1950s: The RAF’s Coronation Day

oleh: E Colston Shephard

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Royal Air Force 2022-07-01

Deskripsi

All ranks and every command of the RAF, at home and overseas, were represented in the great procession through Central London which followed the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II. The Service provided elements in the Guards of Honour at Buckingham Palace and at Westminster Abbey. Several thousand officers, airmen, cadets and apprentices lined parts of the route. Eleven RAF bands took their various parts. All the Marshals of the RAF, except the Duke of Windsor, were in the procession. The Chief of Air Staff rode with the Chiefs of the other Services; the Vice-Chief of Air Staff with the other principal Service ADCs. In the Abbey, Marshal of the RAF Lord Portal of Hungerford, in charge of the Sceptre with Cross, was in close attendance on the Queen during most of the ceremony. The final salute of the day was given by fighter aircraft of the RAF and the RCAF, flying in wings line astern across the front of Buckingham Palace while Her Majesty stood on the balcony.