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A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by a group of aircraft or a single aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used.
Contents
- Locations
- Early flypasts
- United Kingdom
- National or Republic Day celebrations
- Air Force anniversaries
- Spaceflight
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Memorials
- Accidents and incidents
- References
Flypasts are often tied in with Royal or state events, anniversaries, celebrations - and occasionally funerary or memorial occasions. Sometimes flypasts occur in special situations, to honour someone or to celebrate certain types of aircraft. They have affinities with parades, of which they form the aerial component. Often they occur in purely display contexts at airshows, but it is the flypasts linked with civic, ceremonial and national pride, that imprint themselves on a nation's memory. These spectacular and daring displays of military - and occasionally passenger - aircraft, are described in broadcast and print media as "historic".
Flypasts are regularly featured in public and ceremonial life in the United Kingdom, where they function as a particular kind of aerial salute. They serve to show respect, display aircraft, showcase flying skills and as a form of entertainment to delight the public, for example, during their annual appearance after Trooping the Colour. Flypasts reflect milestones of national life; varying in scope from personal, to community and local, to military, to national. They may honour individuals in private or public life or commemorate happenings at a particular location. They are also used to honour aircraft. On occasions both small and large they may occur over land or sea, sometimes connected with memorial or thanksgiving services.
In Commonwealth countries, notably Singapore, Canada and Australia, they occur on national days and occasionally on anniversaries. They are seen more rarely in other territories.
Locations
Flypast locations are usually of national importance. In the UK, these include Buckingham Palace, where the Royal Family on the balcony will join the thousands of spectators in streets and parks below. Other London settings have included the River Thames. The 50th and 60th anniversaries of World War II were celebrated by flypasts over Normandy in France. Festivities of Trafalgar 200 were centred over Portsmouth and at sea.
Settings have included the National Stadium, The Float@Marina Bay and the Padang in Singapore, Rajpath in New Delhi, India ; Pakistan's Parliament House in Islamabad; Australia's Parliament House and Anzac Parade to the Australian War Memorial, in Canberra; and Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Early flypasts
The connection of Trooping the Colour with Royal Air Force flypasts began in 1913 when the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing performed a flypast for King George V on Laffan's Plain, near Aldershot.
On 6 July 1935, George V carried out his Silver Jubilee Review of the Royal Air Force at RAF Duxford and RAF Mildenhall which included 200 aircraft on the ground and a flypast of 350 aircraft.
King George VI attended a flypast at the opening ceremony of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938 at Ibrox Stadium on 5 May 1938, with his consort Queen Elizabeth.
United Kingdom
Flypasts are a regular occurrence in the United Kingdom at national events or commemorations. In 1954 the Queen conducted a Coronation Review of the Royal Air Force at RAF Odiham which included a flypast by about 640 aircraft - among them 440 jet aircraft.
On many occasions, the flypasts are performed by the Red Arrows aerobatic team of the Royal Air Force, but on more important events like Royal occasions, for example the Queen's 80th birthday during 2006, was a flypast following the Trooping the Colour. Headed by the Lancaster with 2 Hurricanes and 2 Spitfires (