QBF 1996 Tornado Diamond 16

[Geehovah]

"229 OCU Windsor Formation
I believe that the date of the 229 OCU Tornado F2 9-ship QBF should be 14 Jun 1986 - 'Windsor' formation. I recall that 229 only had about 6 ac in Jun 1985............."

I stand corrected. Just checked the log book and you're absolutely correct. Alzheimers setting in

[Two's in]

I expect the singleton Tucano will be equally as impressive at HM's next big shindig...

[Geezers of Nazareth]

Can anyone suggest a possible source of photographs of Queen's Birthday flypast formations? I would very much like to obtain one of the June 2nd 1971 event.

Can you say what was in that particular flypast? It is one of the few years from 1970 to 2009 that I don't have any information. Did you fly in it?

[NutherA2]

As I remember it the formation consisted of a Victor with two Phantoms on either wing, a Vulcan with two Lightnings on each side and a Nimrod with two Buccaneers on each wing. I was flying number 2 in the Phantom four ship.

[Safeware]

I was there - remember the jet with the massive fuel leak? Fuselage punctured by the flap IIRC, or was it by a detaching flexifoot?

sw

[SRENNAPS]

remember the jet with the massive fuel leak? Fuselage punctured by the flap IIRC, or was it by a detaching flexifoot?

Oh yes, I remember it well. It was a flexifoot. Sliced through the skin of the aircraft and the internal tank like a hot knife through butter. It could have been much worse.

Me and a couple of other Sooties had to remove the tank and then TTF were going to recover the rest. What a nightmare trying to get the tank out. Use of a stanley knife springs to mind

[Geezers of Nazareth]

Qbf 1995

As mentioned above, here's the details of the aircraft involved in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Flypast ...

The flypast formation was made up of four 'cells' of four aircraft each, with each cell having an airspare aircraft.

The whole thing was 'Broadsword Formation', which comprised the following:

Broadsword Red 1-5
ZD742/CZ
ZD711/DY
ZD739/AC
ZD719/AD
plus airspare ZD890/AE

Broadsword Black 1-5
ZA463/CR
ZD793/CA
ZD720/AG
ZD845/AF
plus airspare ZG791/DC

Broadsword Blue 1-5
ZD714/AP
ZD810/AA
ZG756/AX
ZD744/BD
plus airspare ZG779/DK

Broadsword Gold 1-5
ZD789/AM
ZD747/AL
ZD741/DZ
ZG792/DD
plus airspare ZD712/BY

ZA393/BE and ZG775/DN also launched as airspares, but went directly back to Bruggen once the main flypast neared London.

After the flypast at 1.00pm the whole flypast returned directly to Bruggen.

[SRENNAPS]

Many thanks for that info. Do you have any idea which jet had the fuel leak (see posts 26 & 27). Many of us ( I have been contacted by so many since I posted this vid) seem to think it was a “Charlie” jet and it had previously plagued us with problems in the gulf. The aircraft certainly did not recover to Bruggen after the flypast for several days (if not weeks). To be honest I really cannot remember.

Finally, a short message to all here that think the BBMF should be canned to save money; I have been contacted by so many people that saw the video that I posted. It brought back many memories for them and they felt very proud that they were part of that event. There was no question of “what a waste of money” that might have been.

That is what history does. It makes people proud of past achievements and makes them and others determined to ensure that they achieve in the future.

Those that wish to sell off the past have no vision for the future.

[Ringroad]

ZD712 was actually used as the weather ship on the Saturday. I recall that our outbrief from the Station Commander was “to do what you need to do to find out what the weather is in the run-in area”. We were the first aircraft airborne and I remember being at around 500ft just below cloud inside the M25 about 45 minutes before the flypast was due in. Happily that weather improved before the main formation arrived.

[Geezers of Nazareth]

Many thanks for that info. Do you have any idea which jet had the fuel leak (see posts 26 & 27). Many of us ( I have been contacted by so many since I posted this vid) seem to think it was a “Charlie” jet and it had previously plagued us with problems in the gulf. The aircraft certainly did not recover to Bruggen after the flypast for several days (if not weeks). To be honest I really cannot remember.

The two jets that didn't take part in the flypast due to 'failures on start-up' (!) were ZD809/BA and ZG771/DW.

[SRENNAPS]

Great Flypast 2010

Just watched the Trooping of the Colour flypast for 2010. Really enjoyed and a great pleasure to see

I for one know how much hard work goes into these flypasts and with today’s workload it is probably something you could do without.

But if it’s of any consolation it reminds me and many others of the Great Spirit, dedication and hard work that the Royal Air Force is capable of. Thank you.

[Jimlad1]

To echo the above comments, I was in central London today on the flypast route. The reaction from the large number of members of the public who stopped to watch was one of sheer pleasure and delight at seeing the RAF over London.

Many thanks to all, you made a lot of people of all ages very happy today. (Although at least one member of the public was heard to say - "are they doing this for the england team in the world cup )

[WHBM]

Went down specially yesterday with Mrs WHBM to watch it from Green Park. A significant cheer went up for two of the formations.

The two were the Spit/Hurricane, and the Reds. Good to see the old team still get recognised for what they did, and so sorry if you were one of those flying the others, don't worry, everyone was watching and admiring you as well ! The formations were, as ever, immaculate and tight. Just how far apart, horizontally and vertically, were those two VC-10s from each other ?

[Geezers of Nazareth]

2010 flypast

Saw the program on TV last night, especially enjoyed the final 10 minutes where they showed the RAF flypast.

Standards on journalism at the BBC are slipping though - on their website this morning there is a selection of pictures from the whole ceremony, one of the last pictures shows the Sentinel and two BAe125s overhead BP and the caption talks about the Memorial Flight .