Bradford pilot prepares for final season with Red Arrows

Flight Lieutenant Tom Bould, 35, who grew up in Heaton, will be one of two elite synchro pilots when the Red Arrows start their latest display season in the spring.

The synchro pair are two pilots who can fly as low as 100 feet straight and level for 150ft when in inverted flight.

The 2017 season will see the former student of Woodhouse Grove School, Apperley Bridge, fly his number which is red seven.

The Red Arrows’ display programme for the season has yet to be finalised, but its pilots are back in winter training at their base at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. Winter training for the Red Arrows’ 53rd season began on December 8.

The Red Arrows completed a major two-month tour to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions in October and November this year – the largest and most wide-ranging undertaken by the Red Arrows in a decade.

Flt Lt Bould said: “It’s a great feeling to have completed two seasons with the Red Arrows and I’m very much looking forward to my last as a Synchro Leader.

“We will be starting the work up for the 2017 display in earnest.

“The display programme has yet to be finalised for 2017, but it will probably start in April.”

He has also been reflecting on the past season, which comprised 69 displays from the world-renowned group, including a trip to China.

He added: “The Royal International Air Tattoo was my favourite event as we displayed with the Typhoon and the F-35B, which comes into service with the RAF in 2018.

“The highlight of the year was a two-month tour to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. It was the largest and most wide-ranging undertaken by the Red Arrows in a decade. We covered 20,000 miles, visited 17 different countries, including visiting China for the first time in the Squadron’s 52-season history. We were seen by a global audience, in person or through media channels, of approximately one billion people.”

He joined the Royal Air Force in 2005 and has had several deployments in the Falklands.