Britain to mark 80 years since end of WWII with military flypast

Britain will mark 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe with a four-day celebration including street parties, a flypast of old and modern aircraft and a military procession to Buckingham Palace.

The anniversary, set to be among the last major wartime commemorations with a significant veteran presence, will also see union flags draped on London’s Cenotaph war memorial that honours Britain’s war dead.

“Eighty years ago, the freedoms we enjoy today were defended by our remarkable Second World War generation,” British Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement published on Tuesday.

“Our duty today is to safeguard the British values they sacrificed so much to uphold,” he added.

The commemorations marking the official Allied victory in Europe on May 8, 1945 will kick off with the military procession followed by the flypast featuring the Red Arrows aerobatics team alongside current and historic military aircraft.

A street party will be held on HMS Belfast, the most significant surviving WWII warship, in central London.

The ship, now a museum moored in the River Thames, fired some of the opening shots of D-Day in 1944 and protected convoys transporting vital supplies and munitions through Arctic waters.

Over the following three days, other events to mark Victory in Europe or VE Day will include an installation of nearly 30,000 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, an old citadel.

The celebrations will culminate on May 8 with a remembrance service at London’s Westminster Abbey and a concert at the historic Horse Guards Parade featuring pop singers, actors and military bands.

A service to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in the Far East, known as VJ or Victory in Japan Day, will be held on August 15 at the National Memorial Arboretum in central England.