Tony Cunnane's RAF Years

This page is adapted from the final chapter of my book 'Red Arrows - the inside story' (published in 2001, now out of date but still sometimes available from Amazon and the like). Except where otherwise indicated in the caption, the images are my own, never before published.

Clicking on the images will pop up larger versions.

As we waited at RAF Waddington for the arrival of the Minister, John Spellar, the media representatives present were joking with each other about who had breached the MoD embargo and to what extent. In the event, I cannot see that any harm was done other than a dented principle. When he did stand up, the Minister read out a lengthy prepared statement which led on his short visit to Waddington. He talked about the value of AWACS, the airborne early warning aircraft based at Waddington, he made passing references to the Kosovo conflict, he made a complicated statement about the Defence Housing Executive which nobody appeared to understand and, finally, he made the announcement that the Red Arrows were to move back to Scampton. It was only when the Minister reached the Red Arrows’ part of his speech that the TV cameramen switched on their cameras, the snappers readied their cameras, and the scribblies poised their pens. The media can be very disrespectful when it suits them; you would have thought they would at least make the pretence of taking an interest in the other parts of the speech! The Red Arrows’ part of Mr Spellar’s statement bore little resemblance to the ‘final, final’ script that we had been given in advance but it was, nevertheless, music to my ears.

‘The Red Arrows have thrilled thousands of people across Britain and the world with their incredible flying skills,’ said the Minister. ‘The manoeuvres they do require tremendous skill, hours of practice, and total reliance on each other as a team that works as one in the air. More to the point, the Red Arrows pilots are not just display pilots. Each one is a highly trained fighter pilot and would be called on to go into battle if we needed them. Many already have battlefield experience. I know the RAF, and in particular the Red Arrows, has a special place in the affection of the local people at Scampton and I am pleased to announce that the Red Arrows will be returning to RAF Scampton on a permanent basis.’

After the formal statement the Minister spent the best part of 45 minutes giving a whole series of one-to-one interviews with each of the media organisations represented. When challenged by the BBC Radio Lincolnshire reporter about the ‘u-turn’ on Red Arrows’ basing, Mr Spellar said: ‘I do not want to make a political point; the previous administration did what they thought best in the run down from the Cold War and the ensuing defence cuts. We have done a full review of defence needs. We have brought aircraft back from Germany and we need bases for them. My announcement today is very good news for the RAF and very good news for Lincolnshire.’ During at least two of the one-to-ones Mr Spellar, in answer to the inevitable question ‘When will the Red Arrows actually move?’, apparently replied, ‘…before the end of this year’ and that response was then widely quoted in the local and regional media. It is not for me to conjecture whether this was a considered response or a slip of the tongue but it was not what the RAF or the Red Arrows wanted to hear. A move just before Christmas 2000, in the middle of the winter work-up period, was the last thing everyone wanted – except me.

Whilst Mr Spellar was giving his one-to-one interviews at one end of the briefing room, I was cornered at the other end of the room giving one-to-one interviews with all the media in turn except the Telegraph man. As a result I did not personally hear the Minister say that the move would take place before the end of the year and, in any case, I stuck to the brief I had been given which made it very clear that we were not to make any reference to a time scale for the move. I, therefore, found myself in a bit of a quandary when asked to comment on the Minister’s pronouncement about the date of the move.

As far as I could ascertain, none of the media reported anything other than the Red Arrows and Scampton elements of the Mr Spellar’s visit to Waddington. The phrase ‘my announcement is very good news for the RAF and very good news for Lincolnshire’ was repeated frequently. Many vox pops were used on local radio and television and in the local, regional and some national newspapers and every single comment that I heard and saw was favourable. There was a half-hearted inquest afterwards about which media organisations had dared to break the embargo but the most important bit of news that came out of the press conference was the definite statement that the Red Arrows would be back at Scampton before the end of the year 2000.

Amongst the vox pops reported in the Echo was one from a councillor of the West Lindsey District Council who lives near Scampton.
He stated: ‘I am delighted that the Red Arrows are coming back here and the base will be functioning as it should. The whole area felt the blow of closure and this will give it the lift we’ve long been waiting for. I know that everyone has missed the Red Arrows.’

There was a brief and forlorn hope that the RAF might get away with saying that what the Minister really meant to say was ‘before the end of this financial year’ but that idea was soon dropped. There was a lot of frantic work in the following months. Once the Minister had announced publicly that the Red Arrows would return to Scampton before the end of the year, everything was geared up to making sure that it happened, however inconvenient it might be.

I was asked if I would be willing to stay on past my 65th birthday in September long enough to cover the return. I readily agreed to stay on until the end of the year and, naturally, I got the job of organising the media facility for the Red Arrows’ fly-in.

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