10 July 2018
An expected 100 aircraft will take part in a huge flypast over central London and Buckingham Palace at 13:00 BST today.
The flypast is to mark 100 years since the formation of the Royal Air Force. As you’d expect, there are airspace restrictions in place along the route of the flypast – and they continue into the Royal International Air Tattoo held at RAF Fairford from 13-15 July.
The aircraft in today’s flypast represent the RAF over the years and range from helicopters to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – including the Lancaster – and up to the latest F-35 Lightning, the first examples of which recently arrived in the UK. The Red Arrows are the finale.
The flypast will start to form in the vicinity of the Wash, the North Sea and Southwold, Suffolk and Southend. It will then route via Swaffham, Thetford and Colchester towards London to overfly Buckingham Palace.
The aircraft will then disperse over Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
See Aeronautical Information Circulars M043/2018, M049/2018 and M051/2018 on the NATS Aeronautical Information Services website.
How does NATS plan for such an event and fit it around scheduled air traffic? Read the NATS’ blog here
