Heh, I wish I saw this thread a couple of weeks ago, could have given you the full low-down on what was going to happen. 49 aircraft in all flew over, with quite a few more pottering around the North Sea where they formed up just in case of problems. Probably had a good proportion of the RAF out there that day! Incidentally, the black jet behind the AWACS and the Jags was a Hawk, which were used to fly around the formations to check up on their progress/status, but didn't take part in the fly past themselves. Also no Hercules or helicopters were used in the fly past due to "operational commitments"...
The C17s are still on loan from the USAF I believe. I think we're purchasing them eventually as we don't have anything ourselves that could replace them. Tristars and VC10s are used as passenger/cargo jets as well as tankers for the RAF. I believe it's only the RAF that still use these types of aircraft, but they will replaced next decade some time. Insulation tape and cable ties can only do soo much...
