A map showing the route of the Red Arrows flightpath has been created and shared for eagle-eyed observers as preparations get underway for the King’s official birthday celebrations. Trooping the Colour takes place once again on Saturday, June 14, and will see more than 1,350 soldiers of the Household Division and King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery march in military precision while inspected by the monarch, while a military brass band plays.
A further 250 foot soldiers will also line the route of the procession along the Mall. But amid the military splendour of Trooping the Colour, one hallowed tradition always stands out. The Red Arrows iconic tri-colour flypast The Mall and Buckingham Palace.
This year, observers can pinpoint the moment the flypast will take place thanks to a maps showing the aircrafts’ movements as it leaves RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire at 12.26pm, flying across East Anglia and into London before launching the iconic flypast over Buckingham Palace at 1.06pm.
Trooping the Colour flypast timings and where to look out
Based on the number points in the map above the locations and timings for Saturday (June 14) are:
1. RAF Waddington – 12.26pm
2. West of Martin – 12.28pm
3. South of Great Hale – 12.29pm
4. Oversea – 12.37pm
5. Oversea – 12.41pm
6. Oversea – 12.44pm
7. Oversea – 12.50pm
8. Woodbridge Airfield – 12.53pm
9. Colchester – 12.57pm
10. Woodford – 1.03pm
11.Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – 1.04pm
12. Buckingham Palace – 1.06pm
13. Belgravia – 1.07pm
14. and 15. Norbury Park – 1.08pm to 1.09pm
16. South East of Beech – 1.15pm
17. South of Longstock – 1.18pm
18. Bournemouth – 1.23pm
The timings and route are subject to change at last minute due to weather conditions or other requirements.
The Red Arrows were founded in 1964, when the Royal Air Force combined its display teams into one elite unit, whose members have often served in operational units, such as fast-jets, helicopters or intelligence-gathering aircraft, in war zones such as Afghanistan and Libya, or part of the Quick Reaction Alert in the UK and Falkland Islands.
The RAF states: “Displays by the Red Arrows are one of the ways the UK strengthens its relationships abroad, benefitting defence and prosperity. The team provides the UK, as the Royal Air Force does, with a great ability and option to promote and support the country’s interests – diplomatically, industrially and militarily.”
Central London will be the scene of pomp and pageantry for this year’s Trooping the Colour on Saturday – with one notable change afoot as King Charles continues undergoing cancer treatment. This year, the King will not ride horseback and will instead take a carriage from Buckingham Palace to the Horse Guards Parade and back again, the Sunday Times writes.
The King last rode in the ceremony in 2023 and it was seen as a momentous occasion – the first time a monarch had ridden during the Troop of the Colour since Queen Elizabeth II last rode in 1986. But in 2024, the King rode in a carriage alongside Queen Camilla and it is understood they will repeat the practice again this year.
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