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The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee flypast

Today, Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in honor of 60 years on the throne. As part of the celebration, there will be a flypast of over 80 aircraft.

David Cenciotti of the Aviationist blog has posted a few graphics showing the flypast which will consist of several formations that will include historic aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight:

In addition, there are two Temporary Airspace Restrictions or RA(T)s in force from 09:30 to 11:30 hours (UTC) and from 09:50 to 11:50 hours (UTC) that will impact a broad corridor of airspace from the South Coast to west London:

Aviation’s equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb found in Egypt’s desert

Not long ago, we mentioned an article about resurrecting lost RAF spitfires in Burma, a fairly questionable quest given that country’s wet and humid climate but the Daily Mail has just reported aviation’s equivalent of finding Tutankhamun’s tomb in the form of a well preserved RAF Kittyhawk P-40 lost over the deserts of Egypt.

Apparently, Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping from Scotland, who was part of a fighter unit based in Egypt during the North Africa campaign against Rommel, must have lost his bearings while flying the damaged Kittyhawk to another airbase for repair. After crash landing, he then took whatever he could salvage from the aircraft and wandered into the desert.

Since the crash site is about 200 miles from the nearest town and no human remains have been found at the site, its believed that the pilot’s decomposed body may lay anywhere within a 20 mile radius of the aircraft (Copping is not known to have any close living relatives).

Seventy years later, an oil worker exploring the region discovered the aircraft, which happens to be close to a smuggling route from Sudan and Libya – meaning the area is not the safest place to be. As for the aircraft itself, its heading home to Britain as the RAF Museum at Hendon, north London, is planning to recover the aircraft for exhibition in the future and hopefully before anyone else rediscovers it and strips it for souvenirs or scrap.

Below are just a few of the amazing pictures of the crash site that you can see more of on the Daily Mail’s website.

Shifting sands: The final resting place of the Kittyhawk P-40 has been discovered in the Sahara 70 years after it crashed there

At the controls: The plane's cockpit, but there are fears over what will be left of it after locals began stripping parts and instruments for souvenirs and scrap

Heading home: The RAF Museum at Hendon, north London, has been made aware of the discovery and plans are underway to recover the aircraft for exhibition in the future

RAF Typhoon spotting during the Olympics

Hat tip to David Cenciotti for reposting this image published on May 2 by the Daily Telegraph that was taken during Exercise Olympic Guardian. The viewing area appears to be located somewhere around RAF Northolt airport in west London (anyone from the area please feel free to tell us the exact spot…) and will no doubt be a great spot for plane spotters during the Olympics. 

RAF Typhoons will be up in full force to enforce the No-Fly Zone above and around London during the upcoming Olympics. There will also be a few SAM (Surface to Air Missile) batteries stationed on top of residential buildings to guard against a 9/11 style terrorist attack. 

 
Picture: Julian Simmonds/Daily Telegraph

Cool RAF Red Arrows video

Hat tip to the FlightSchoolList.com for finding and posting this high quality video of the RAF Red Arrows performing. The video also includes commentary about how the RAF Red Arrows choreograph their routines plus some clever moves.

RAF Cosford flying visit (with video)

My friend Nick and I flew up to RAF Cosford on Friday to visit the excellent RAF museum there. The museum is a must-see for any propellerhead and the RAF were very welcoming and friendly. There’s a bit of paperwork to do and there’s an interesting ‘centreline’ join – down the centreline at 1,200 feet then turn downwind descending to 800 feet – but nothing too daunting. Highly recommended. Nick made a great video of the flight and a few of the highlights from the museum.

Amazing RAF rescue

image Jim O’Neill suddenly lost his sight, as the result of a stroke, at 5,500 feet last week. He was guided into RAF Linton-on-Ouse by Wing Commander Paul Gerrard, flying a Tucano T1 training aircraft.

The story made headlines but what’s really extraordinary is the audio recording of the conversation between the RAF officer and the pilot.

That calm reassuring voice you hear on the radio when you talk to RAF controllers for a LARS service or when you visit an RAF base – here it is saving a man’s life. Quite extraordinary. I hope they give Wing Commander Gerrard a medal.