The RAF in all its glory
The Red Arrows soar over Buckingham Palace and the Mall, where thousands gathered to watch the Royal Air Force centenary flypast made up of aircraft from Spitfires to the new F-35 fighters. It followed a service at Westminster Abbey.
Standing among the crowds on Horse Guards Parade as the pride of the RAF roared overhead was Flight Sergeant Eric Rollings, unassuming bar the clutch of medals glinting off his chest. “It is the sound most of all,” said the 97-year-old former Hurricane pilot.
“Whenever I hear that Merlin engine it just makes me think how much I would love to be up there again.”
At 1pm yesterday thousands of RAF veterans and servicemen and women thronged the Mall for the 100-aircraft display marking the centenary of the RAF. They spanned generations of conflict: from Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Lancaster bomber to Puma and Chinook helicopters and the brand new stealth fighter jet, the Lightning.
The fly-past, which started in Ipswich, buzzed over London in formation at a height of between 1,000 and 2,000ft before finally coming into sight for the Queen, who was watching from the Buckingham Palace balcony flanked by other members of the Royal family.
Prior to the display, the Queen, who is the RAF’S Air Commodore-in-chief, presented a new Queen’s Colour to the RAF in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace and gave a speech in which she paid tribute to the “tenacity, skill and gallantry” which had become the hallmark of Britain’s air force.
“I remember the Battle of Britain being fought over the skies above us and we shall never forget the courage and sacrifice of that time,” she told those assembled.
The Queen, who wore a royal blue silk coat with a turquoise collar and dress for the occasion, also spoke of the close bond between the Royal family and the RAF. Her father, King George VI, served in the air force and his successors have proudly followed suit over the past century.
Yesterday the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex all wore the No 1 uniform of the RAF. Prince William also displayed his RAF wings, given as a qualified pilot.
The Queen ended her speech with the RAF motto: Per ardua ad astra. Meaning, through adversity to the stars.
The display of air might – past and present – was the largest in recent memory and operated from 14 military and two civilian airfields.
It provoked tears, cheers and ripples of applause from those watching in the crowds – 75,000 were estimated to have lined the streets of London.
In their largest ever formation, 22 Typhoon jets etched out the number “100” in the sky before the Red Arrows drew the spectacle to a close with typical aplomb, streaming plumes of red, white and blue smoke along the length of the Mall.
At one point parts of the crowd became so gripped by patriotic fervour that they broke out into an impromptu rendition of the football chant, ‘It’s Coming Home’. And true enough, on April 1, 1918, this country did lead the world by giving rise to the world’s first independent air service.
As much a celebration of a century of British ingenuity, yesterday was also intended to remember those whose lives were lost in the name of aviation progress and the defence of the realm.
Another Second World War veteran watching the fly-past from Horse Guards Parade was Michael Mcgrory, a 93-year-old Flight Sergeant who flew as a signaller and gunner on Consolidated B24-liberators in Italy during the war.
His squadron suffered many losses, but it was the death of a close friend, Sgt Fred Clarke, whose plane was shot down, that hurts the most. It was his face that the rumble of the old bomber engines yesterday brought back to mind.
“It was a savage time but those were also the best days of my life,” he said. The day began with a service at Westminster Abbey attended by extended members of the Royal family, although not the Duke of Edinburgh, who was absent from yesterday’s events.
The Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cambridge joined their husbands at the service, with the latter wishing to attend despite officially being on maternity leave as she gave birth only 11 weeks ago. Pinned to her Alexander Mcqueen coat was a Dacre Brooch, presented to her by the Air Cadets when she took on patronage in 2015.
Theresa May, the Prime Minister, who sat alongside Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, and Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Opposition, delivered a reading from the great lectern. But it was the words spoken by a current RAF Wing Commander that had the greatest resonance. Nikki Thomas, 39, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and the first woman to command an RAF fast jet squadron, read the famous aviator poem High Flight, written by John Gillespie Magee Jr, an
RAF pilot who died during the Second World War.
It begins: “I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.”
She said: “From an aviator’s perspective, that poem sums up what we do. Speaking to all the veterans, you realise it is the same camaraderie and same understanding of our role in history. Everybody plays their part.”
Another trailblazing RAF woman to play a key part in yesterday’s commemorations was Group Captain Anne-marie Houghton. The first ever female navigator in the RAF, she led the parade along the Mall, saying she was “exceptionally proud” to do so.
With the fly-past overhead, the amassed troops under her command on the palace forecourt formed into a giant “100” beneath the royal balcony.
‘I remember the Battle of Britain and we shall never forget the courage and sacrifice of that time’