MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
That's got to be a good sign that all is geopolitically well and everything's tickety-boo world peace wise 😯
Time to dig the bunker.
I daresay Navy Seal team 1 are rehearsing even as we speak.
The Crazy Fat Kid is better protected than their last successful target, but it's not impossible.
Probably my favourite bringer of death
[img] 
[/img]
There's a big Russian military exercise soon near border with the Baltic States, probably better to have something to hand in case it stops being just an exercise.
Isn't Korea outside the range of these? Maybe the UK gov have borrowed them to get serious about Brexit negotiations...
I quite like the TU-160 but I'm not taking sides in this 😯
I wouldn't like to see either of them in my rear view mirror
[img] 
[/img]
I thought I've heard some very very noisy things in the air above the clouds covering Cheltenham over the last few days. This would explain it.
[url= http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/us-b-1-bombers-arrive-in-europe/index.html ]From CNN[/url]
From CNN
Hahaha.
I definitely didn't see one depart from a small island off Oman whilst stood at the end of the runway of an airfield that I wasn't working at during the initial stages of Afghan scuffle and it definitely wasn't the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life. Honestly.
and it definitely wasn't the loudest thing I've ever heard in my life. Honestly.
That's only cos you weren't at RAF Finningley in September 1977 when a 4 x Vulcan scramble was displayed.
Ahhh, the good old days of airshows.
I hate that I say this but it is a stunning bit of kit. It has a crappy purpose but as pure engineering and design very impressive.
That's only cos you weren't at RAF Finningley in September 1977 when a 4 x Vulcan scramble was displayed.Ahhh, the good old days of airshows.
Lived at Finningley. Twice. Had rather excellent access to the shows! The Vulcans got told off and asked to stop their low pass/full gas climb party trick as they were ripping the runway to shreds.
And yes, there is nothing, but nothing as powerful as the noise of a Vulcan/Vulcans giving it the beans.
That (1977) was the year the Tornado was 1st shown to the public in the UK at least IIR, were you there then Flashy?
Wish Id'e had a cine camera that day!
5:36 onwards
The Crazy Fat Kid is better protected than their last successful target, but it's not impossible.
Pretty much the ultimate 'wee in his shoes and pwn him with bombers', though...
And yes, there is nothing, but nothing as powerful as the noise of a Vulcan/Vulcans giving it the beans.
Fortunate enough to have seen one Vulcan do it, never fortunate enough to see four, sadly.
To see a plane of that size come cruising slowly along the runway 'dirty', everything down and open, nose up slightly, then everything suddenly close up, the nose lift right up, and the reheats come on as a truly spine-tingling experience!
2 QRA Phantoms interrupting the Leuchars air show to say hello to a Bear was pretty loud too, IIRC.
I’m sure seeing a Vulcan at full reheat would be a unbelievable experience, CZ... 😉
Rachel
[img] 
[/img]
2 QRA Phantoms interrupting the Leuchars air show
Was at Leuchars Battle of Britain show in 1975/6? IIR The Vikings ( x2 104's) went over the crowdline at 100/200ft, fast. Or it may have been a Jaguar.
Fast, low & noisy whatever.
'77? I'm not THAT old...!
Bet it feels short when on finals in a B1, few on he deck so all well.
Back to the OP....and reported as flying over Thetford and dropping into Lakenheath.
Working a couple of miles off the end of the runway at Fairford is great for plane spotting. Cant hold any kind of conversation for a minute or two while they go over though which dampens productivity somewhat!!
To see a plane of that size come cruising slowly along the runway 'dirty', everything down and open, nose up slightly, then everything suddenly close up, the nose lift right up, and the reheats come on as a truly spine-tingling experience!
Vulcan doesn't / didn't have reheat ??
No reheat/afterburner on vulcans. Just raw unadulterated dry thrust. They were impressive as were the nimrods. Both put on very impressive displays back in the day.
Probably my favourite bringer of death
Dunno. A10 would be mine. "The sound of death". Although in reality, you'll be dead before you hear the sound. And if you do hear the sound you survived.
Currently 1xU2, 2xB1 and 2xB52 at Fairford,one of the B52s flew in this morning,allegedly part of an exercise.
Essel, also remember Starfighters at Leuchers around that time or perhaps a bit earlier. Extremely loud and very smoky I seem to recall. Also EE Lightnings. Nothing nowadays to match the thrill of those days - tho maybe it's an age thing, through rose tinted specs.
I'm not old enough to remember anything pre-Tornado and A10, which were the two I remember seeing flying over our house the most.
A few years back I was stood in the car park of a very dull Dutch DIY store, about to be shown around it as it was part of our group and we were over there doing the 'yearly pep-talk thing'. We'd had a decent piss-up the night before and the last thing I wanted to do was be shown around the Dutch equivalent of Wilkos, but a loud sound got my attention and over flew a F4 Phantom. Loud, big and smoky. And awesome!
[img] 
[/img]
I went to Mildenhall one year and they had some Korean war era fighter, probably an F86. Made my insides rattle when it did a pass with the afterburners on.
Don't think the Sabre had an afterburner(?)
I went to various airshows in the 60s and 70s the Vulcan was always the star of the show but I remember the EE Lightning being particularly loud as well.
Many years later I was playing cricket to the West of London and Concorde came in to land very low over the ground. I felt the earth move that day and plane stopped play!
The best bits of RIAT were standing at the end of the runway as the planes landed - including Concorde one year, so low you felt you could almost touch them. I think my favourite plane is the B2, just a ridiculous shape for an aeroplane. I also used to camp quite often in a field right next to Mildenhall, the earth definitely moved when the Galaxys took off or landed.
I grew up 20 m (that's metres!) from Leeds Bradford Airport boundary fence. Local airshows like the one at Church Fenton were always fun. Lots to see.
Rather fun as a child when Concorde used to come in on chartered flights. Some slightly frazzled French Captain used to try and shake the runway apart with it!! 😆
My mum did once get the pilots of a RAF Hercules come round the house to apologise once for being just a tiny bit *too* close to taking out the roof, though. They had used the alternative, much shorter, runway that was still being used for light aircraft at the time and kind of cut it a bit fine. Think they kind of won her over with their charm 😉
Rachel
Used to work at Filton, and lived about 1km from the runway, right on the final approach.
That was freakin' ace on the rare occasions when Concorde paid a visit 🙂
Airshows are rubbish now with no Vulcan and severe limits on what anything else can do.
I've sadly never seen multi-Vulcan scrambles but I do remember super-low Phantom and Jaguar passes. Buccaneers were also good for cutting the grass!
Something a bit different like a B1-B is a nice sight.
Love the B1, always been one of my favourite...finally got to see one at RIAT this year albeit static (but at least it was on the day the B2 did a flyby with two F15s)
Regularly used to see EF11's & F111's over Oxfordshire in the 1980's and into early 1990's (IRCC). Coming over the A40 at very low, low level.
Harriers used to fly very low in the borders - as far over as Malvern at the same time in the 1980's. Nearly shat my pants once - treetop height was not an exaggeration!
Still remember the sorry sight of a Lightning on the back of a low-loader and wingless.
Used to go to Biggin Hill air show in the 1980's. Just my grandad and me - we both loved it.
There was a Mig 15 (probably) heading north over wirral this afternoon!
Interesting bit is that the B1B is a lot slower than the original B1. The development of the Mach 2.2 B1 got canned, then later on they decided that they needed something and they made the cheaper/slower Mach 1.2 B1B instead.
I stood thirty yards away from a Lightning at Bruntingthorpe in May, an ambition of mine since I was old enough to understand flight. It's extremely loud, even compared to being stood twenty feet away from Eddie Irvine in a Jaguar V10 F1 car.
Imagine twelve of them hurtling down a runway.
Am often working on my own up in the high Cairngorms. Sometimes I see the jets just playing around in the glens and along the ridges. Not doing anything in particular, just maneuvering and messing about. More usually the F15s, but sometimes also Typhoons and Tornados. Wonder if the Yanks have a bit more leeway from the higher-ups regarding just taking off for a bit of a gander? Probably good for the flying skills.
On the thread topic, loads of activity at the moment over Aberdeenshire, mainly fast jets, not bombers. Obviously from Lossiemouth. What's different is that they're training over lowland Aberdeenshire now, not in the more usual remoter areas.
AC130 Spectre Gunship. Had a look round one at Bagram, impressive isn’t the word.
Yeah, make a 105 airborne! A crazy idea and a crazy bit of kit.
But it works. Really really well!
I have to admit when I typed the bit about reheats on the Vulcan engines I had my doubts but I was doing other work-related stuff and didn't go back to double check at the time.
On a slightly different note, I was looking at Flightradar24 at much the same time, another reason to get distracted, and I noticed a small jet out over the North Sea, and out of curiosity tapped on it, and it had been flying a peculiar path, with loops and long sections out and back. There were no details about the plane, its departure or arrival destination, but it took off from somewhere south-east of Lincoln, actually from Conningsby, when I check the OS map, the plane was a Dassault Falcon 20, and there was another anonymous Dassault Falcon doing similar things over Norfolk. Tornado pilots doing nighttime navigation training, perchance?
If I could sus out Imgur, I could post a screenshot., but I just can't get it to work.
I stood thirty yards away from a Lightning at Bruntingthorpe in May
I managed to stand right in front of one of those Lightnings last year when I had some time to kill at Bruntingthorpe! I had a wander around all the planes parked outside, and there were some blokes working on one of the Lightnings in its hanger, and they let me wander around inside, having a really close look at them. Fantastic aircraft especially when you're close enough to touch them!
There's a rather tatty F104 Starfighter there, sans engine, (there's a ladder stuffed up the exhaust), which they're hoping to find an engine for to do runs up the runway, but it's a constant fight to stop the bloody thing just corroding away. The wing edges, are like knife blades, and I'm not exaggerating! They have plastic tubes pushed over the edges to stop people slicing themselves open by walking into them by accident, not far off a Stanley knife blade,
That would be a great addition to the Lightnings for a fast display run.
Don't think the Sabre had an afterburner(?)
The F-86D did. I specifically remember the commentator talking about the afterburner when it took off and did a pass.
I have to admit when I typed the bit about reheats on the Vulcan engines I had my doubts but I was doing other work-related stuff and didn't go back to double check at the time.
Easy mistake to make. The noise they make on take off and the way they can literally rattle your internal organs on a low level high power banking turn is something you normally only experience from aircraft with afterburners.
The only time i've heard or felt anything louder and more awesome was stood at the end of Heathrow airport behind a Concorde take off - same engines as the Vulcan, but with reheat. I'd imagine a B1 would be similar though.
Fast jets and tbh most planes are awesome when relatively close.
My dad was in the raf so we got spoilt somewhat with knowledge and air shows etc, but as mentioned above, Concorde in and out of Leeds/Bradford was a great spectacle. Lived there for years and had many vantage points for such occasions.
We're currently on holiday in fuerteventura and a couple of days ago a milatary jet of some description flew past low over the sea. Didn't get chance to see what it was, but it was going ridiculously quick and made a racquet for about 2 seconds 😆
We were camping close to Weymouth a few weeks ago and there was a Red Arrow display pretty much above us with a few (fairly) low level passes. Even a small jet (Gnat?) rattles your bones and just gives a feeling of huge power. Lord knows what a really big and powerful aircraft feels like.
On a separate note, many years ago, whilst [s]near Machyll Machunll[/s] in mid/north Wales a Tornado came down the valley [i]below[/i] us. Incredible
Never tired of the noise of jets leaving RAF Leuchars- great sight too
On a separate note, many years ago, whilst near Machyll Machunll in mid/north Wales a Tornado came down the valley below us. Incredible
Had that with a Typhoon on Garburn Pass in the Lakes. Garburn is one side of a fairly steep valley, the other side is the Kirkstone Pass road. Two thirds of the way up Garburn and a Typhoon flashed past a fraction beneath us, pulled round a corner in the valley and rolled inverted to crest the valley head. It was loud.
Never tired of the noise of jets leaving RAF Leuchars- great sight too
Leuchars is the best airshow I've ever been to, superb day out. Full Vulcan display including takeoff. Dutch F15s. Russian MiG. Typhoon. Full BBMF display. Loved it.
Even a small jet (Gnat?) rattles your bones and just gives a feeling of huge power.
BAE Hawk. Replaced the Gnat, but look very similar.
There's a great passage about B1 bombers in Doug Beattie's book about his experience in Afghanistan.
[url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Soldier-Afghanistan-ferocious-impossible/dp/1847393993 ]https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Soldier-Afghanistan-ferocious-impossible/dp/1847393993[/url]
He said a calling in a B1 strike makes you feel god-like because they attack from beyond visual range. Once when they found they had B1s inbound he told his JTAC what targets he wanted taken out and a few minutes later the targets he picked just started blowing up without any visual or aural cues.
On a separate note, many years ago, whilst [s]near Machyll Machunll[/s] in mid/north Wales a Tornado came down the valley below us. Incredible
Ah yes, the Mach Loop: http://machloop.co.uk
Russell96 - Member
Interesting bit is that the B1B is a lot slower than the original B1. The development of the Mach 2.2 B1 got canned, then later on they decided that they needed something and they made the cheaper/slower Mach 1.2 B1B instead.
The B-1B is stealthier, has a better EW suite and performs better at low altitudes than the B-1A was intended too, as the focus shifted to low altitude under the radar operations after the initial version was cancelled.
The difference in speed, radar cross section and cost was largely down to simplified air intakes for the engines. Maintaining the appropriate airflow into jet engines is one of the big challenges when it comes to designing supersonic aircraft.
the plane was a Dassault Falcon 20, and there was another anonymous Dassault Falcon doing similar things over Norfolk.
CZ - that's a Cobham F20 (google it)
Highly modified F20 for Electronic Warfare and ASDOT training. They can do some pretty funky stuff with the underwing pods/mission equipment.
I used to be a Flight line maintenance engineer on them (still work for Cobham but on other stuff now.....)
A
Mach 2.2 B1 got canned, then later on they decided that they needed something and they made the cheaper/slower Mach 1.2 B1B instead.
Thr B1B is faster than the B1A where it counts when youre not a stealth aircraft, at sea level.