MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
News Release (132/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 15
June 2007
The Royal Air
Force (RAF) is to provide a flypast to mark the Queen's
official birthday following the traditional Trooping the Colour
ceremony in Horseguards Parade, London, on Saturday 16 June 2007.
Thirty-five aircraft of 10 different types, from the World War II
(WWII) Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster, to the latest
high-tech Typhoon multi-role fighters, which now serve with four
RAF squadrons, are due to fly over Buckingham Palace.
The first of the five elements which will make up the flypast
will involve seven aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial
Flight (BBMF), based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, which this
year celebrates its 50th anniversary. The Lancaster, two
Hurricanes and three Spitfires will be joined by the Flight's
Dakota in this, the largest BBMF flypast contribution for many years.
Another notable anniversary this year is that of the Tornado
multi-role aircraft which entered service with the RAF 25 years
ago last January. Eight Tornados, four GR4 bombers and four F3
fighters, are taking part in the flypast.
The famous Red Arrows aerobatic team, which constitutes the final
element of the flypast, will fly in a special "Diamond
Nine" formation to mark the Queen and the Duke of
Edinburgh's Diamond Wedding Anniversary this year.
Each of the formation elements will fly over Buckingham Palace at
intervals of 40 seconds at an altitude of 1,500 feet starting at
1.00 pm precisely. The flypast will be approximately 14 nautical
miles long, and will take three-and-a-half minutes to fly
overhead. If the weather is unfavourable the flypast will be
postponed for four hours, to 5.00 pm.
The bulk of the flypast formation will assemble over the North
Sea near Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, before routing to The
Mall and onward to Buckingham Palace. The WWII aircraft of the
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will join the flypast route near
Fairlop to lead the stream over the Palace before turning to the
right to perform flypasts over Wembley Stadium and the RAF Museum
at Hendon.
The remainder of the formation flying at 280 knots (320 mph) will
continue past RAF Northolt, and will pass over RAF Halton,
Buckinghamshire, and RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, both of which
will be holding their Families' Days on that day. The
formation will then disperse.
Supporting the flypast will be an E-3D Sentry from RAF Waddington
acting as an airborne control and communications back-up, two
Hawks from RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire, acting as
"whip" and spare keeping the formation elements in
place, and an A-109E helicopter and HS 125 aircraft of 32 (The
Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt conducting weather checks and
acting as a camera platform.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
The formation will consist of the following elements:
Element 1: The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF
Coningsby, Lincolnshire, will be flying seven of its historic
aircraft, with the Dakota leading the Lancaster, flanked by two
Spitfires, with a third Spitfire flanked by two Hurricanes
bringing up the rear. This formation will be flying at a speed of
140 knots (160 mph).
Element 2: Nine Typhoon fighter aircraft also from RAF Coningsby,
representing the four squadrons there which have so far converted
to this new aircraft. The overall Formation Leader will be Typhoon
pilot Wing Commander Lol Bennett, Officer Commanding No 3
(Fighter) Squadron. He joined the RAF in 1987, and flew 1,500
hours in Tornado GR4s, including on operations in the Middle East,
before eventually transferring to the Typhoon. His is the first
operational Typhoon squadron and it will assume the air defence of
the southern part of UK airspace from terrorist attack from the
end of the month (June).
Element 3: A VC-10 in-flight refuelling tanker from 101 Squadron
based at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, flanked by four Tornado
F3s from 25 (Fighter) Squadron based at RAF Leeming, North
Yorkshire. The VC-10 Captain is Flight Lieutenant Al MacBrayne,
who joined the RAF as a pilot in 1998 after graduating from
Glasgow University in veterinary medicine. He has undertaken
numerous deployments to the Falkland Islands and to the Middle
East to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lead Tornado
F3 pilot is Squadron Leader Paul Vicary, who has served on
operations in the Balkans, the Middle East and the Falkland
Islands, and his navigator is Squadron Leader Blythe Crawford, who
has just arrived back with his squadron after a tour training NATO
fighter aircrew.
Element 4: A Nimrod MR2 maritime reconnaissance aircraft of
42(Reserve) Squadron based at RAF Kinloss, Morayshire, Scotland,
flanked by four Tornado GR4s from 31 Squadron based at RAF Marham,
Norfolk. The Nimrod Captain is Squadron Leader Jak Rolfe (correct)
who is Officer Commanding the Nimrod Standards and Evaluation
(STANEVAL) Unit with 42 Squadron. He has accumulated more than
4,000 hours on Nimrod over 17 years. The lead Tornado GR4
navigator is Wing Commander Dean Andrew, who is also the Officer
Commanding 31 Squadron, and has flown about 2,500 hours on
Tornado. His pilot is Zambian-born Squadron Leader Jon McCullagh,
who joined the RAF in 1991. He is a Flight Commander with 31
Squadron, and is currently the unit's Executive Officer.
Element 5: The Red Arrows. Further details about the team can
be obtained from their website: http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds
Pictures taken from the A-109E camera platform helicopter will be
available from the Press Association Picture Desk.
ENDS
For further information: Please contact Dale Donovan, Information
Officer, RAF Public Relations, on Tel: 01494 496131, or e-mail: dale.donovan274@mod.uk