Flypast for the Queen's Birthday

RAF Marham will help celebrate The Queen's Birthday with a flypast over Buckingham Palace.

The flypast, which will take place at 1pm on Saturday, is made up of 29 aircraft, from a second world war Spitfire to modern multi-role Typhoon fighters.

The team of two 31 Squadron Tornado GR4 fast jets from RAF Marham will be lead by Sqn Ldr Matt Bressani.

Sqn Ldr Bressani said: 'It is an absolute honour to lead the RAF Marham contingent of Tornado GR4s in the Queen's Birthday Flypast this year. This marks the end of 17 years of Tornado GR operations over Iraq as our focus shifts towards our future tenure in Afghanistan. My wife, Natalie, and two children will casting a critical eye on the television to make sure we get it right.'

From 12.30pm on Saturday the aircraft will be visible over the North Sea near Southwold on the Suffolk coast, after taking off from eight different RAF bases across the UK.

The aircraft will then head across Suffolk to Colchester, and at Fairlop the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will take the lead over East London as they head towards The Mall, ready for the 1pm flypast.

Last to fly over Buckingham Palace will be the Red Arrows, including three new team members for whom this is their first royal engagement.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, Chief of the Air Staff said: 'This year marks the end of 19 years of RAF operations over Iraq, and the flypast recognises this significant achievement by including a formation of VC10 and Tornado GR4 aircraft, both of which have borne the bulk of the burden in Iraq.

'The flypast is led by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, to commemorate the heritage of the Service, but also includes Tornado F3 and Typhoon fighters, to reflect the round the clock task of protecting the United Kingdom's airspace from foreign and terrorist intrusion'.