THE Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carriers at Rosyth will reach a significant milestone on Friday with the first flypast of the F35B Lightning II jets.

The jets are expected to make their debut in Scotland at 2pm, with two flights past the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

Due to the current stage of testing, the aircraft will only fly under very strict weather conditions.

The F35B, a fifth-generation stealth jet, are the first aircraft in aviation history to be supersonic, have radar-evading stealth characteristics and to operate as a short take-off vertical landing (STOVL) airframe.

They will form the teeth of the UK’s carrier strike force for decades to come.

Both Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carriers are currently being built by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance in Rosyth and are the largest and most powerful class of warships ever built for the Royal Navy.