While I would dearly have loved to have seen a 641 aircraft flyby, I can't help but wonder how operationally effective they all were. How many would have been needed to acheive the same effect as 16 Typhoons had in Libya?

I'm also prepared to place a large waver that when the flypast occurs, there will be a flood of posters on PPRUNE and elsewhere complaining about how many spare aircraft we have to go galivanting off on jollies and not ops. (I have heard a figure from good source on the planned numbers in flypast, but am not saying a number as I've not heard it publicly confirmed yet)

Warmtoast - many thanks for your correction. Still a mightily impressive UK contribution.

Warmtoast - thanks for that flypast list. I see some interesting names there - the Valiant being flown by one E.B.Trubshaw - Brian Trubshaw of Concorde fame, and the Hunter being flown by the legendary Neville Duke.

We still have "the right stuff" these days, it's just that they have so few aircraft in which to show us what they can do :(

Tankertrashnav

Apologies for the thread creep.

When I originally posted the list of particpants in the Queen's Coronation Review at Odiham in another thread a couple of years ago, someone commented that there were three prominent Battle of Britain pilots leading the Meteor formations i.e. Dennis Cowley-Milling, Bobby Oxspring and Paddy Barthropp.

So passed on FWIW.

No apologies required Warmtoast

If the BBMF Dakota is down to fly, might be a good idea to get as many as possible who took part in the 1953 review to fly onboard! Sure there must be quite a few still around, and I'm sure they'd be up for it.

Had an aged spec aircrew sqn ldr working for me once (er - not that aged - four years younger than I am now :() who had flown a Meteor in the Coronation Flypast.

Told some wonderful tales about it - I particularly remember him telling of more than one Sabre that flamed out and left the mega-formation - only to rejoin after a successful re-light! What wonderful spirit, which is sadly unimaginable today.

Coffman Starter

Shame on you Sir,

It's HM not HRH

O-D

O-D ... duly admonished this end !

Coff.

Mrs D'Sorderlee was told today (by e-mail) that, despite being previously told that she, and her colleagues - apart from those required for essential duties - would be given 5 Jun 12 off in order to celebrate HM Diamond Jubilee, following discussion with Nicola Sturgeon MSP, that was no longer the case and it will be work as usual.

The best made schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley!

Not chuffed.

Duncs:ok:

A good question Jimlad 1. Does anyone know how many aircraft and of what types were deployed during the Suez Crisis, just three years later on from 1953?

I understand that apart from R.A.F. Valiants, Canberras and Venoms the FAA weighed in with Carrier-borne Sea Hawks and Sea Venoms.

But that said, lots of questions will still remain unanswered. For example; Were the aircraft deployed in Suez made available with ease and able to cope easel? And were the aircraft deployed in Ellamy as much as the R.A.F. dare deploy without inviting serious risks and would they have been much happier with a degree of slack as I imagine they had plenty of during Suez and still cope admirably?:)

Woops! Am I now guilty of inviting thread drift on my own thread!?!?!?!:confused:

FB:)

Who remembers Eelibuj? Or was it just my locality?

Finningley Boy

'... (were)aircraft deployed for Suez with ease...'

Not entirely. Shackletons had to pressed into service as troop transports

Some names on that list that went on to be well known in aviation circles!

H N G Wheeler
Crowley-Milling
Bartropp (Spelling)
Trubshaw
Falk
Waterton
Duke
Lithgow

A roll call of test pilots!

Ron,

I don't doubt that they were, but on the subject of the overall number of aircraft deployed compared with the assets available, while transport may have been a weak force at the time, I imagine that aircraft from the Ground Attack and Air Defence elements would have posed less of a headache. But by contrast with Ellamy, I understand that there was definitely concern about what would happen if something else happened.

FB:)

There is also Sqn Ldr Gartrell RNZAF listed - he subsequently served with distinction during the Emergency in Malaya and ended up as RNZAF DCAS in the early 1970s.

Anyone know what the lineup is likely to be for this yet?

There are 2 flypasts - 19th May and 5th Jun. On the 19th May there is a large formation flying over Windsor Castle as outlined in the following CAA information -http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=14&pagetype=65&appid=7&mode=detail&ni d=2105

It looks like the events are opened with a Typhoon flypast then, an hour later, the biggie - lots of helicopters, BBMF, Tucanos in a '60' formation, Hercs, VC-10 + 2 Tornadoes, Hawks in an EIIR formation and finally the Reds.

On 5th Jun,all I have is the following - "Shortly after their arrival, The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, and other Members of The Royal Family will appear on the Balcony, at which point there will be an RAF Flypast and a Feu de Joie (“Fire of Joy” – a celebratory cascade of rifle fire given as a salute by The Queen’s Guard) from the Forecourt". Dunno what will be flying though.

May 19 is the Military Diamond Jubilee flypast
Junes flypast is the Queens Birthday, which I'd expect will be on a slightly smaller scale.

I wonder how many they will shoot down?

Does anyone know the timing for overhead windsor?