[4K] Air Force One, AN-225, Spitfires | June 2021

Last month was as busy as I can remember for aviation. Despite the lack of airshows, there was still so much to see, and it was extremely unusual to have it all in the space of thirty days or so!

To start, the arrival of all the G7 summit stuff. This included dozens of C-17 Globemasters all over the South West and South East of the country. I filmed two landings at Stansted before filming one more at RAF Mildenhall which travelled up from Newquay. (These aren't in this video but can be found elsewhere on my channel.)

Of course, the C-17s were just the start of things to come. It all built up to the arrival of Air Force One at RAF Mildenhall, which made for a lovely overhead shot just behind the approach.

After the G7, there were still POTUS movements to see! President Biden visited Windsor to meet Her Majesty The Queen which meant landing at Heathrow Airport, on Runway 27L - music to plane spotters' ears! This meant I could get a nice side on shot of the rare VC-25A aircraft, one that unless there's a state visit in the coming years, we may never see flying in the United Kingdom again.
Next up was a short journey down the road to RAF Northolt to see the return of NIGHTHAWK formation - the Presidential helicopter entourage. This too may well be the final time we see the VH-3D Sea Kings in Britian.

After all the Presdential stuff departed, you'd be forgiven for thinking that would be it for this month in terms of rare aircraft. But then the rumours started circulating! The rumour that the world's longest and heaviest operational aircraft - the Antonov An-225 - was to make an appearance at RAF Brize Norton!

The AN-225 landed on Runway 07, what seems to be an occuring event regardless of the wind direction. On departure, as I'm sure many of you know, it made a name for itself and took the fence panels off their posts with its jet blast!

Finally, Headcorn airshow. The Friday only saw the cancellation of the Red Arrows and the BBMF Spitfires, but apart from that, the flying was terrific. That's why I had to include some of the footage in this video!

Order of events:

0:00 - AF1 & SAM46 arrival at LHR
0:43 - Hispano Buchon at Headcorn
3:05 - AN-225 arrival at RAF Brize Norton
3:35 - Presidential helicopters at RAF Northolt
5:37 - Voyager ZZ336 departs RAF Brize Norton
6:17 - SAM46 & AF1 arrival at RAF Mildenhall
7:35 - Lockheed U-2 arrival at RAF Fairford
9:02 - Spitfires and Hurricane at Headcorn
13:05 - AN-225 departure at RAF Brize Norton

Don't forget to check out my other social media sites:

► INSTAGRAM: @aviation_highlights
► TWITTER: @av_highlights
► TIKTOK: @aviationhighlights
► FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/aviahighlights

Copyright © Aviation Highlights 2021