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WWII Lancaster veteran to fly over London once more

Published Saturday 9th July 2005

The loading bay of the Lancaster, three feet deep in drifts of poppies [SAC Graham Taylor]

Lancaster bombers in the 1946 flypast in which Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham (82) took part

A former RAF officer who flew a Lancaster bomber over Buckingham Palace in the 1946 Victory Parade will fly over London in a Lancaster once more.

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham will join the crew of the RAF's last remaining Lancaster bomber for the historic flypast of World War Two aircraft over London on National Commemoration Day, Sunday 10th July.

The Lancaster, which belongs to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby, will drop one million poppies over the Mall as a commemoration of those who lost their lives in the Second World War.

The flypast marks the end of Britain's first Veterans Awareness Week, commemorating the immense contribution played by the wartime generation to our freedom today.

Sir Michael said:

"I feel privileged to be given the chance to take part in this historic flypast. It will be a very proud moment and will bring back many memories."

A total of twenty World War Two vintage aircraft will fly along The Mall and over Buckingham Palace on Sunday 10th July between 1700 and 1710 hours (local), watched by Her Majesty The Queen and members of the Royal Family as the finale to the commemorative events.

Sunday 10th July is a symbolic date and the focus of National Commemorations, when it is intended that the Nation should remember the contribution and experience of individuals on the Home Front (e.g. Police, Firemen, Home Guard, munitions workers, women, child evacuees and everybody that lived through the War) as well as those who fought in the front line.

Sir Michael (right) with Sqn Ldr (Ret'd) Gwynne Price who also took part in the 1946 flypast. They are pictured in front of Imperial War Museum Duxford's Lancaster bomber

Junior Technician Rachel Warnes loads Poppies into the BBMF Lancaster before the flypast on Sunday 10 July 2005. The loading of the paper poppies (purchased from the Royal British Legion) takes a full three days. All of the one million poppies have to be loaded by hand into the bomb bay, with its doors shut, through a small hatch, approx one foot square, at the rear of the bomb aimer's compartment, having been carried up into the aircraft on a ladder through the bomb aimer's escape hatch [SAC Graham Taylor]

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