RAF Centenary Flypast

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The BBC breakfast news this morning had a report about next weeks flypast.
They were explaining the huge difficulties faced in organising 'up to a hundred' helicopters and aircraft to arrive over the Mall at the correct time. The report ended with the statement that this was the largest such flypast in living memory.
Well I am not old enough to remember it but the Queen is, she was there on the day of the 1953 Coronation flypast held at RAF Odiham where +600 aircraft flew past.
This MOD picture was posted on Twitter and is the only colour image I have ever seen of the 1953 event. https://twitter.com/RAeSTimR/status/1012637928881819648
Lancaster's took part in 1953 and one will in 2018, nice.

Richard

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20 years 5 months

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Up to 100??? Is that encluding privately owned aircraft??? Never knew the RAF had that many left :highly_amused:

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The report ended with the statement that this was the largest such flypast in living memory.
Well I am not old enough to remember it but the Queen is, she was there on the day of the 1953 Coronation flypast held at RAF Odiham where +600 aircraft flew past.

Pitiful BBC reporting as usual, as you say, Coronation flypast is still in living memory, and even more so the Battle of Britain 50th Anniversary is certainly in living memory, including mine, and that was 164 aircraft IIRC.

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A gushing Sophie Rayworth on the 10 o'clock news just described it as the biggest flypast over London EVER ! :rolleyes:

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I think the Luftwaffe may have something to say about that !

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Up to 100??? Is that encluding privately owned aircraft??? Never knew the RAF had that many l

Apparently there are only twenty - but they are going to fly a tight circuit five times and hope that no-one on the ground starts to get a sense of déjà vu!

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Hi All,
Talking of RAF 100 would have been to hard to organise a weekend of static aircraft including all available to fly in either at the listed sites below ? Rather
than the representative flypast that will occur with gaps, noticeably two or three massive gaps the Vulcan/Victor/Nimrod/Shackleton
(Wellesbourne XM655 - To small ?) Doncaster XH558 -(Both live taxi):-South end XL426 / Duxford XJ824(Static with live content Preferred).

I mean you would have a wider variety of types you could even have active runway taxi runs ? It seems to me that another opportunity to
celebrate in true style while having a truer representation of RAF aircraft from all eras WW1/WW2/50'S/60'S/70'S/80's/90's through to todays aircraft will
be missed.

At Duxford would it be to much to trundle the aircraft outside placed in era order with any live participants in ascending era operating at set times ? I do
realise that it would take months in planning but I assume as the Duxford crowd are all aviation orientated this could be achieved if everybody just came
together of those that had whatever aircraft of whatever era at hand static or active.

I know, I know before you say it a fanatasy but I honestly can't see a problem You have the aircraft, you have the man power and I assume that if
asked for many volunteers would lend they're bodies to push and pull the aircraft if needed....;)

Geoff.

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Flight restrictions can be found here:

http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-41A406960161F25C4C7553C2D8480DD2/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/AIC/M/049-2018/EG_Circ_2018_M_049_en_2018-06-07.pdf

Gives a better idea of the route and maybe some idea of where to watch from (other than London). I reckon the full flypast will cross the M25 half way between the M11 and A12 junctions - not too sure of the junction numbers!

The whole thing kicks off on the BBC at 9.20am, which I guess includes the parade etc.

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Usually I dont moan about whats been done...but...the RAF 100 so far has been limited to Cosford, this flypast is one of the better parts and those lucky enough to be there should see a fine event at B of B Duxford later this year..
Geoff, I agree, money spent on garden is wasted.

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TEEJ above [Post #5] linked to a site that listed 67 aircraft in 18 formations as rehearsing. If you add to this the Battle of Britain flight, the Red Arrows and, as I recall the content of the BBC report, 22 aircraft in a 'secret' formation (perhaps spelling out "100" across the sky - my speculation), then you would indeed be talking of around 100 in total. Is my recall of the BBC report correct?

Incidentally, one website also shows an RC-135 as perhaps taking part.

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Scotavia - there was an admittedly small display in celebration of RAF100 a few weeks ago at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. Poor weather prevented some participants from getting there but there was an RAF Tornado and Plane Sailing's Catalina made a number of water takeoffs and landings. Small but nice!

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So please educate me. The flypast over ODIHAM in 1953 had 600 plus aircraft. The Battle of Britain flypast over (London?) had how many aircraft? What year was that?

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The 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain flypast took place on 15th September 1990 & comprised 168 aircraft, (in deference to Firebird, it may have ended up as 164 on the day), I watched the rehearsal at RAF Wittering a few days before the event & it was an impressive sight. I believe the first BoB flypast, led by Douglas Bader in 1945 was more numerous, but as I am now only of the tender age of 67, I was not there! To say this is the biggest flypast over London ever is typical media hype / inaccuracy, doesn't anyone research the subject they are reporting on any more?

Regards, Rich.

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How many took part in the Queen's Silver Jubilee flypast ?...I was working at Hatfield Peverel when the practice flight flew over.
An impressive array of aircraft we can only dream about now.

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I believe the first BoB flypast, led by Douglas Bader in 1945 was more numerous, but as I am now only of the tender age of 67, I was not there!

My Mum saw it.....:cool:

300 or 350 is the number that rings a bell.

The 160+ 50th Anniversary flypast was definitely the largest since the 1945 one, and will likely remain that way in an ever decreasing RAF.

I was at Abingdon when it flew over, and even then I had a feeling that I would never seen anything like it again.

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How many took part in the Queen's Silver Jubilee flypast ?

Wasn't over London though was it, it was at RAF Finningley.

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I wasn't there either, so the following comes from a couple of contemporary reports.

RAF Open Days were held at around 90 stations over the weekend of 15 and 16 September 1945 and it was the start of a Thanksgiving Week. PM Atlee addressed a crowd of over 20,000 in Trafalgar Square where a V2 and some German jets were on display. Atlee's speech was to launch a savings drive (similar to the American War Bonds scheme, I believe). Part of the event was a flypast: "More than 300 planes were in the armada that entertained the city today".

On Saturday, 15th September, at North Weald, "squadrons of Mosquitoes, Beaufighters and Spifires (were) readied for the flypast". "... Coastal Command ... Mosquito VIs ... and Beaufighter T.F.X torpedo fighters .... were the first to take off", followed, 20 minutes later, by a "Battle of Britain" squadron made up of BoB pilots led by Bader. They were flying various kinds of Spitfire IX (F., LF., and HF.) Just after 12.30, the rest of the formation arrived over North Weald and "...the 25 squadrons set off on their course round London, with the Spitfires followed by Mustangs, Tempest IIs and Vs, Typhoons, Mosquitoes, Meteors and Beaufighters". Interestingly, "a low ceiling forced the aircraft to fly lower than they would have done under normal circumstances". Having completed their part, "less than half an hour later, they were back" at North Weald.

On Sunday, 16th September, a display of German aircraft opened in Hyde Park, "disappointing in its small size", as there were only around 10 of them. In the afternoon that day, Geoffrey de Havilland gave an aerobatic display over Hyde Park in a Vampire, described as "still secret".

In Washington Cathedral (that's DC, by the way, just to be clear), there was a service of thanksgiving, too. The scriptures were read by the British Ambassador, who was still Lord Halifax, an irony perhaps lost on most of the congregation.

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How many took part in the Queen's Silver Jubilee flypast ?
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Wasn't over London though was it, it was at RAF Finningley.

My mistake maybe, it was a big flypast and following the A12 in Essex.. I'm sure it was in the 70's

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My mistake maybe, it was a big flypast and following the A12 in Essex.. I'm sure it was in the 70's

Probably one of the annual Trooping the Colour flypasts in June, they were quite something back in the 70's, usually with multiple Vulcans, Victors with escorts Lightnings, F-4's or Jaguars etc.

This was the one from 1981, the last to feature Vulcans, and taken from outside my parents house in West London.

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