Queen And Duke Visit RAF Base

20 November 2014, 06:00 | Updated: 20 November 2014, 07:21

The Queen will meet pilots responsible for defending Britain's skies on a visit to an RAF base in the Highlands today.

Her Majesty will be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh as she unveils a plaque at the new Quick Reaction Alert facility at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.

The facility is one of two in Britain and stands ready to scramble jets to intercept any unidentified aircraft in northern airspace. The other is at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

The royal visit marks the recent transfer of the facility from RAF Leuchars in Fife.

The Queen's departure will be marked by a Tornado and Typhoon flypast before she and the Duke travel to nearby Kinloss Barracks, a former RAF station now housing soldiers.

A guard of honour will greet the couple before they meet members of 39 Engineer Regiment who moved to the barracks from Waterbeach near Cambridge in 2012 as part of Army restructuring.

The troops have been deployed to Iraq and Oman in recent years and were involved in the construction of Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in 2005.