RAF Coronation Review 1953
The RAF Coronation Review at RAF Odiham on the 15th of July 1953, this was a spectacle that will probably never be repeated – almost one thousand static and flying aircraft. This was purely an Air Forces event, with contributions from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The other services were all involved in their own Coronation Year reviews. The Royal Navy including the Fleet Air Arm had it’s own review on the 15th June 1953 with over 300 participating aircraft, the aircaft from Canada and Australia the Fleet Air Arm.
Below is a video of the event, somewhat condensed but it is pretty spectacular nonetheless. I’m pretty sure that the next Coronation Review will probably have fewer participants, so watch the video and feel the nostalgia.
I found the video purely by accident, but found it to be realy interesting. The whole flypast is there, representing all the RAF types in service at the time – some of which were in service for a number of years.
As a plane spotter I’d love to see an actual log, both the static and the flying aircraft. The sheer number of aircraft must have made for a real spectacle, they did allow paying members of the public in.
Obviously there will be an other Coronation later this year, at this time I’m unaware of any mention of a review of the armed forces – I found the above video while I was searching for anything about one. So I guess I’ll just have to keep looking, I’m sure that there will at least be a flypast on the day, or possibly soon after.
But in the mean time, enjoy the video!