This week, the nation will mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day with events starting on Monday, May 5, 2025. Planned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the events will include a military procession involving more than 1,300 members of the armed forces, uniformed services, and young people. Along with the procession, the Royal Air Force (RAF) will do a flypast over Buckingham Palace and The Mall. The flypasts will see 23 aircraft take part, including a Lancaster Bomber from the Battle of Britain memorial flight and the Red Arrows.
Many will be eager to see the impressive RAF flypast, so here are all the details on when and where you can see the event. If you're hoping to watch the special flypast, you can expect it to take place over Buckingham Palace and The Mall at 1:45 PM. The display will see a range of historic planes fly over London, including the Red Arrows display team. If you are not in London for the flypast, you will be able to watch the special event on TV. However, if you are in the southeast coast of England, you might be able to catch a glimpse of the planes as they make their way to London.
Although not confirmed for security reasons, flight restrictions imposed on commercial planes by the government suggest an idea of the route the RAF planes will take. According to MilitaryAirShows, the expected times for the RAF planes to fly over various areas are as follows: Area A - between 11:45 AM & 2:45 PM, Area B - between 1:15 PM & 2:10 PM, Area C - between 1:20 PM & 2:10 PM, Area D - between 1:20 PM & 2:10 PM, Area E - between 1:25 PM & 2:10 PM, Area F - between 1:25 PM & 2:10 PM, and Areas G, H & I - between 1:25 PM & 2:10 PM.
The RAF has not confirmed the full list of 23 aircraft that will take part in the flypast; however, they've shared some of what the public can expect to see. The Red Arrows, a Lancaster Bomber from the Battle of Britain memorial flight, a Typhoon, an A400M Atlas, a C-17 Globemaster, Rivet Joint, and Poseidon aircraft are all expected to fly.
On Monday, May 5, 2025, the UK will be marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a flyover above Buckingham Palace. The main moment will take place at 1:45 PM, with the planes needing to make their way to the capital, coming right up to the Surrey border. Alongside the Red Arrows, the flyover will likely involve 23 current and historic military vehicles such as a Voyager transport aircraft, a P8 surveillance aircraft, as well as Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets. The flypast will start in the North Sea, just off the coast of Norwich, before making its way inland. It will come closest to Surrey after passing the palace, reaching areas such as Staines and Walton on Thames.
The event will mean restrictions on the airspaces flown through between 11:45 AM and 2:45 PM. These restrictions will be implemented over nine separate areas, designated as Areas A through I. Area F comes right up to Surrey while also including Buckingham Palace. A document published by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport outlines these details, stating: “These Regulations impose restrictions on flying in the vicinity of the North Sea, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, London, and areas to the West and North West of London over Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire for the VE Day 80 Anniversary Flypast which is due to take place there on 5th May 2025. As timings for this event are critical and the formation may not be able to take effective avoiding action, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department for Transport agree that flying should be restricted in the vicinity of the relevant areas to avoid the risk that transient aircraft may disrupt the formation.”
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, hence Victory in Europe - or VE - Day. VE Day is the day when the Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that fighting with Nazi Germany had ceased. After years of tensions, the conflict officially began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland, which sparked Britain and France to declare war. After more than five-and-a-half years of fighting and privation, on May 8, 1945, Churchill gave a speech in which he said: “My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.”
Actor Timothy Spall will open VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations in London on Monday when he recites some of Winston Churchill’s victory speech from 1945. Normandy veteran Alan Kennett, 100, will formally start the procession after being handed the Commonwealth War Graves’ Torch For Peace by air cadet Warrant Officer Emmy Jones. The procession will see more than 1,300 members of the Armed Forces and youth groups march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch, and up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. Representatives of the Ukrainian military, selected from the UK armed forces’ training programme for Ukrainian recruits Operation Interflex, will also take part.
The King, the Queen, the Prime Minister, and Second World War veterans will be on a platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. Later, members of the Royal Family will watch the flypast from the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The events on bank holiday Monday mark the beginning of four days of celebration across the nation up until Thursday, May 8, exactly 80 years since Victory in Europe was declared.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “This 80th anniversary is a moment of national unity. A time to celebrate that hard-won peace, honour the memory of those who lost their lives, and remember the sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedom. Their legacy lives on today in how we stand together in defence of the values they fought for and which bind us together as a nation. This week, we come together to salute their service.”
From 9 PM on Tuesday, hundreds of buildings across the country will be lit up to mark the day, including the Palace of Westminster, the Shard, Lowther Castle in Penrith, Manchester Printworks, Cardiff Castle, and Belfast City Hall. On Thursday, a service at Westminster Abbey will begin with a national two-minute silence, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said. There will be a party at Horse Guards Parade shown live on BBC One. Pubs and bars have been granted permission to stay open for longer to mark the anniversary. Venues in England and Wales which usually close at 11 PM will be able to keep serving for an extra two hours to celebrate.
The flypast will not just be visible in London; large parts of East Anglia and the south will also be able to see its route. It will take off from RAF Waddington at 1:05 PM and be in Bournemouth for about 2:06 PM, according to the latest itinerary.
A national two-minute silence will be held to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day at midday on Thursday, May 8. The government has said its departments will be observing the silence and has invited other organisations to follow suit.
