The smoke trails left by the team are made by releasing diesel into the exhaust; this oxidises straight away, leaving a white smoke trail. Dyes can be added to produce the red and blue colour. The diesel is stored in the pod on the underside of the plane; it houses three tanks: one 50-imperial-gallon (230 L) tank of pure diesel and two 10-imperial-gallon (45 L) tanks of blue- and red-dyed diesel. The smoke system uses 10-imperial-gallon (45 L) per minute; therefore each plane can trail smoke for a total of seven minutes – 5 minutes of white smoke, 1-minute of blue and 1-minute of red.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/48215073@N00">Santosh Puthran</a>
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/talk2santosh/9659055895/">Red Arrows Bournemouth Airshow 2013</a>