Animated map shows Red Arrows flypast route and schedule for VE Day 2025
The famous Red Arrows are set to take to the skies today kick off the VE Day celebrations.
On the first of four days of celebrations in the UK to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe, the stunning aerial display will fly over the south of England, including Buckingham Palace, later on today.
Thousands of people are expected to line streets to see them. Not only will the Red Arrows take part in the display, but a further flypast of more than 20 current and historic military aircraft will also fly over London.
Some of the jets that will take part in the display include the P8 Poseidons, involved in tensions with Russia, Typhoon fast jets which are part of Nato Air Policing, and Voyager aircraft which have delivered equipment to Ukrainian forces are all taking part.
A number of traffic and travel restrictions are in place in the capital, with Transport for London (TfL) issuing advice for people wishing to avoid the crowds.
A military procession will take place in London later this afternoon, starting off at Parliament Square at 12pm.
The words of Sir Winston Churchill's 1945 victory speech will be spoken by actor Timothy Spall before a procession take place down Whitehall, past the Cenotaph, through Admiralty Arch and up the Mall.
Veterans from the Second World War will watch the event from the Queen Victoria Memorial.
The Red Arrows fly past will then take place, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also watching the event.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are also expected to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace Balcony during the military parade. Later on, they will host a tea part for the veterans, their family members and other people in the palace's gardens.
The Red Arrows flypast route could be subject to change, depending on weather conditions and other factors on the day.
The display will begin over the North Sea off the cost of Norfolk before heading inland over East Anglia, Essex and London.
Planes will then disperse over Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Each area covering the potential route will be restricted, meaning other planes are not able to enter those areas at the following times and altitudes: Area A: between 11.45am-2.45pm, up to 10,000ft
Area B: between 1.15pm-2.10pm, up to 5,000ft
Area C: between 1.20pm-2.10pm, up to 4,000ft
Area D: between 1.20pm-2.10pm, up to 3,000ft
Area E: between 1.25pm-2.10pm, up to 2,500ft
Area F: between 1.25pm-2.10pm, up to 2,500ft
Area G: between 1.45pm-2.25pm, up to 2,500ft
Area H: between 1.45pm-2.25pm, up to 2,500ft
Area I: between 1.45pm-2.25pm, up to 2,500ft
The Red Arrows, which are officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, are based at the RAF Waddington base in Lincolnshire and have been there since 2022. More Trending
The team has been based in Lincolnshire throughout its history, at RAF Kemble from 1966, moving to RAF Scampton in 1983, and spending five years at RAF College Cranwell between 1995 and 2000.
During displays, the Red Arrows fly extremely close together.
The exact distance varies depending on the stunt being performed, but the jets can fly as close as 6ft apart.
The Red Arrows have a number of displays and flypasts already in the diary for 2025: 24/05/2025 Chania, Crete, Greece
26/05/2025 Thessaloniki, Greece
30/05/2025 Midlands Air Festival
31/05/2025 Midlands Air Festival
31/05/2025 English Riviera Airshow
01/06/2025 English Riviera Airshow
01/06/2025 Midlands Air Festival
05/06/2025 Isle of Man TT Races
08/06/2025 RAF Cosford Airshow
14/06/2025 HM The King's Official Birthday Flypast, London – flypast
15/06/2025 Festival Aéreo AIRE 25, San Javier, Murcia, Spain
21/06/2025 Northern Ireland Armed Forces' Day – Newtownards Airfield
22/06/2025 Duxford Summer Air Show
28/06/2025 Shuttleworth Festival of Flight
28/06/2025 Armed Forces' Day North East Lincolnshire, Cleethorpes
29/06/2025 Event to be confirmed/announced in due course
29/06/2025 Battle of Britain Airshow, Headcorn
05/07/2025 Wales Airshow, Swansea
06/07/2025 Wales Airshow, Swansea
06/07/2025 Formula One, British Grand Prix, Silverstone – flypast
10/07/2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed
11/07/2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed
13/07/2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed
18/07/2025 Royal International Air Tattoo
19/07/2025 Royal International Air Tattoo
20/07/2025 Royal International Air Tattoo
21/07/2025 The Tall Ship Races Aberdeen
26/07/2025 Swanage Carnival
26/07/2025 Old Buckenham
27/07/2025 Old Buckenham
09/08/2025 Blackpool Airshow
09/08/2025 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo – flypast
10/08/2025 Blackpool Airshow
13/08/2025 Falmouth Week
14/08/2025 Airbourne – Eastbourne International Airshow
15/08/2025 Airbourne – Eastbourne International Airshow
16/08/2025 Airbourne – Eastbourne International Airshow
17/08/2025 Airbourne – Eastbourne International Airshow
20/08/2025 Cromer Carnival
21/08/2025 Clacton Airshow
22/08/2025 Clacton Airshow
22/08/2025 Sidmouth Regatta
24/08/2025 Roskilde Airshow, Denmark
30/08/2025 Bucharest International Air Show – flypast
30/08/2025 Radom Airshow, Poland
31/08/2025 Radom Airshow, Poland
05/09/2025 Ayr Show Festival of Flight
06/09/2025 Ayr Show Festival of Flight
07/09/2025 Great North Run – Newcastle/South Shields
10/09/2025 Guernsey Air Display
11/09/2025 Jersey International Air Display
13/09/2025 International Sanicole Airshow, Belgium
14/09/2025 International Sanicole Airshow, Belgium
20/09/2025 NATO Days – Ostrava, Czech Republic
21/09/2025 NATO Days – Ostrava, Czech Republic
27/09/2025 Overseas event – details to be confirmed
28/09/2025 Overseas event – details to be confirmed
04/10/2025 Duxford Flying Finale
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Explosive discovery helps family fun day at 13th century castle end with a bang
MORE: Inside rare Cold War bunker which is selling for only £20,000
MORE: Spitfire plane crashes on field ahead of VE Day celebrations
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
Thousands gather to watch RAF Cosford Air Show
Thousands of military aviation enthusiasts have gathered in Cosford for the RAF Air well as the Red Arrows and iconic Spitfires, display teams from Ireland, Poland, and the Netherlands took to the skies above the Shropshire base on Ldr Dave Kerrison, one of the organisers, said there was lots to event was first held in 1978, and has run most years since then. Sqn Ldr Kerrison said: "Everybody wants to see the Red Arrows [but] we've got quite a lot of flights that are coming in today, so it's going to be a fun-packed day."He said that as well as air displays, the Air Force would showcase everything it did, and not just touch upon its part in conflicts but highlight its role in humanitarian this year include the Great War Display Team performing a dogfight routine in replica British, French and German World War One aircraft. There are also displays by the Royal Navy Black Cats, and Chinook and Apache will also be a display from aerobatics pilot Mélanie Astles, the first woman to take part in the Red Bull Air chairman of the Royal Netherlands Air Force Historic Flight André Steur said it was an honour to attend the event."The ties [between ourselves and the RAF] are very close and have been for years so when we were asked to come here, we were very glad to honour it," he Midlands Railway advised that due to a late notice shortage of crew, there would be limited train services returning from the said queueing systems would be in place at Cosford and Wolverhampton during busier periods to manage the flow of people. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Herald Scotland
11 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
All staff redundant as Scottish tour company in liquidation
Gordon Dewar also highlighted the importance of the jobs provided by the airport and other employers on the 'campus', in an exclusive interview with The Herald. He observed this employment totalled nearly 8,000, including around 1,000 people employed directly by the airport. And Mr Dewar declared: 'It is obvious that airports are profoundly important for local economies, particularly island economies such as ours. I am a geographer by background. I am a transport operator my whole career.' He also underlined the attractiveness of Edinburgh as a destination for overseas visitors. And he flagged the lift Edinburgh Airport provided to the tourism sector, and vice-versa. Read Ian McConnell's story here Rangers deal underlines appeal of Scottish football in US The news came this week. (Image: SNS Group) It would be wide of the mark to describe them as 'overpaid, oversexed, and over here', as American GIs were infamously dismissed during their time in Britain during the Second World War. But the Americans are certainly over here.
North Wales Live
a day ago
- North Wales Live
North Wales war hero's daring 1,200-mile escape after being shot down behind enemy lines
A heroic RAF pilot from North Wales whose Second World War escape makes the Colditz breakout look a breeze is the subject of a new book. Frank Griffiths, who was born on the Wirral but grew up in Denbighshire, was shot down while dropping supplies to the French Resistance near Annecy on August 15, 1943. Griffiths' six-man crew were all killed when his Halifax bomber slammed into a French village, with five civilians also dying, but somehow Frank survived. Badly wounded and alone in Nazi-occupied territory, Frank embarked on a 1,200 mile, 108-day escape through France, Switzerland and Spain, a journey made via the attic of a brothel, a chimney, a brutal hike over the Pyrenees and a Spanish prison cell. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now Some 79 years later, Frank's great grandson Adam Hart set out to retrace his predecessors' odyssey. Hart, 25, from Pembrokeshire, said: 'Frank died four years before I was born, but growing up I always knew of his wartime heroics, he is a family legend. 'Retracing his escape from the Nazis across Europe was incredible and gave me an insight into his fortitude and resilience. It took him three nights to hike over the Pyrenees to Spain. I planned to do the same, but couldn't keep up with his pace, despite me being 22 at the time and having just completed Ironman Wales!' During the journey, Adam tracked down and met descendants of people who'd risked torture and execution at the hands of the Nazis to shelter, feed and guide Frank to safety. 'Meeting these descendants was truly incredible and is really what inspired me to write this book. These complete strangers, who I usually did not even share a language with, shook my hand, hugged me and even cried when they met me,' said Adam. 'I remember the granddaughter of a farmer who helped smuggle Frank into Switzerland told me he always said it was the honour of his lifetime to help an RAF pilot during the war.' Griffiths, born in West Kirby on May 1, 1912, grew up in North Wales and attended Mostyn House School on the Dee estuary. Aged 18, he decided to live on a boat drifting around North Wales fishing and sleeping rough in the summer, and mooring up in the Liverpool Docks in the winter when he worked as a labourer, mainly maintaining pubs. In 1936, after six years on the boat, he joined the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. After a stint in Malaya with 62 Squadron, Frank found himself back in the UK as a test pilot testing vital aviation technology that helped keep the upper hand over the Luftwaffe. Flying from RAF Defford near Malvern, Frank began to wrack up a list of derring-do anecdotes thanks to his maverick behaviour. This included flying underneath the Menai Bridge, parachuting a mangle to his aunt in an isolated valley in Eryri, (Snowdonia), almost colliding with a submarine in the Dee estuary and diving a WWI era biplane toward Rhyl beach in a successful attempt to put out a fire next to his cockpit. In April 1943, Frank applied to be made operational and was posted to 138 Squadron (Special Duties). This elite outfit were involved in clandestine warfare dropping SOE agents and war material into Occupied Europe. It was on one of these mission that Frank's plane took off from RAF Tempsford, the SOE "Special Duties" airbase in rural England. Frank and his crew were on a secret midnight mission codenamed Operation Pimento, but they were shot down near Annecy in southeast France, and he made his escape. Once back in Britain, Frank returned to test piloting and remained in the RAF until 1972. He retired to Ruthin where he lived out his days raising money for the riding for the disabled charity, note taking badly for the local RNLI branch, and grazing his sheep on various roundabouts. His ashes were spread near the summit of Moel Famau. Adam added: 'My generation are the first to not hear their ancestors' war stories first hand so it is more important than ever to keep them alive. "By doing so not only does it pay tribute to that incredible generation, but it also serves as a constant reminder of why war must be avoided at all costs. "The six lads on Frank's aircraft who were killed were all younger than me, and I'm only 25. Two left pregnant wives.'
