THERE will be more local interest than usual when the Red Arrows appear for their annual display at Dartmouth Regatta, because flying with them will be local man, Mark Cutmore.

Flt Lt Cutmore, whose father is Stan Cutmore, the butcher in Duke Street, joined the RAF in 1988 and completed his officer training at Cranwell, the present home of the Red Arrows.

He then went on to train as an air traffic control officer and spent 18 months at RAF Honington in Suffolk before re-training as a pilot. In August 1993 he joined No 54(F) Squadron to fly Jaguars at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk.

Flt Lt Cutmore is no stranger to display flying, having flown more than 75 public shows displaying the RAF's Jaguar single-seat ground attack aircraft.

He commented: 'I'm not one of those people who always wanted to join the air force. It was a sudden impulse when I was at college so I was never in the Air Training Corps or the Combined Cadet Force.

'I am sure my experience as a solo Jaguar display pilot will stand me in good stead, but now I've joined the Red Arrows it's back to the beginning of the learning curve'.

Flt Lt Cutmore is married to Emma and the couple have two children, Daisy, 2, and Polly, six months.

The Red Arrows will be giving their display this year on Dartmouth Regatta Saturday – August 28.