The Wing Commander (WG Cdr) said it would be a “special moment” to fly over the Mall and Buckingham palace As the Royal Air Force welcomes a new monarch.
He will lead four Texan T Mk1s and a Phenom in a Camel formation over London as part of a display of 60 planes flying low over the capital.
WG Cdr Ball added that it was a “great honour, a great privilege to be just a small part of this celebration” and that his family will be “really proud” of him.
Although the scale and importance of the task facing WG Cdr Ball and his pilots is immense, the pressure is eased by his recent experience of flying at Queen’s. platinum jubileesomething that WG Cdr Ball remembers fondly.
He said: “I feel a bit lucky to have been involved in the Queen’s platinum jubilee and there are a lot of similarities in the way we execute it, which means there’s a little less fear of the unknown.”
a fan of the Royal familyWG Cdr Ball said that it was not until after the Queen died that many realized how important she was to life in the UK.
He said: “When the Queen passed by, you suddenly realized how many things come together in the Royal family and how UK life is affected in so many areas by this. It’s almost one of those things, that if it wasn’t there, you’d suddenly notice and realize what it brings.”
The same can be said of the Royal Air Force that will bring an aerial soundtrack to the Coronation procedures as they plunge low through the capital, flying lower even than the height of the Shard.
He said: “It certainly takes quite a bit of training and one of the roles we play on the Texan is to teach young trainee pilots how to fly formation, how to fly formation in the cloud and in all sorts of different situations. Once you get to the front line, this is a normal day-to-day skill.
“Flying in formation just becomes a way to move efficiently with a couple of planes together, so it becomes, hopefully, a mundane skill. It’s such a practiced thing that it should be relatively mundane once you’re good.” trained in it. When he did the rehearsal, the air was very soft.”
This doesn’t mean it’s always a walk in the park. during the queen platinum jubilee, the WG Cdr said that the hot conditions meant the aircraft felt like it was “bouncing all over the place”. Fast forward to Coronation and millions of eyes will be on their wingtips, that is if the weather holds.
Prior to the air flight, there is concern that wet weather could mean the air flight is canceled entirely.
WG Cdr Ball said: “The challenge is if the cloud base is too low or the rain is so thick that I can’t see through it, that causes a bit of a problem, there are climatic limits.
“There is a situation where the weather is so bad that we won’t be able to do it. Yeah, while you fly LondonI think we’re about the same height as the Shard and some of the big buildings; if there are a lot of clouds around you, you can’t be playing”.
However, if the flight goes ahead as planned, there will be an extra treat in store as WG Cdr will lead his Texans on a second special flight beginning at 4:39pm over Wrexham and flying through Liverpool and the Isle of Man when they return home Royal Air Force valley in the north Welsh.