Team Raven is a British civilian aerobatic team flying the Vans RV-8. Founded in May 2014 with five aircraft, many of the team’s pilots are former members of Team Viper and the Red Star Rebels. In 2016, the team flew six aircraft (five RV-8s and one RV-4), before shrinking to five. For 2022, they once again display six RV-8s.
Active: 2014-present
Country: 
United Kingdom
Home base: Swansea
Operator: Private
Size: 6 aircraft (6 in display)
AIRCRAFT FLOWN
Vans RV-8 (2014-present)
Vans RV-4 (2016)
LINKS
Official website
Display
The aim of Team Raven’s display is to present manoeuvres to the crowd at all times, with no gaps, similar to major European military jet teams such as the Red Arrows and Patrouille de France. The team is also unusual in that it performs formation aerobatics with relatively large groups of aircraft, often including notable rolling componants (for example, a six-ship quarterclover), which is extremely rare for aerobatic teams flying such low-powered aircraft.
The six aircraft begin with a loop and wingover in a 6-ship Delta formation, but quickly break down into smaller groups. For much of the first half of the show, the team roughly fly as a four-ship and two soloists. For the second half of the show, they generally fly in two groups of three.
Manoeuvres include:
- Delta Loop (six-ship loop in Delta)
- Stinger Barrel Roll (five-ship barrel roll in Stinger)
- Cyclone (three-ship flyby with fourth aircraft barrel rolling around)
- Crossing Flute (one vs. one opposition pass)
- Cross Break (four-ship opposition break)
- The Heart (two-ship)
- Twizzles (six-ship in echelon roll-under break)
- Big Vic Fan Break (five-ship on-crowd bomb burst)
- Fan break (six-ship quarterclover into a downwards bomb burst)
