RAF Voyager over London

The RAF’s largest ever aircraft, Voyager, has been flown by the RAF over HorseGuards Parade in London at the Queens Trooping The Colour Ceremony today.

Nearly 60 metres long from nose to tail and boasting a 60m wingspan, the new tanker will replace the VC-10 and tri-Star aircraft. Voyager is twice the size of a Lancaster bomber and can carry 291 troops for more than 6,000 miles.

14 of the models snapped up by the RAF and their deadline of the first to be in service by the end of 2011 was met.

The Voyager, a converted Airbus A330-200 airliner, can refuel another aircraft with 100,000 litres of fuel - more than that contained by two large petrol tankers. While a pump at a garage can deliver fuel at 40 litres per minute, the Voyager can refuel at a rate of 5,000 litres per minute, according to the defence ministry.