Coronation Flypast

[Leading Observer]

If it happens, it should look like this https://twitter.com/i/status/1654742848120532995

[PR19_Kit]

It'd be educational to compare today's flypast with QEII's in 1953.

I'm not sure if there was a flypast along the Mall as today's will be, but I was at Odiham for Her Majesty's RAF Revue in July that year, and the sky was dark with a vast array of aircraft, over 600 IIRC, and that's more than we've actually got at present! 

[Nick]

The main flypast got called because of poor weather over the North Sea where the formation was gathering. Instead we had a bunch of helicopters and nine basic jet trainers that are 50 years old.

I can understand the BBMF calling it off but why couldn't the most modern aircraft in the RAF manage it? All that money spent on the Typhoon, F-35 and the A400M so that they can do low level all-weather runs while under enemy attack but they couldn't do a straight line over a friendly city?

[Leading Observer]

The main flypast got called because of poor weather over the North Sea where the formation was gathering. Instead we had a bunch of helicopters and nine basic jet trainers that are 50 years old.

I can understand the BBMF calling it off but why couldn't the most modern aircraft in the RAF manage it? All that money spent on the Typhoon, F-35 and the A400M so that they can do low level all-weather runs while under enemy attack but they couldn't do a straight line over a friendly city?

The problem was close formation flying in poor visibilty - something the F-35 and Typhoon pilots don't practice

[PR19_Kit]

The problem was close formation flying in poor visibilty - something the F-35 and Typhoon pilots don't practice

Perhaps they should? It's all about flying ability after all.

If 208 Sqdn, were still flying their Buccs they'd have gone The Mall BELOW the tree tops and would have had to climb to get over the Palace! 

[zenrat]

Lets hope all future wars are held on sunny days...

[Rheged]

The problem was close formation flying in poor visibilty - something the F-35 and Typhoon pilots don't practice

Perhaps they should? It's all about flying ability after all.

If 208 Sqdn, were still flying their Buccs they'd have gone The Mall BELOW the tree tops and would have had to climb to get over the Palace! 

A lovely idea, but think of the potential damage to the windows of the Palace if a flight of Blackburn's finest had flown down the Mall at 50 feet!

[NARSES2]

The RAF Liaison Officer attached to the Beeb looked suitably embarrassed when it was cancelled 

[Leading Observer]

The problem was close formation flying in poor visibilty - something the F-35 and Typhoon pilots don't practice

Perhaps they should? It's all about flying ability after all.

If 208 Sqdn, were still flying their Buccs they'd have gone The Mall BELOW the tree tops and would have had to climb to get over the Palace! 

A lovely idea, but think of the potential damage to the windows of the Palace if a flight of Blackburn's finest had flown down the Mall at 50 feet!

The Buccs would probably have popped up out og Charing Cross Tube having flown under the Thames

[McColm]

The problem was close formation flying in poor visibilty - something the F-35 and Typhoon pilots don't practice

Perhaps they should? It's all about flying ability after all.

If 208 Sqdn, were still flying their Buccs they'd have gone The Mall BELOW the tree tops and would have had to climb to get over the Palace! 

Someone would of opened the French Windows and let them fly straight through 

[PR19_Kit]

A lovely idea, but think of the potential damage to the windows of the Palace if a flight of Blackburn's finest had flown down the Mall at 50 feet!

That high.................?     

I watched one of 208's do a low flypast along Lossie's runway 23 and it wasn't much higher than 25 ft! SATCO was reaching for the phone immediately afterward.......

[AeroplaneDriver]

The main flypast got called because of poor weather over the North Sea where the formation was gathering. Instead we had a bunch of helicopters and nine basic jet trainers that are 50 years old.

I can understand the BBMF calling it off but why couldn't the most modern aircraft in the RAF manage it? All that money spent on the Typhoon, F-35 and the A400M so that they can do low level all-weather runs while under enemy attack but they couldn't do a straight line over a friendly city?

As a current service RAF pilot put it on a message board I frequent, there is a big difference in flying in poor weather to prosecute an enemy vs flying a massed formation over a massive crowd for a party. 

[Old Wombat]

Yes, a big difference in the acceptable level of risk - not just to the aircraft & aircrews but to the spectators, too.

[Gondor]

A lovely idea, but think of the potential damage to the windows of the Palace if a flight of Blackburn's finest had flown down the Mall at 50 feet!

That high.................?     

I watched one of 208's do a low flypast along Lossie's runway 23 and it wasn't much higher than 25 ft! SATCO was reaching for the phone immediately afterward.......

I heard but could never confirm that a Bucc pilot had a "disagreement" with another officer at RAF St.Mawgan who thought that no aircraft could approach the airfield without the radar seeing them. This was an Airfield radar and was not optimized for low flying aircraft. The Bucc simply flew up a gully from the coast and over the main vehicle enterance to the camp and up to the airfield below the height of the air-trafic controlers in their glass house.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

I heard but could never confirm that a Bucc pilot had a "disagreement" with another officer at RAF St.Mawgan who thought that no aircraft could approach the airfield without the radar seeing them. This was an Airfield radar and was not optimized for low flying aircraft. The Bucc simply flew up a gully from the coast and over the main vehicle enterance to the camp and up to the airfield below the height of the air-trafic controlers in their glass house.

I can believe that!

St Mawgan is quite a bit above sea level. Lossie is anything but! A large wave across the Moray would reach the runway easily I'm sure!