Red Arrows cloud display

The unseasonably grey, dull, weather threatened to spoil the Stornoway Port Authority's Red Arrows event, but the pilots of the nine-strong fleet BAE Hawk T1 jets altered their display to take account of the low cloud base.

Aerobatic pilot, squadron leader David Montenegro, who recently joined the display team, said the weather ended up being better than expected, with the clouds rising in the afternoon.

He said: “Its very unique for the team to come to the Western Isles. The last occasion was 2001, quite a long time ago.

He added the performance arena over the harbour area, with sea surrounded by hills, had its “challenges."

“However we train for this all throughout the year. We do six months training at various locations throughout UK which gets us ready for any of these sites.

He said the “weather is the main driving factor on the type of display,” with one of three performance sets put on depending on the prevailing local conditions.

Kirsty Smith of Plasterfield, Lewis, and her ten-year-old daughter, Isles and Freya, 8, were hugely impressed by the display.

She said: “It was amazing - really, really good. It was very well worthwhile coming to see.

“The display was brilliant. We loved the colours and the noise made the kids’ ears pop.”

Three-year-old Murray Smith of Stornoway said he had to cover his ears because the planes were “loud and noisy.”

He was thrilled by the “planes going upside down in the sky.”

His mum, Louise, from Stornoway, said the display was “really good and very colourful.”

Earlier the team flew 300 miles up from Bournmouth at the end of a four-day “push” or series of air displays including a performance in France.

The Red Arrows altered their display due to cloud cover

Red Arrows team altered display for unseasonable weather

30 June 2015