As millions of TV viewers prepare for two weeks of sitting, snacking, and watching the world’s best athletes compete in the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, we found ourselves asking, naturally:

How will airplanes be involved?

You won’t see them on the playing field, not unless plane-pulling has been made an Olympic sport. (It hasn’t, though it may some day). Still, aircraft will be all over London and southeast England—delivering athletes and visitors, photographing and filming from above, and patrolling the skies to make sure the action stays on the field.

Keep checking this page through July and August for additional articles as we watch the London games—with one eye on the sky. Or read about British aviation, past and present, in our "From the Archive" section below.

Photo: A Sea King helicopter arrives in London carrying the Olympic Torch on July 20 (Jan Kruger/Getty Images).

Olympic Air

From the Eurofighter Typhoon to the Goodyear Blimp, see what's flying at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Editors
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Choreographing Olympic Airspace

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Good Luck, From Space

The 2012 Olympic Games will be protected by (among other things) Starstreak missiles. Here, during Exercise Olympic Guardian in May 2012, a soldier mans a surface-to-air missile.

London’s Armed Rooftops

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Busy British Airports Rely on Virtual Assistants

It's not just the river: Royal Navy Bomb Disposal team divers lift a World War II-era V-2 rocket from the seabed at Harwich, Essex, in 2012. The rocket was donated to the local sailing club, which had reported the rocket's location to the Essex Police.

What’s Under the Thames?