The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team:  The Red Arrows: TIMELINE OF RED ARROWS DISPLAYS, 2000 to 2006

2000
Innovations: the canopy bend; Swan; Swan to Short Diamond loop (the theme of executing a formation change during a loop was one which would be used frequently in coming years) Vulcan (clever use of coloured smoke); the Angel of the North; introducing a roll prior to the Gypo break, making it much easier to pick out as Gypo flies directly towards crowd centre from the front.

2001
Innovations: Big Battle to Swan; Flanker to Tornado (logical, but very well done).

2002
Innovations: Changing from Big Vixen to Kite (the first time the Red Arrows have ever done a 'gap' formation); Kite to Apollo loop (building on the loop changes from 2000-1); Wineglass (not to be confused with the formation from the 1980s), a very nice 'big' formation; Concorde roll (this year made the best use of the 'bigger' formations); the Jubilee Split (very clever indeed) taking the Gypo split straight into the Gypo cross, where the Synchro Pair immediately pull up into a loop.

2003
Innovations: Swan Arrival (a welcome return of a favourite Red Arrows formation of mine); Grippen (a logical progression from Kite in 2002);Cygnet roll (clever title for this small Swan); Nine Arrow to Angel pull up (the first time I've seen rollbacks used to execute a formation change, and very clever indeed). Apparently 2003 featured a B2 roll, but on all the occasions I saw the 2003 display, Gypo didn't catch up with Enid in time to execute the formation change, and I instead saw a "Double-Diamond Roll" which still looked rather smart.

2004
Innovations: A Big Vixen Roll for arrival - what a novel way to start the display. Very impressive indeed. The team then goes via Nine Arrow to Delta, which I haven't seen for years! The display has a completely different shape from recent years, starting with a clockwise bend, which means that the reversing bend from Swan to Concorde (a very logical change, and I was pleased to see it) is carried out at extreme crowd left. The change in the loop, common to all of the recent displays, is from Concorde to Short Diamond, so everybody has to close up on the leader during it. The change via rollbacks from Nine Arrow is to Feathered Arrow in 2004, so 4 and 5 don't move. This provides a clever variation on the previous year, while retaining a similar overall feel to the display. This year, the double Diamond roll was formally listed in the display programme. I don't know what it's like to fly, but Gypo must really fly hard to catch Enid during the roll. The Gypo mirror roll is a welcome variation, and positions Gypo well out for their approach for the Gypo break.

2005
I was disappointed with the mundane start to the 2005 display - the Diamond bend on arrival. However, there were a number of new formations in the 2005 display, including Phoenix.

2006
After many years' absence, it was refreshing to see a Big Nine - Diamond loop (it's called Big Battle now, but when I was younger, it was always Big Nine).  Phoenix made a reappearance, as did Kite (although it's now called Stingray).