The flypast on June 4, 2002, was the grand finale of the Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
It featured 27 Royal Air Force aircraft and a memorable appearance by Concorde escorted by the Red Arrows.
The formation was scheduled to pass over Buckingham Palace at 5.55pm but, due to the scale of the day's events, was delayed by 30 minutes.
The Red Arrows departed Stansted to rendezvous with Concorde G-BOAD at a holding point off the Norfolk coast.
On Concorde's flight deck were Captain Mike Bannister, Captain Les Brodie and senior engineering officer Peter Carrigan.
This was the first time Concorde had performed its flagship role since the fleet was grounded following the Paris accident in July 2000.
Before that tragedy, Concorde frequently undertook prestigious assignments, including transporting the England football team and Europe's Ryder Cup team to major tournaments, as well as carrying politicians to international summits.
Concorde had previously flown in formation with the Red Arrows, most recently at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
On that occasion, Concorde G-BOAE had been chartered by the UK Government to transport dignitaries from London to Edinburgh.
As the aircraft was based at Edinburgh Airport, a flypast with the Red Arrows, which had already been scheduled to perform, was arranged.
In addition to Edinburgh, the formation also flew over Glasgow.
During the Golden Jubilee flypast, the formation crossed the North Sea and passed the coast near Southwold shortly after 6pm before heading inland over Ipswich, Chelmsford, Fairlop Waters Country Park and Wanstead on its way to central London.
At 6.25pm, the aircraft flew over Buckingham Palace at an altitude of 1,500ft and a speed of 280 knots.
The formation included a Eurofighter Typhoon, a C-17 Globemaster, a TriStar, Tornados, an E-3 Sentry, a VC10, Jaguars, a Nimrod, Canberras, a BAe 146 and a pair of BAe 125s.
Once clear of the flypast, Concorde climbed to 2,500ft, intercepted the Instrument Landing System localiser and arrived at Heathrow five minutes later, landing on Runway 27 Right.
The Red Arrows then returned to their base at RAF Scampton, passing close to Hertford, St Neots, Thurlby, Corby Glen and Grantham along the way.
Those gathered at Fairlop Waters enjoyed a first-class view of one of the most spectacular aerial displays.
- David Martin is co-founder of the Fairlop Heritage Group (fairlopplaintimes.com).
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