British military parade on 80th anniversary of VE Day

[Blackleaf]

King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, along with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other politicians and dignitaries, looked on earlier today as military personnel marched along the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace to mark 80 years since the Allied victory in World War II.

The Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces King Charles III - whose parents served in the War - saluted the troops as they passed by.

 

[Blackleaf]

Watched by thousands along the Mall, the Royal Family stood on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony to see a flypast consisting of modern fighter jets and WWII-era planes and, of course, the Red Arrows.

On the balcony were the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence and Princess Beatrice.

 

[Blackleaf]

Actor Timothy Spall kicked off four days of national commerations and celebrations of Britain's victory over the Nazis by reading Churchill's victory speech to the nation and Empire, which the great man delivered on 8th May 1945.

Spall played Churchill in movie The King's Speech...

Eight days after Hitler's suicide, Churchill told the people of Britain and the Empire that Germany has surrendered...

 

[Blackleaf]

Starmer and his wife host street party



As Britons hold street parties nationwide to celebrate 80 years of the nation's defeat of the Nazis on this Bank Holiday Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, 62, and his wife Victoria, 51, have hosted a street party outside their home, 10 Downing Street.

Today is the first day of four days of national celebrations...

 

[Blackleaf]

Prince Louis, 4th in line to the Throne, steals VE Day show with cheeky Wills remark, dramatic hair flick & excited antics​

The prince, 7, copied his older brother Prince George pushing back his fringe and brushed raindrops off his father Prince William's shoulder as the four senior Royals after the King and Queen- Prince William and his three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - sat amongst guests including World War II veterans.

Later, the prince was seen playing air drums on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the RAF flypast...

 

[Blackleaf]

An amateur cameraman's view of the RAF flypast over London.

The RAF flew over Buckingham Palace as the Royals and thousands of others looked on and the world's oldest air force also got to show off some of the aircraft it has to defend Great Britain's airspace

 

[Blackleaf]

Prince George shines on his first official Royal duty

Prince starts his training as the future King


The future King's interactions with the World War II veterans greatly pleased his grandfather the King

Prince George today didn't put a foot wrong as he undertook his first official Royal engagement.

The prince, 11, will one day become King (after his father Prince William, of course) and today his parents started his training for the important job he will one day undertake by having him greet and chat to World War II veterans at Buckingham Palace.

Prince George's interactions with the veterans so impressed his grandfather the King that he told the Princess of Wales: "You've got a nice looking boy there. You're going to have to keep your eye on him."

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

An amateur cameraman's view of the RAF flypast over London.

The RAF flew over Buckingham Palace as the Royals and thousands of others looked on and the world's oldest air force also got to show off some of the aircraft it has to defend Great Britain's airspace

Cool, but I would have put the warbirds from WWII in their own flight. Can you imagine flight of a Hurricane, a Spit, a Lancaster, and an Albatross? Abso-freakin'-lutely classic!

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

If you served (legally) in WWII, the latest you could have been born was 8 August 1945. You'd be rising 80 now.

The last WWI vet is gone. The WWII vets are going fast.

They are the greatest generation.

 

[Blackleaf]

Cool, but I would have put the warbirds from WWII in their own flight. Can you imagine flight of a Hurricane, a Spit, a Lancaster, and an Albatross? Abso-freakin'-lutely classic!

A Spitfire crashed on Saturday. It's not often we say that nowadays.

A horrified eyewitness has recalled the terrifying moment a Spitfire crashed into a farmer's field just hours before VE Day celebrations. A historic Spitfire was seen circling "for a couple of minutes" in West Hythe, Kent, at 7pm on Saturday before performing an emergency crash landing.

Eyewitness Emily was on her way home in the car when she saw the Spitfire in the air "for a couple of minutes" before it crashed. The pilot and passenger miraculously walked away unscathed.

I also hope the Spitfire will be okay. There's only 240 of them left, around 60 of them airworthy.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

A Spitfire crashed on Saturday. It's not often we say that nowadays.

Not nearly as often as, say, 85 years back. Glad they got out OK. Shame about the Spit. I hope they can patch it up.

 

[Blackleaf]

If you served (legally) in WWII, the latest you could have been born was 8 August 1945. You'd be rising 80 now.

The last WWI vet is gone. The WWII vets are going fast.

They are the greatest generation.

You wouldn't have been old enough to serve in World War II if you were born in 1945.

The war ended 80 years ago. The youngest a vet would be nowadays would be 96 or so.

 

[Blackleaf]

Not nearly as often as, say, 85 years back. Glad they got out OK. Shame about the Spit. I hope they can patch it up.

It may be hard to believe, but of the 20,000 Spitfires built during WWII only 257 were lost during the conflict, although Britain lost 1023 planes of various types during the Battle of Britain alone.

Maybe that's testament as to how good the planes were for the time.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

It may be hard to believe, but of the 20,000 Spitfires built during WWII only 257 were lost during the conflict, although Britain lost 1023 planes of various types during the Battle of Britain alone.

Maybe that's testament as to how good the planes were for the time.

How good the planes, and how staggeringly brilliant the fliers. The Germans are, and were, truly superior pilots, and the Me-109E was a match for the Spit. As well as being the first true air war, the Battle of Britain was the most amazing display of sheer aviation talent the world will ever see.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

You wouldn't have been old enough to serve in World War II if you were born in 1945.

The war ended 80 years ago. The youngest a vet would be nowadays would be 96 or so.

Yep, my fuckup. You would have had to turn 17 on 8 August 1945. Which means you could have been born no later than 8 August 1928.

The youngest veteran would be rising 97. Makes me even sadder.

 

[petros]

How good the planes, and how staggeringly brilliant the fliers. The Germans are, and were, truly superior pilots, and the Me-109E was a match for the Spit. As well as being the first true air war, the Battle of Britain was the most amazing display of sheer aviation talent the world will ever see.

Polish pilots in the RAF 303 Squadron were the top dogs.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Polish pilots in the RAF 303 Squadron were the top dogs.

They were. The top Brit was a guy named James Johnson, 38 kills. The top American was Richard Bong, 40 kills. Bong flew in the Pacific.

The greatest ever was Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron. 50 kills in WWI.

 

[Blackleaf]

Yep, my fuckup. You would have had to turn 17 on 8 August 1945. Which means you could have been born no later than 8 August 1928.

The youngest veteran would be rising 97. Makes me even sadder.

I make that mistake at times.

None of my grandparents were old enough to serve in World War II - instead they were child evacuees. My maternal grandmother was bullied by the family she was sent to out in the countryside on a farm.

However, my great-grandfathers served in WWI. One of them - I think it was my paternal grandmother's father - survived the war and went back to working on the railways in the Manchester area. He sustained shrapnel in the trenches. Some years after the war he was doing some work on a railway line in the middle of winter and he slipped on some ice and fell onto the floor. The shrapnel, still embedded somewhere within him, moved and it killed him.

So even though he survived the ending of WWI he still ended up being killed by it.

 

[petros]

They were. The top Brit was a guy named James Johnson, 38 kills. The top American was Richard Bong, 40 kills. Bong flew in the Pacific.

The greatest ever was Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron. 50 kills in WWI.

I'm well versed in the WW2 air war.

Top Canadian Buerling got 31 1/3.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I'm well versed in the WW2 air war.

Top Canadian Buerling got 31 1/3.

One day I got 18 kills.

Of course, those were beers, but it was one hell of a day (or so I'm told. My memory is a little fuzzy on that day).