The RAF flypast over Buckingham Palace: Best pictures

Royal family

London stood still on Tuesday afternoon as the RAF performed a rare and spectacular flypast over Buckingham Palace, featuring dozens of planes from different eras, with HM the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family on hand to witness the display.

The RAF celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018, and the fine men and women of our youngest armed force celebrated the birthday in style on Tuesday with a flypast over Buckingham Palace.

The actual anniversary was back on April 1 – the date in 1918 that the Army’s Royal Flying Corps became its own separate armed force – but this celebratory display was scheduled for the summer, no doubt to make the most of the fine weather.

Hundreds of thousands of people turned out onto the streets, gardens and rooftops of the capital – and of course the balconies – to watch both the planes in the sky and the parades on the ground that involved many of the RAF ground crew.

Here’s our selection of some of some of the best images from the event.

The band of the Royal Air Force parades on the Mall, which is bedecked with RAF ensigns, towards Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018 during celebrations to mark its centenary.(Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP / Getty)

A Second World War Lancaster bomber and spitfires fly in formation on the centenary of the formation of the RAF – these planes flew over the tennis taking place on the eighth day of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP / Getty Images)

A formation of Eurofighters – the famous Typhoons – fly over Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London. Pilots had spent months perfecting the ‘100’ formation, which was executed perfectly over the capital – as you can see in our video below. (Photo by Martin Dalton/REX/Shutterstock)

Hundreds of thousands of people lined The Mall on the day, once the marching band had gone past. (Photo by David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry share a joke on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during a lull in the action. (Photo by David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

The grande finale was the Red Arrows’ flypast over the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (Photo by David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Prince William and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the celebrations for the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force. But what was Princess Catherine looking at…? (Photo by David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)