They actually got back to me! I asked for some flight formation advice but the reply seems to be practice, practice, practice - and watch thos rivets.

Here it is,

Peter,

Thanks for your email asking about formation flying. I am afraid that there are no simple answers to your questions and there is no simple solution to flying in formation. All of our pilots are extremely experienced in operational terms (most have attained in excess of 1600 fast jet flying hours) yet still have to practice 3 times a day for some 5 months before they achieve the level of competence required for public display.

Keeping place in a formation is achieved by each pilot taking two reference points from an adjacent aircraft; maintaining these reference points (they can be a particular rivet on the fuselage) in a constant visual position means that that aircraft is in the correct part of the sky. There is no manual to teach you to do this - experience and practice are what you need. (my emphasis.)

I am not a pilot but I am an avid flight simmer. You will find that flying Microsoft flight sim is actually more difficult than flying the real thing.
In the real world, you can swivel your neck quickly to ascertain your position in the sky. As you will know, even with a good virtual cockpit, you cannot achieve this feat at any sort of speed.

I fly regularly online with a friend of mine - we tootle around the sky in one of the default Cessnas and even after a couple of year's practice, we both still find it difficult to maintain formation - probably our lack of skill.

I wish you luck with your endeavours but fear that you will find it extremely frustrating to achieve a good standard.

Regards,

John May

J H MAY
Warrant Officer
Red Arrows Adjutant