I spotted something in the March issue which was of particular interest to me. In the final paragraph of the article on RAF Scampton, it stated that the last aircraft to leave before closure was Red Arrows' Hawk XX323. That took me back to 1982 when I was an instructor on the Tactical Weapons Unit at Brawdy, and had volunteered to be the Strike Command Hawk display pilot. Would you believe it? XX323 was the very plane I flew for most of that season. Just goes to show what a tough old bird she is, still pulling g' and impressing the crowds 40 years after my attempts to do the same. I guess the aircraft is much older than the boys who fly her now but it must be nice to know that she's done it all before many times.
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