Around 100 aircraft will fly over Buckingham Palace today to celebrate the RAF’s centenary.
The air force was the world’s first independent air service when it was created in April 1918, after a merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
Today’s celebration is the highlight of a series of events marking the RAF’s 100-year anniversary.
The fly-past will go over central London at around 1pm.
Heathrow Airport
At 13:10 over 50 aircraft will pass over Heathrow Airport runway 27R. The airport operations will be halted for 20 minutes from 13:00. Watch Heathrow LIVE.
Aircraft taking part in the flypast
- Lightning – the RAF’s next generation fast jet
- Puma – the RAF’s advanced medium-sized, medium lift transport helicopter
- Chinook – the twin-rotor heavy lift helicopter
- Juno – the new training helicopter which has replaced the Squirrel
- Jupiter – the new advanced training helicopter which has replaced the Griffin
- Dakota – the Berlin Airlift transporter which helped to move nearly 9,000 tons of essentials every day
- Lancaster – the iconic Bomber Command veteran aircraft
- Hurricane – the battle-hardened workhorse of WWII Fighter Command
- Spitfire – the iconic Battle of Britain fighter
- Prefect – the new Elementary Flying Training aircraft which has replaced the Tutor
- Tucano – the RAF’s long-serving basic fast jet flying training aircraft
- Shadow – the RAF’s advanced intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance aircraft
- Hercules – the workhorse of Britain’s tactical military air transport and humanitarian capabilities
- Atlas A400M – the RAF’s new, cutting-edge strategic air transport aircraft
- C-17 – the key to Britain’s global strategic air transport capabilities
- BAe 146 – the RAF’s short-range personnel transport and logistical support aircraft
- Sentinel – the RAF’s world-leading battlefield surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft
- Voyager – the state-of-the-art air-to-air refuelling and global passenger transport aircraft
- Rivet Joint – the mainstay of Britain’s aerial electronic signals intelligence gathering capability
- E-3D Sentry – the battle-proven airborne early warning and command and control platform
- Hawk T1 – the RAF’s advanced fast jet pilot training aircraft
- Hawk T2 – the latest version of the RAF’s long-serving Hawk fast jet trainer
- Tornado GR4 – the RAF’s longest-serving strike and reconnaissance fast jet
- Typhoon – the backbone of Britain’s air attack and quick reaction capabilities
- Red Arrows – the RAF’s elite aerobatic team
