet following behind.

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