Jubilee RAF flypast 2022: route map of Red Arrows flypast, what time is it, and what aircraft can you see?

The Royal Air Force will take part in a special flypast to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Thursday 2 June.

Spitfires and Red Arrows will take to the skies, travelling across several counties in England to mark 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

The flypast is just one of the many official celebrations taking place to celebrate the monarch. If the planes are not flying over your county, there are also a number of street parties being held across the UK, as well as beacons and lit.

Here’s what you need to know about the flypast route, what time it starts, and what aircraft you can see.

When is the Platinum Jubilee flypast?

The flypast will see 70 aircraft come together in a large formation to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee on 2 June in the south and south east of England.

The flypast is expected to begin at 11.45am and will finish at 1.30pm.

What is the Platinum Jubilee flypast route?

The flypast will start near The Wash at East Anglia before flying over Southwold in East Suffolk.

It will continue over Suffolk and Southend and then on to Swaffham and Thetford in Norfolk, before flying over Colchester in Essex towards Buckingham Palace in London.The planes will then break up and fly over Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

The flypast is expected to take place between 11.45am and 1.30pm. For more detailed timings and a route map, go to the Military Airshows website.

What is the Red Arrows route?

The Red Arrows will take off from the RAF base in Scampton, Lincolnshire at 12.26pm and will then take part in the military flypast route, before landing at the RAF base in Fairford, Gloucestershire at 1.18pm.

The planes will then take part in the Midlands Air Festival at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire at 5.30pm, before returning to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire.

Which aircraft will take part in the flypast?

70 aircraft will take part in the Jubilee flypast. These are:

• Wildcat and two Merlin helicopters
• Wildcat and three Apache helicopters
• Wildcat and three Merlin helicopters
• Three Pumas and three Chinook helicopters 
• BBMF Lancaster, two spitfires and two Hurricanes
• Phenom and four Texans
• Three Hercules
• A400 Atlas and C-17 Globemaster III
• Poseidon and Rivet Joint
• Voyager, Typhoon and F-35B Lightning
• Voyager and four F-35B Lightning
• 4 Hawk T2
• 15 Typhoons (70 formation)
• Red Arrows (nine Hawk T1s)

Which members of the royal family will be watching the flypast?

The Royal family will watch as the military aircraft formation soars over Buckinham Palace in London.

Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Anne, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence will be on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for the flypast.

The Queen limited the numbers to working royals, meaning the Duke of York and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) will not be there.

Her great-grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and her two youngest grandchildren, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, will be present.

The display by Buckingham Palace will last for six minutes.

When is the Platinum Jubilee weekend?

The Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend will take place between Thursday 2 June and Sunday 5 June.

The four-day weekend has been planned to celebrate 70 years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen officially celebrated the 70th anniversary of her accession on 6 February 2022.

However, that date also marked 70 years since the death of her father, King George VI, and was therefore not an occasion she wished to celebrate.

The first week of June was instead chosen for the Platinum Jubilee weekend, just like the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees in 2002 and 2012 respectively.

The four-day weekend has been created by moving the late May bank holiday, which normally takes place on the last Friday of May, and also adding an additional bank holiday for the special occasion.