Aircraft carrier to visit London

HMS Illustrious is due to sail up the Thames this Wednesday, 6 May, at the start of a visit to celebrate 100 years of naval aviation.

HMS Illustrious is due to sail up the Thames this Wednesday, 6 May, at the start of a visit to celebrate 100 years of naval aviation. The 22,000-tonne aircraft carrier will be moored to buoys at Greenwich Tier, just upstream from Greenwich Pier, until Monday 11 May.

Forty naval helicopters and fixed wing aircraft will stage a centenary flypast on Thursday 7 May, passing over HMS Illustrious from east to west at exactly midday. This will be followed, on Saturday 9 May and Sunday 10 May, by naval helicopter role demonstrations over the river in partnership with surface vessels.

On these two days the river will be closed to navigation between the Upper end of Greenwich Pier and Lovell’s Wharf from 1350hrs until 1435hrs, although vessels may be able to remain alongside at Greenwich Pier during the closures.

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