RAF Hercules retirement flypast: Where and when can you see trio of iconic aircraft flying over Northern Ireland?
and live on Freeview channel 276
The flypast will mark 56 years of service to the RAF and will see the aircraft fly over Aldergrove Flying Station - beside Belfast International Airport - today, Wednesday 14 June at 11:48am.
The flight is part of a wider route across England, Scotland and Wales today.
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Hide AdRay Burrows MBE, Chairman of the Ulster Aviation Society at Long Kesh, said he would be one of those looking out for them.
"The Hercules have been flying into Aldergrove for 50 years," he told the News Letter. "They are one of the mainstays of the RAF with a fantastic safety record. I don't know how many million miles they have must have flown in service of the RAF.
"During the Troubles the Hercules were in and out of Northern Ireland virtually on a daily basis every day for 30 years.”
"This was a period whenever things would not have been moved by road transport – so the only option was to fly them in.
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Hide Ad"They were used to bring in all sorts of equipment, troops and even helicopters. They would have been used basically in every operation to do with the military here."
The first Hercules arrived at Marshall’s of Cambridge in December 1966. Since entering RAF service at RAF Thorney Island in West Susses, it has operated right across the globe in support of UK military and humanitarian relief operations.