Top fighter pilot kept old warbirds flying

Squadron Leader Ray Hanna, who has died aged 77, was the leader of the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows aerobatic team in its early years, developing a level of expertise and panache in formation aerobatic flying that attracted universal acclaim and established “the Reds’’ as the world’s premier team.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the RAF instructed various f ighter squadrons to provide an official aerobatic team to participate in public events and provide welcome publicity.

With the loss of fighter squadrons due to budget constraints, it was a wasteful activity to withdraw a squadron from the front line each year.

The Central Flying School was asked to provide an official team and, in 1965, the Red Arrows were formed. Hanna was selected to join the team and within a year he became its leader.

Hanna was the ideal candidate to lead a group of individualistic and brilliant fighter pilots. An outstanding and experienced fighter pilot himself, his determination, modest authority, skill and professionalism proved an inspiration to his nine colleagues.

After an intense period of practice, flying their highly manoeuvrable, allred Gnat aircraft, the team’s reputation for excellence on the airshow scene was soon established. In a very short time, the Red Arrows, together with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, had become the public face of the RAF, as it continues to be to this day.

Hanna led “The Reds’’ for four seasons, displaying at almost 100 events each year. Their appearances included a tour of the Middle East, for which the short range of the Gnat necessitated numerous stops en route before arriving in Amman to perform in front of King Hussein.

Raynham George Hanna was born on Aug. 28, 1928 at Takapuna, New Zealand. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School before taking flying lessons on the Tiger Moth. In 1949, he worked his passage to England by ship to join the RAF.

Hanna gained his pilot’s wings before the demise of the powerful pistonengine fighters such as the Tempest, Sea Fury and Beaufighter, and his opportunities to fly them proved to be the beginning of a love affair with these evocative fighters that was to last a lifetime. He joined No. 79 Squadron in Germany, flying the Meteor jet in the fighter reconnaissance role, one of the most demanding for a single-seat pilot. This gave him the opportunity to indulge in authorized low flying, at which he excelled. Formation aerobatics was a routine for all f ighter squadrons, and Hanna developed a passion for this form of flying.

His appointment to the Overseas Ferry Squadron provided him with the opportunity to fly a wide variety of jet fighters. He ferried the early Hunters from Britain to India and the Far East.

On one occasion Hanna was returning a Vampire fighter to Britain when the aircraft’s only engine failed over India and he was unable to restart it. He eventually made a skilful crash-landing amongst a series of giant anthills close to a railway line. He waited for a passing train, which stopped for him; but the Indian guard refused to let him board since he was unable to pay the fare.

Hanna finally offered his watch as payment; the guard scribbled out an IOU and allowed him to travel.

In 1971, Hanna left the RAF to begin a new career in civil aviation. Initially he flew the Boeing 707 for Lloyd International Airways, followed by seven years with Cathay Pacific operating from Hong Kong. In 1979, he headed a company operating executive Boeing 707s, which operated worldwide.

Shortly before leaving the RAF, Hanna had been approached by Sir Adrian Swire, who had recently purchased a Spitfire IX. Swire invited him to fly and display the aircraft at a time when there were few of the wartime fighters left flying. This proved to be the beginning of a unique relationship between Hanna and MH 434 ( the aircraft’s serial number), an association which will be one of the lasting memories for Hanna’s countless admirers.

In 1981, together with his only son Mark, Hanna founded the Old Flying Machine Company, specializing in the restoration and operation of classic “warbirds’’ such as the Mustang.

(His son was killed in the crash of an Me 109 he was piloting in 1999.)

In addition to appearances at hundreds of airshows, Hanna and his pilots were in regular demand by the film industry. Some of their flying sequences in the films Empire of the Sun ( 1987) and Memphis Belle (1990) were breathtaking in their skill and audacity. After seeing the stunning sequences in the former, Stephen Spielberg insisted that Hanna and his pilots should provide the flying elements for his film Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Ray Hanna died on Thursday. He married, in 1957, Eunice Rigby, who survives him with their daughter.

The Daily Telegraph