<p>What is the purpose of the coloured smoke?
</p>
The ‘smoke’ produced during displays is actually vapour. The primary reason that the Team use visible vapour trails is that of flight safety. The trails allow the Team Leader to judge the wind speed and direction far more accurately than by any other means. They also allow the Team Leader and Synchro Leader to keep sight of each other when two, and often three sections are often several miles apart. The vapour trails also add impact to the display sequence when viewed by the audience on the ground.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/48215073@N00">Santosh Puthran</a>
CC BY 2.0
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/talk2santosh/9655435631/">Red Arrows Bournemouth Airshow 2013</a>