Jet fighters to honor London gay pride march with flypast

This year's annual gay pride march in London will be honored for the first time in its history with a flypast by military fighter jets.

The gay pride march has taken place annually since 1970, but this year will be the first involvement in the event for the British Royal Air Force's (RAF) Red Arrows display team of jet fighters.

Squadron Leader David Montenegro, Red 1 and team leader of the RAF Aerobatic Team who will be flying at the front of the nine-aircraft formation over the Pride event said in a statement released late on Wednesday by the British Ministry of Defense: "The Red Arrows are honoured to feature as a part of this year's Pride in London."

Rob Anderson, operations director of Pride in London, said: "Pride in London is delighted to accept the offer of a flypast by the Red Arrows. As the UK's largest LGBT event, we are very excited to be the first Pride festival to be treated to a flypast, and look forward to them being part of the celebrations."

This year, more than 200 military personnel are expected to take part in the march.

The march, now expanded into the London Pride Festival and taking up the last weekend in June, has become a major tourist attraction, and in 2014, 750,000 attended the festival.

Source:Xinhua