This is the year we were all waiting for: the National Day Parade to return to the grand old dame -- the National Stadium.

And yes, it is fitting that the 50th NDP will be held at the swanky new stadium, after a full decade of parades held back at the Padang and the Marina Bay floating platform while it was under construction.

There are several notable fixtures that won't feature at this year's Parade, though, and we pay tribute to five of our favourites:

1. The Red Lions

Every year, during the pre-parade segment, we cast our eyes to the skies to look out for a small group of talented, death-defying parachuters who jump from a height of 10,000 feet and land successfully in the small space of the parade square, one by one.

This year, however, the Red Lions won't face the challenge of popping into the opened dome — they're sitting out this year for "safety reasons" — so we won't be seeing this exciting part of the show.

And we won't get to see their fun formations in the sky either — perhaps we could ask them to perform an indoor sequence for us in the future instead:

2. The mobile column

Ah, the grand show of steely strength and military might that informs our neighbours or any country that may be thinking of attacking us, "Check out our guns, you sure about that?"

That's the hallmark of our mobile column, where tanks, tonners, light-moving vehicles and even small boats on platforms move slowly along the tracks or path in front of the grandstand, shortly after the main parade contingents exit.

Last year's was particularly meaningful, with all-in-the-family officers and servicemen riding together in the mobile column as well.

3. The aerial displays

We will particularly miss these, especially after the epic showing from last year's SG50 celebrations. After all, who can forget this:

And this:

And this:

And of course, this:

Ah well, the limitations of sitting inside a domed space — but you'll still get to see the fighter aircraft aerial salute, as well as the state flag fly-past by the Chinook helicopters.

4. Fireworks, in all their beauty

This year's fireworks will be pretty as always — from the outside.

If you've got a seat at the stadium, we've heard that you're unlikely to be able to see any of these, although organisers have promised to also display indoor fireworks.

We hope those will be pretty good too!

5. And finally...

Happy National Day, nonetheless!

May we all enjoy this day, treasure our independence, yada yada yada, and move onward and upward with our lives.

Top photo from NDPeeps Facebook page

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