This coming Thursday (28th June 2012) lunchtime, the memorial to Bomber Command will be formally commissioned and as part of the ceremonies, a flypast by a Lancaster Bomber over Hyde Park Corner will take place.

The memorial itself is a large stone gate in Green Park by Hyde Park Corner (map), and the area will be sealed off for a large dedication ceremony for most of the day until 3:30pm.

The Dedication and Unveiling Ceremony will take place at 12 noon to 12:40 and will include a one minute silence.

After that, the Lancaster Bomber from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is due to fly over the location, and — weather permitting — drop several thousand poppies over the area in memory of the 55,573 people who died while serving in Bomber Command.

I understand that the flypast is scheduled for the end of the dedication at 12:30-12:45 12:30

Not just a sombre memorial, but it should also be a spectacular sight to see the poppies falling from the sky with the distinctive and awesome roar of the bomber flying overhead.

It is unlikely that people will be able to get that close to see the poppy drop as the area will be sealed off, but I would expect views from Hyde Park corner or further up Picadilly would be possible.

Updated 27th June:

The flypast route has been confirmed by the RAF as follows:

Thames Barrier; Millenium Dome; Canary Wharf; Waterloo Station; Millenium Eye; Houses of Parliament; Buckingham Palace; Hyde Park; Green Park.

The RAF Museum in Hendon also expects the plane to fly overheard after Green Park, so it will probably sweep around and head northward after Green Park.

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10 comments
  1. I will be attending the ceremony with my Dad, who is one of the survivors of that campaign. It is very sad that due to self serving nature of the political leaders of the time, and indeed since, the veterans have had to wait nearly seventy years for a permanent national memorial to their lost comrades.

    The Bomber Command Association estimate that they are now losing, on average, twelve veterans a week. It doesn’t take much working out to see that it won’t be too long before there are none left with first hand knowledge of the whole campaign. At least there is now a substantial reminder of the contribution these men made towards bringing the war to an end.

  2. Time it right, and there might be an interesting view from the cable car…

    • IanVisits says:

      Shush – otherwise they’ll add that as a “venue feature” on their website.

  3. Gary says:

    Hi, thanks for the route info (two NNs in “Millennium” by the way) but it doesn’t quite make sense: flying east to west like that, Hyde Park would be AFTER Green Park – which is where the memorial is. Or do you mean there is a loop of some sort at that point?

    • IanVisits says:

      I have no idea – I provided all the information I have.

      Any questions will have to be sent to the RAF who are organising it.

  4. Derek says:

    Where and what is the Millenium [sic] Eye?

    • IanVisits says:

      I really cant imagine what it could be – after all, there is nothing whatsoever vaguely called “eye” in that area is there?

  5. Tony says:

    The Millenium eye is the big wheel near the London aquarium.

  6. martin says:

    Lancaster just passed over my rooftop, it was a very stirring sight, this country owes a massive debt of gratitude to all those men and women who gave their all during the two world wars!

  7. TRT says:

    Passed right over my place of work. I wasn’t expecting it! That distinctive engine noise really shakes you to the core.

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