The Macchi team of 2000

The Black Falcons name first appeared in 2000, when No. 14 Squadron’s instructors formed a five-aircraft team on the Aermacchi MB-339CB jet trainer. Its first display, on 1 January 2000, was part of the millennium celebrations at Gisborne, and the team flew only a handful of displays before it was disbanded later that year. Through the following decade and a half the RNZAF’s display team was the Red Checkers, which flew the CT-4 Airtrainer until its own disbandment in January 2015.

From Red Checkers to Black Falcons

In January 2016 Central Flying School began flying the Beechcraft T-6C Texan II, sharing eleven aircraft with No. 14 Squadron, and the new team took the Black Falcons name. Its pilots are qualified flying instructors from both units, and the team leader normally commands Central Flying School. The first planned display, at Wings over Wairarapa in 2017, was lost to bad weather, so the team’s debut came at the RNZAF 80th Anniversary Air Tattoo at its home base, Ohakea, the following week.

The team today

The team flies five black T-6Cs, sometimes within 30 metres of each other at more than 450 km/h. After almost three years in which COVID-19 restricted public displays, it returned to beach and city displays in January 2023. Its 2026 season opened at Woodbourne in January and ran to Warbirds over Wanaka in April. That season Lieutenant Commander Stephen Knowles became the first Royal New Zealand Navy pilot to join the team.