Planes Fill Sky Over London to Celebrate Battle of Britain

LONDON —  Hundreds of thousands of people turned out Saturday to watch a massive flyover by military aircraft marking the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Under sunny skies, 166 aircraft including Spitfires and Hurricanes that were used to defend Britain from the mighty German Luftwaffe during World War II streaked low over Buckingham Palace at noon.

Queen Elizabeth II and members of the royal family watched the festivities from the palace, which had sustained German bomb blasts in the air battle half a century ago.

The flyover ceremonies and a parade helped celebrate the triumph of the Royal Air Force pilots, whose skills in flying the single-engine, eight-gun fighters helped to change the course of World War II.

Scores of Londoners watched from rooftops as the first wave of aircraft led by a formation of Hurricanes and Spitfires flew over. Two Tornado GRIs, Britain’s most advanced fighter plane, acted as wingmen for a formation of VC10s, which followed behind.

The military formations were just two short of the number of planes that took part in the Queen’s Coronation Flypast over the palace in 1953, when 168 aircraft flew over the British capital in the largest such flyover since the war.

Veterans of the Battle of Britain led the parade of members of dozens of organizations from all over the world that played a role in the battle.

The veterans marched down from the Horse Guards down the Mall to the palace, where the queen inspected the parade.

Fireworks were scheduled to round off the festivities Saturday night.