
RAF pilot says flying over Buckingham Palace on VE day 'humbling'
Taking part in a flypast over Buckingham Palace to celebrate 80 years since the end of World War Two in Europe is "incredibly humbling", RAF service people have said.As part of the four-day celebrations, on Monday a military procession in central London will be followed by a flypast of current and historical military aircraft.Among the planes featured in the event will be an A400M flown by Flt Lt Mike Chandler, who is based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.The pilot, who has taken part in three previous flypasts, said there was a "lot to consider" during the operation.
"When you're doing 310mph over the ground at low level with other aircraft, our minds are working pretty fast at that point," he said.
Flt Lt Chandler is a member of 99 Squadron, which is led by Wing Cdr Nicola Lofthouse."There's an incredible amount of planning, no only for the flypast, but also for all of the possible contingencies that happen as well," she said.The "complex" flypast will see aircrafts start their journey to London from the North Sea, with each plane aiming to be overhead Buckingham Palace "within plus or minus five seconds", Wing Cdr Lofthouse added.World War Two veteran and centenarian Denis Bishop visited the crew at Brize Norton ahead of Monday's flypast, sharing his memories of VE Day, which he spent serving in Germany.He said he and his fellow servicemen "managed to get some beer" and "had a drink", before visiting a local church where he "thanked the Lord" that the war was over.
During the war, 99 Squadron had been the first RAF unit to convert to Wellington Bombers, and carried out bombing raids throughout the conflict.Loadmaster Sgt Harry Jarvis said the squadron's history would be "at the forefront of our minds" as he and his colleagues flew over Buckingham Palace."It's got a very rich history - it's something you think about every time you fly the aircraft and go and operate worldwide on tasks," he said.
Flt Lt Chandler said: "We'll never be able to sit in their seats, but hopefully this [the flypast] marks the occasion appropriately." He said it was "incredibly humbling" to take part in the "amazing event"."It's an absolute privilege for us to just display a little part of our recognition by doing this flypast to remember everything they went through and the huge sacrifice they made," he added.Victory in Europe Day on 8 May, known as VE Day, marks the day the Allies formally accepted Germany's surrender in 1945 - bringing an end to the near-six-year conflict.Previous VE Day events, marking the 75th anniversary, were disrupted by the Covid pandemic.
You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
19 hours ago
- BBC News
Former RAF officer from Cardiff becomes Tower of London Beefeater
A former RAF Warrant Officer from Cardiff has been selected as a Yeoman Warder (YW) at the Tower of Harris served in the RAF for more than 36 years, during which time he was deployed for tours to Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Cyprus. Nicknamed Beefeaters, it is a position introduced by Henry VII in 1485 to help guard the fortress and YW Harris is thought to be the first Welsh Beefeater in more than a decade. YW Harris described his appointment as an immense honour, and said he was "extremely proud to represent Wales". As one of 35 who live and work at the tower, YW Harris said he has enjoyed settling into his "quirky new home within the tower's vibrant community". He said he left Cardiff in 1988 and has worked at stations all over the UK with the RAF, but it means an "awful lot" to him to be able to represent the national heritage."At the end of my career it's great to be allowed to continue the historical elements of service life," he said. Describing what it was like to put on the uniform, YW Harris said you just "cannot imagine" the feeling. "It was immense" he said, adding it was "such an immensely proud moment". "I have a lot to learn and will be focused on learning the tower's history and legends before I am ready to share these with our visitors, so the next few months are going to be incredibly exciting."Part of the criteria for becoming a YW is a minimum of 22 years' service with the military, to hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and to have reached the rank of warrant officer or equivalent, before being selected for the coming months, YW Harris will learn "the story" – the script of the famous Yeoman Warder tour, in verbatim, before he can lead his own tours of the Tower of London. He will also be required to learn the 21 separate duties conducted by the Yeoman Body each day, including the Ceremony of the Keys, a closing ceremony that has taken place every single night for at least 700 years.A devoted sportsman, YW Harris is known to be a supporter of Welsh rugby, Cardiff City FC, and the Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey club, having coached the RAF Ice Hockey team to four successive inter-service championships during his previous career.


BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
'My family and I escaped Soviet soldiers after World War Two'
A woman whose family were captured by the Soviet Army just 24 hours after VE Day has written a book about their Smeed, 83, from Bridgwater, grew up in Silesia. It was historically part of Germany but the land was handed to the Polish after the Potsdam Conference in three, she and her mother Maria Gebauer were made to march towards Russia. Her father, a non-commissioned Luftwaffe officer, was taken to a Soviet labour camp."Few people in England know what happened in mainland Europe after the war ended: the brutality, the disease, and the starvation," she said. The family were among 12 million ethnic Germans who were forcibly evicted or fled from their homes after World War Two Potsdam Conference was a meeting between Winston Churchill, Clement Atlee, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin to decide the future of postwar the meeting, it was decided that Germany's territory was to be reduced by 25% of what it was in 1937, displacing many like Ms Smeed's family. Forced march Speaking to Radio Somerset, Ms Smeed said that on VE Day itself, "neither side knew the war was over". The next day, Russian soldiers arrived and "took whatever jewellery and luggage they fancied", before forcing her family to march, she said."The men and women were separated, and we began walking through Austria."The people in the towns and villages we came through couldn't believe what the Russians were doing after the war had ended."They were incensed, they were shouting at the Russians and throwing food to the women. "My mother and I were suddenly grabbed by a couple of Austrians and taken into the crowd. "They took us home, and many days later they helped us to get back to my grandmother in Silesia," she said. Meanwhile, her father, Alfred Gebauer, who had refused to join the Nazi Party while in the Luftwaffe, was taken to a labour camp in became very ill after six months, and when he left the labour camp he weighed just 38kg (83lbs).He was released from the camp and sent home, and the family reunited in Świebodzice, there, the family sought refuge in Braunschweig, West Germany, and opened a shoe shop using an heirloom necklace as a guarantee for the Smeed's mother had smuggled the necklace into Germany by baking it into a cake to stop it from being years after VE Day, Ms Smeed became pen friends with an English teenager, Philip Smeed, which eventually led to love and marriage, and her relocating to couple have three children, and six grandchildren, including Somerset County Cricket player Will Smeed, and German rugby player Henry Smeed. Ms Smeed said she wanted to write the book, called Silesia, A Homeland Lost – One German Family's Story of War and Survival, for her grandchildren."It was important to me that my grandchildren would know their Silesian as well as English roots, and that our family's story lives on for future generations," she said."This is also my parents' story, their love for each other and for me, and their determination to survive firstly the Nazi regime, then the war and its aftermath."Millions of Germans were forced from their homeland, with little idea of where they were going, and often in freezing temperatures taking only what they could carry."


BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Limpsfield Common bunkers that sheltered a school in the Blitz
Air raid shelters used by schoolchildren during World War Two bombing raids remain an important part of an ancient common in at Limpsfield School led pupils to the nearby bunkers to keep them safe from German bombs - and to continue their are six bunkers - one per year group - located at Limpsfield Common, and one was restored to its original condition in Davey, from the National Trust, which runs the site, said it was easy to imagine that children were "probably pretty scared" when being moved to the shelter. The underground shelters can get cold, according to Mr Davey."You can imagine what this was like in the middle of winter," he said. "It was dripping because it's concrete and very uncomfortable with no heating at all."Children faced a choice of where to sit when they arrived at the refuge: near the entrance with their teacher and be labelled a teacher's pet, or at the bottom near the escape hatch and a toilet, hidden behind a that, they got on with their schoolwork. Mr Davey said the bunkers were used "fairly regularly" by the school and opened up to nearby residents outside of school hours as a "safe place to go".A direct hit from a bomb "could be really serious", he said, but otherwise pupils "had a very good chance of being protected"."It was really important that they got down here," he of the six shelters are now used as bat roosts. The children's journey between the school and the shelters involved navigating barbed wire, installed in open spaces prior to the Blitz to prevent enemy gliders and paratroopers from landing during a possible Common is also home to the remains of a Spigot Mortar anti-tank gun."At that stage there was a real fear that Britain would be invaded by the Germans," Mr Davey said.