A WESTBURY cadet had the thrill and honour of flying over Buckingham Palace with the RAF as part of the celebrations for the Queen’s official birthday.
Flight Sgt Aaron Horsey, 18, from Westbury 68 Squadron was on board a RAF Tristar as it passed over Buckingham Palace in the RAF’s flypast on Saturday 12th June.
For many years it has been tradition for the RAF to pay their respects to the Queen with a flypast over the palace. This year, the army cadet force was invited to join the celebration in recognition of their 150th anniversary.
Out of 40,000 air, sea, and army cadets, RAF Sgt Aaron Horsey and Sgt C.J. Brown from Bradford on Avon were the two local cadets who were chosen to take part in the event. Both cadets were nominated by their squadron, and were then selected to be part of the group of 150 lucky cadets to board the RAF Tristar.
“It was an exciting day, and certainly a new experience!” said Aaron, who is currently completing his A-levels at Matravers School. “We had a nice early start – I picked up Sgt Brown at just gone half six and then we drove up to RAF Brize Norton. We had to go through the security checks, and then went into an actual departure lounge like you’d get at a commercial airport. There was an open day on up there as well so we got a good look at all the aircraft from the windows from the departure lounge.”
The cadets boarded the Tristar at 11.00am and took off shortly after. “Once we got on, we were free to roam around the plane, and the air crew were on hand to answer any questions,” Aaron explained. “We also got to go up to the cockpit – we were able to go in and chat to the pilot.”
The Tristar then flew up to the holding point where 29 aircraft assembled into formation, ready to fly over Buckingham Palace. The cadets on board got to see a close up of formation flying as they were joined by Tornado GR4 fighters – something Aaron identifies as one of the most exciting moments of the experience. “We got seats just on the edge of the wing, and the best bit was when we got back to our seats from the cockpit the Tornados were just coming up to join us – I got a video of them approaching,” he said
At 1.00pm the formation, which included a Spitfire, Hurricane, Nimrod R1, and members of the Red Arrows, flew over Buckingham Palace in honour of the Queen.
Aaron has been a member of Westbury 68 Squadron for the past four years. “The sheer variety of things I’ve been able to do with cadets has been great,” he said.
