RAF Halton’s parade square rang out to the sound of the service’s band and marching feet as one of the final rehearsals for the Queen’s funeral played out on Friday.

Plastic barriers mapped out a replica of the central London route, along which almost 600 RAF members will file for Monday’s state funeral procession. Those not marching will line the streets of the capital and Windsor Castle, where the Queen’s private burial will take place.

The RAF tarmac was transformed into a representation of Wellington Barracks, Horse Guards Parade and Wellington Arch, from which Her Majesty’s coffin will be transferred from a gun carriage to a hearse after the service at Westminster Abbey.

The men and women of the RAF have been training at this Buckinghamshire base non-stop every day this week as they prepare to carry out their solemn ceremonial duties and provide a send-off fit for the country’s longest-serving monarch.

Boots have been polished to perfection, shirts ironed to a crisp and drills carried out from 8am each day by participating personnel from the RAF Regiment, RAF College Cranwell, RAF Marham, the Royal Auxiliary and 603 City of Edinburgh Squadron.

Pride, mingled with nerves, is to the fore among those taking part, but the rigour and demands of the task at hand are clear.

For aircraft technician Richie Baxter, 38, who looks after trainees at RAF Cosford, it will be the second time he has been close to King Charles, after drinking champagne with the then-Prince of Wales in 2018 when they met at Buckingham Palace.

During their meeting, after the RAF 100 parade, the future King brought Mr Baxter a glass of bubbly and congratulated him on the birth of his daughter, Ada – in which he played an unexpectedly central role.

“My youngest daughter had just been born and I had delivered her myself at short notice. He was just impressed that I had managed to keep calm,” he said.

“He made sure that we got a drink as we didn’t have a drink at the time so he brought us over a glass of champagne.”

Eight years earlier, he had met the Queen when she visited RAF Marham in 2010, a photo of which was given “pride of place” at his mother’s house.

“I was given umbrella duties, the weather was a bit like this that day, so I was praying for rain on and off and my chance to shine,” he said.

“The Queen did thank me when she got in the car – I wasn’t expecting a thank-you.”

On Monday, the father-of-two will be a senior route liner for a half company as a sergeant. He will be “keeping an eye on my troops making sure that no one’s sweating too much or looking uncomfortable” with hot weather raising concerns about members of the military passing out.

The historical heft and significance of the day’s event are something that all of those here are aware of, but officers have been instilling the momentousness of the occasion to all taking part.

“We have received many inspiring speeches so far to make, especially the younger guys, aware of how heavy the moment is and how important it is and such a moment in history,” he said.

“The guys are really ready to do it. Before we left, the station commander at RAF Cosford gave us a speech all centred around how it’s a huge moment in history and how proud they will be in the future looking back on what they’ve done.

“And the things they will be able to tell their own children and grandchildren as they get older and looking back at the pictures will be produced and that will go around the world and be around forever. They’ll be able to say, ‘I was metres away from the centre of that.’”

Wing Commander Piers Morrell, 51, the RAF’s principal director of music, will be conducting the service’s combined band during the procession.

Taking part in such a momentous event “means everything” to those in the RAF accompanying the Queen on her final journey, he said.

Mr Morrell told i: “Our job is to provide ceremonial, so we are well used to being in central London.

“As much as we are used to this, there is always a sense of occasion, but I think for all of us there is going to be the solemnity of the event.

“It is going to be very quiet as we process through London and I think that will bring home the importance of what we are delivering. which is a state funeral for her late Majesty the Queen.”

The RAF band will play funeral marches by Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelsson during Monday’s procession.

Asked if the Queen had any input into the choice of music, the wing commander said: “All the music would have been signed off as part of the plans for the state funeral, so it would have had palace approval.

“Generally, it all has to be approved by the principal and clearly she knew her music, she did 70 years of state ceremonial, she knew what the bands did.”

In the early hours of Thursday morning, the RAF joined thousands of other members of the Armed Forces for a full rehearsal of the procession from Wellington Arch to Westminster Hall.

Come Monday, they will do it again under the eyes of the world in what is expected to be the most-watched broadcast of all time.

For Gina Dempsey, 42, an aerospace engineer based at RAF Cosford who has served for 22 years, Monday will be particularly poignant, as her parents, Jim and Janet, who both served in the RAF, will be watching on.

Her father, Jim, will be watching from his bed in hospital, and has no idea she will be taking part.

She will command one of six half-companies of RAF route liners on Constitution Hill on the day.

“I’m nervous that I get all the commands right because it’s me shouting, and it’s a long way. You are over shouting the bands as well so you have got to be really clear,” she said.

“It means an absolutely huge amount because the Queen has been our Commander in Chief for my 22 years in the Air Force. I had so much respect and love for my Queen so I’m extremely sad, but to partake in this I feel like it’s honouring her the best way I can.

“We’re part of a contingent at Cosford that is nominated indefinitely for doing this. So there are various practices throughout the year just to give us an idea of what we might have to do should the worst happen.”

This week had seen “all hands to the pump” as people designated to take part in the ceremony were scrambled from their normal duties and drafted into action.

“We practise standing a lot. A lot of the complicated bits are actually getting there and doing it in uniform and extending out our route lining, so it’s all done to precision. There’s a command for everything that we do,” Ms Dempsey said.

In total, 126 RAF route liners will be present in London, with enlisted aviators holding SA80 A2 L85 assault rifles and officers a ceremonial sword. Another 105 will be in Windsor.

Two bands with more than 100 members in total will be present in London and another band with 32 in Windsor in what will be the UK’s largest military parade in living history.

Andrew North is one of two flight commanders with the RAF Cranwell marching contingent on Monday and was the RAF exchange officer on HMS Elizabeth, when the Queen commissioned the ship in 2017.

Monday will be “incredibly emotional”, he says, with this week’s preparations “a little bit like going back to basic training”.

“We’re going back to ‘bulling’ every night, ironing every night. Bulling is polishing shoes to a very fine standard,” he said.

“You get to those those rare emotional flushes when you scuff your shoes and you’re like, that’s a bit more work tonight.

“It’s been really touching to see everybody, feel the emotion as we’ve been watching the news while bulling our shoes and and seeing how the nation has responded and how we get to now represent the RAF’s contribution to that.”

“The funeral drill of the Royal Air Force users isn’t often used as you can imagine. So we’re having to fix techniques that the drill instructors are master of but, I’ve never personally used.

“So I’ve had to, in two days pretty much, not just pick up the funeral drill, but then put into practice.”

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