The Red Arrows, pictured during a display last year [Photo: Michael Topham]

The scare occurred last Friday at the Red Arrows base at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, according to a message posted by the supervisor of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team on Twitter.

The safety message, posted by @rafred10, read ‘it has come to the point where people are taking unnecessary risks to get those photographs’.

It added: ‘On Friday, Air Traffic Control had to stop our pilots performing circuits as there were people on the centreline of each runway, directly under the flight paths of the aircraft taking off and landing.

‘By doing so people are endangering themselves and others and ATC had no choice but to stop us, thereby curtailing crucial training for our pilots.

‘Could we please request that people think sensibly about where to stand in order not to jeopardise their safety and our operations.’

Responding to the tweet, one Twitter user, John Atkinson, wrote: ‘What a shame some people have to take silly risks, only takes one to spoil it for so many.’

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DSC_1993.web[All photos: Michael Topham]