9:00am Sunday 24th January 2010
By Sophie Edwards
ENGINEER Rob Wheeler is looking forward to spending the summer working with the world-famous Red Arrows.
Rob, 26, who is a former pupil of the Woodlands School, in Kingswood, Basildon, has been recruited as one of a ten-strong team of engineers known as Circus, who each look after a pilot and aircraft during the team’s summer display season.
It will be Rob’s job to make sure his designated pilot and aircraft are ready to fly and wow the crowds with their aerobatics at air shows up and down the country later this year.
The lucky engineer, who also did a stint volunteering for Basildon Hospital Radio, has been given the privilege of looking after the Red Arrows’ squadron leader, Graham Duff.
Rob, who now lives in Brigg, in Lincolnshire, with his fiancée Rebekah, said: “It is a great honour to be selected for the Red Arrows’ Circus.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of my Royal Air Force career.”
The Basildon boy joined the RAF in 2004, and has been on several tours of duty in Afghanistan, as well as visiting Lebanon, Northern Ireland and Morocco.
He has worked on Chinook helicopters, and has been with the Red Arrows since 2008.
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