A Red Arrows flypast over Edinburgh for VJ Day was cancelled due to cloudy weather.
The commemorations to mark 75 years since VJ Day were supposed to include the Red Arrows flying over Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and London for the first time since the 2012 Olympic Games.
Hundreds of spectators were gathered in anticipation of the flypast that had been scheduled for approximately 11.30am.
However “low cloud outside of safety limits” in Edinburgh meant the pilots diverted to fly over Prestwick Airport, where they landed to refuel and met three veterans of WWII.
The Red Arrow’s Twitter account said: “Our aircraft have safely landed @GPAPassenger but, unfortunately, due to low cloud outside of safety limits at #Edinburgh, we could not carry out the flypast over the city.
“Weather particularly challenging in parts of the UK today – meaning this could impact plans.”
The three veterans who were greeted by the Red Arrows were 96-year-old Whitson Johnson, Albert Lamond, 94, and 93-year-old Bernard “Barney” Roberts.
Mr Johnson served in the RAF from 1942 to 1947, deciphering codes in support of the Fourteenth Army in the Far East and also spent time in Bombay, Calcutta, Chittagong, Hmawbi and Burma.
Royal Navy serviceman Mr Lamond served from 1943 to 1947 as a signalman.
He fought at Sword Beach during the D-Day campaign and was later attached to the Pacific fleet that joined with the American navy under the command of Admiral Halsey in the Far East.
Mr Roberts also served in the Royal Navy, from 1942 to 1947, initially serving on a minelayer to protect the Arctic convoys from German U-boats before fighting in Italy and North Africa.
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