Sunday, June 10, 2012

A bird's eye view of the Diamond Jubilee flypast


Last week Queen Elizabeth II of England celebrated her diamond jubilee as Monarch.  Part of the festivities was a flypast by various aircraft of the Royal Air Force, including its famous Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Cameras were placed aboard several aircraft of the Flight to record the flypast, low over the crowded streets of London. I recommend watching the video clips they produced in full-screen mode.

The first video clip was taken from a photographic reconnaissance Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIX, easily identified by its blue finish, designed to blend into the sky and serve as camouflage.  At about 49 seconds into the clip, the view changes to one looking backwards from the rear turret of the Flight's Avro Lancaster bomber.  You can see the barrels of the turret's four machine-guns on either side of the image.  The aircraft immediately behind and below the bomber is a Hawker Hurricane fighter.




The second clip is taken from the bomb-aimer's position in the nose of the Lancaster bomber.  Note the densely crowded streets below.




Those planes won't be flying forever . . . they're among the last of their kind.  I'm glad they were able to take part in so grand a celebration, and record it for posterity.  It meant a lot to me personally to see those clips, because of my father's involvement with some of those aircraft during World War II.

Peter

8 comments:

Watermain said...

Seriously, does anyone really give a f**k about the queen of whereever???

Peter said...

I think the millions of people who turned out for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations are the best possible answer to that question . . .

Anonymous said...

Amen, Peter.

on the original topic, elegant planes, and hearing a Lancaster go over head is utterly, totally unmistakeable.

Old NFO said...

Great pics, and a once in a lifetime opportunity! And LOTS of folks there!!!

Anonymous said...

Here in Australia, support for the monarchy is at an all time high. Take that, Watermain. (Also, support for republic at an all time low of 35%, FWIW.)

Anonymous said...

Wow, quite snug up top in the Lanc. I guess our grandfathers weren't quite so large as today. Terrific clips, thanks for sharing them !

John, USA

Phil,NZ said...

Great stuff Peter,just imagine been in one those planes over the Rhine,in the flack and nightfighters.....God save the Queen.

Larry said...

John, they didn't normally pack so many in there back in the day, either.

Whatever it's other fine qualities, the Lancaster is one of the last planes I'd want to be trying to get out of in a hurry. It was a bit of a deathtrap for much of the crew. Not as bad as the Northrop YB-35/49, but bad enough.