Ray Hanna - Most people associate Ray with his time as leader of the Red Arrows. If anything, the subsequent years have added to that lustre with displays on a variety of historic aircraft but in particular that most famous of Spitfires, MH 434, previously owned by Sir Adrian Swire and now owned and operated by OFMC. It was the Royal Air Force that provided Ray with the training and experience that has led him to become one of the most accomplished display pilots in the world. Ray joined the Royal Air Force in 1949 having learned to fly in New Zealand in 1947/48. Following training on the Prentice, Harvard and Meteor he was fortunate enough to fly such piston types as the Tempest V, Sea Fury, Balliol and Beaufighter. His first operational posting was to 79 Squadron, 2ATAF flying FR9 Meteors.
Formation aerobatics became the norm in most fighter squadrons during this period and Ray first led a team of four Hunters in 1957. In the fifties, he flew nearly all the early British jets including Vampires, Venoms, Attackers, Sea Hawks, Swifts and Javelins. In 1963/64 he was a member of the College of Air Warfare Meteor Team and then joined the Red Arrows as No 3 in 1965. It was his leadership of the team from 1966/69 that was to bring world-wide acclaim and to Ray a bar to his AFC previously awarded for several feats of airmanship.
Ray retired from the Royal Air Force in 1971 for a new career in civil aviation, initially on the Boeing 707 with Lloyd International Airways followed by seven years with Cathay Pacific, again with the 707, and for two years the Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star. In 1979 he was asked to head a private diplomatic 707 company with world-wide operations.
Ray was co-founder of OFMC with his son Mark. Ray passed away on the 2 December 2005.
