Yellowjacks

Blue Touch-paper

In 1963, the Hawker-Siddeley Gnat was introduced as an Advanced Trainer for the RAF. Other aircraft were becoming obsolete and the Gnat, with its sleek and elegant lines, became the natural choice as the RAF’s next aerobatic display aircraft. However, the Gnat’s sensitive controls meant that it was not all plain sailing.

Flight Lieutenant Alan Pollock (from ‘The History of RAF Aerobatic Teams from 1920’, 2010):

‘…a strict order [had been issued] forbidding anyone to fly formation aerobatics in the Gnat, on pain of a court martial. In early September 1963, an ex-Royal Navy photographer, Mr Bob Lomax, arrived on the station…On our own initiative, several of us decided that, while Bob was at Valley, he should take photographs of Gnats flying in formation. On 11 September 1963, with Flight Lieutenants Lee Jones as leader, Roger Hymans as No. 2 and myself as No. 3…we flew some formation aerobatic sorties. Later on the ground, we saw that Bob’s best photograph proved conclusively that any short-sighted prohibition on Gnat formation aerobatics made no sense.

Deciding that a picture was worth a thousand words…I left a copy of the photograph with a brief note on the desk [of the Chief Instructor, Wing Commander Bill Edwards] – that ‘blue touch-paper’ photograph would indirectly launch thousands of displays.

To his eternal credit, Bill Edwards was quick to appreciate…that the unit could work up to a formation aerobatic team and, in late April 1964…the Yellowjacks evolved under the leadership of Lee Jones.’

Group Captain Chris Christie (Deputy Chief Instructor, 4 Flying Training School, RAF Valley) (from ‘The History of RAF Aerobatic Teams from 1920’, 2010):

‘The introduction of the team came as a surprise to a lot of people. The Gnat serviceability at the time was dreadful and we were desperate for aircraft for training sorties. As a result, there was much opposition to allocating aircraft to a formation aerobatic team. The one thing for certain is that Lee Jones was so persistent and persuasive that he must take credit for the team’s foundation. He even selected the team name – ‘Yellowjack’ – which had been the call-sign of a Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force (4 ATAF) radar station in Germany during the 1950s, although this didn’t go down well with our masters but somehow got carved in stone before it was too late to change.’

The Gnat would go on to equip the team which grew out of the Yellowjacks, the Red Arrows, until 1979.