On May 6, the coronation of Charles III took place at Westminster Abbey. As part of the celebration of the ascension to the throne of the next British monarch of the Windsor dynasty (Charles Philip Arthur George, 74), 68 planes and helicopters from the Air Force and Navy of the United Kingdom flew over London .
It should be noted that the event lasted more than an hour. During the ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles III, received the regalia and placed on his head the crown of St Edward the Confessor. Then, as supreme ruler of the Church of England, he took an oath of allegiance to the clergy. He also swore allegiance to kneeling nobles. A six-gun volley on the parade of the Horse Guards meant the new monarch was crowned.
After the event, Her Majesty and Queen Consort Camilla left by horse-drawn carriage for Buckingham Palace. After a while, they went out on the balcony with family members to pose for the public and watch the flypast, which the rain tried to prevent. Dozens of air units, divided into 14 waves, flew over the British capital in about 6 minutes.
The first in the air formation were three Juno HT1 helicopters, followed by a Wildcat helicopter, followed by two Merlin Mark 2 helicopters. The third wave consisted of a Wildcat Mark 1 helicopter and two Apache helicopters. They were followed by a Wildcat Mark 1 helicopter and two Merlin Mark 4 helicopters. The fifth wave was represented by three Chinook helicopters and a Puma HC2 helicopter. This was followed by: a Lancaster, along with a pair of Spitfires and a pair of Hurricanes, which took part in the historic Battle of Britain in WWII.
The seventh wave consisted of one Phenom T1 and four Texan T1s. They were followed by an A400M Atlas and two C-130J Hercules. The ninth wave was represented by a C-17 Globemaster III, followed by an Airbus A330 MRTT/KC-30A Voyager and an A400M Atlas. The eleventh wave included: a Boeing P – 8 Poseidon MRA1 anti-submarine patrol and a Boeing RC – 135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Immediately behind them flew six fifth-generation F-35Bs. The penultimate was made up of 18 Typhoon FGR4 fighters, and the air show was closed by the Envoy IV CC Mk1 and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows aerobatic team on nine BAE Systems Hawk trainers.
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