Trooping The Colour flypast: will Red Arrows take part, what time and what is the route?

The Red Arrows will take to the skies above London for King Charles III’s first official Trooping the Colour.

Around 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force will take part in a flypast for Trooping the Colour on Saturday, marking the first birthday flypast for Charles.

The King, Queen and other members of the royal family are expected to watch as the aircraft fly over The Mall and Buckingham Palace in a six-minute display. It will be televised by the BBC and Huw Edwards will lead the coverage.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the aircraft will take off from 15 locations up and down the UK before meeting in the south-east of England and flying across London.

Here is all you need to know:

What time is the flypast?

LBC reports that the flypast is due to begin at 1pm on Saturday and will last around 15 minutes in total. The aircrafts will depart much earlier as they are arriving from airbases across the UK.

Which aircraft will take part in flypast?

The event will feature a mix of aircraft, ranging from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight dating back to the 1940s and the C-130 Hercules on its final ceremonial flight to multiple Typhoon fighter jets and the Envoy IV CC1, which is making its flypast debut.

At the front of the flypast will be a Juno HT1 piloted by Flight Lieutenant Tom Knapp from 60 Squadron, No 1 Flying Training School based at RAF Shawbury.

The event will end in a show of red, white and blue from the pilots of the Red Arrows.

Flypast increased to “pay tribute to new King”

More than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had been due to take part in the coronation flypast in May but “unsuitable weather conditions” saw that plan abandoned.

Instead, helicopters from the three services and the Red Arrows took part in the display, which lasted for around two and a half minutes.

Footage from Royal Navy helicopters showed how poor the weather was in the skies above London. Rain streaked the windshields of the aircraft as they flew low over the heart of the capital.

The MoD said the birthday flypast has been increased in size to pay tribute to the new monarch.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, said: “We are very proud to be able to showcase our capabilities to our Commander-in-Chief, on this historic occasion for his majesty the King. We have planned a fitting and appropriate tribute for our monarch, that should be a true spectacle for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”

Air Officer Commanding 1 Group, Air Vice-Marshal Mark Flewin, added: “It is a great honour to be part of his majesty the King’s birthday celebrations, where the flypast is an opportunity for us to showcase formation, precision and excellence in the air to our Commander-in-Chief on such a special occasion.”