Ray Hanna
| Ray Hanna | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 August 1928 Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Died | 1 December 2005 (aged 77) Switzerland |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 Royal Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1949–1971 |
| Rank | Squadron Leader |
| Commands held | The Red Arrows |
Raynham George Hanna AFC (with bar) (28 August 1928 – 1 December 2005) was a New Zealand-born fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. During his R.A.F. career he was a founding member of its Red Arrows aerobatics display team. He also founded The Old Flying Machine Company which commercially flies World War 2 vintage fighter aircraft at air displays around the globe, and for television and cinematic productions. He was regarded in the aviation community as possibly the finest display pilot of the Spitfire in the world in the latter half of the 20th Century, noted for his deft handling of the machine in flight and daring aerobatic stunt flying.
Hanna was born at Takapuna in New Zealand on 28 August 1928. He received his early formal education at Auckland Grammar School. Whilst still a teenager he received first lessons in flying in the Tiger Moth, and setting his heart on a career as an airman, worked his passage on a merchant ship in 1949 at the age of 21 to England in order to join the fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force there.
During his initial training with the R.A.F. he flew types such as the Percival Prentice, North American Harvard and Gloster Meteor. He went on to fly the Hawker Tempest, Hawker Sea Fury and Bristol Beaufighter.
His first operational posting was to No.79 Squadron flying the Meteor FR.9 as part of the NATO Second Allied Tactical Air Force. Hanna flew a number of early British jet aircraft in this period, including the de Havilland Vampire, de Havilland Venom, Supermarine Attacker, Hawker Sea Hawk, Supermarine Swift and Gloster Javelin. Early in his career, Hanna had the opportunity to become involved with aerial display teams, first as the leader of a four-ship Hunter display team in 1957 and then, in 1963–64, as a member of a Meteor display team operated by the College of Air Warfare.
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