XX227 was the longest serving Red Arrows Hawk.  Built in 1979, she was among the first tranche delivered to the team on 6th February 1980.  For the next 38 years, she’d wow crowds all around the globe, making the last of her 13 855 landings and 8077 hours on 16th February 2018.  She retired to RAF Cosford as an instructional airframe, training the next generation of RAF engineers, many of whom may have been inspired to join up after seeing ‘The Reds’.
During that long life, XX227 underwent a number of upgrades and rebuilds; this coffee table coming from the second set of three pairs of wings fitted.   Lightly restored and repaired, the wing tip has its original wing fence and vortex generators, but still bears the hallmarks of her operational life.  It has been fitted with solid oak panels, which support a 10mm, toughened glass top.  This is mounted on a set of box section steel legs.   Measuring approximately 6’ x 3’, it weighs around 150kg.