All the most interesting aviation-related moments of the Olympic Games opening ceremony

July 28, 2012 Helicopters, Military Aviation

David Cenciotti

In order of appearance.

The Red Arrows fly over the Olympic Stadium

The world’s most famous-spy James Bond personally escorts The Queen Elizabeth II to the games on an AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter. The unusual duo parachutes into the stadium.

Unfortunately, there was no video coverage of the AW101 airdrop of 7 billion biodegrable confetti into the stadium as the Great Britain team entered the arena.

Quite weirdly, the Finmeccanica logo on the AW139 registered G-OLYM was much more visible on TV during the 4-hour long opener than the British Airways one.

Farnborough 2012: New James Bond film’s helicopter scenes leaked to Youtube (theaviationist.com)
Inside a modern (combat) helicopter: the AgustaWestland HH-139A glass cockpit (theaviationist.com)
Farnborough 2012: AgustaWestland HH-139A’s new combat configuration (theaviationist.com)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.