They're flying almost right over my sister's house!
Damn, if I'd have know that I'd have gone over and "worked from home" over there for the day...
A bit gutted. I was hoping that they'd fly over the airfield half a mile from my house. It's often a route used by big military transporter type planes and just about on the advertised route, so was hopeful that it would happen. Instead they went about 20 miles North East.
For the Beverley question, it's not really Beverley, but the whole Defence transport hub at Leconfield, just north of town, just like they did Catterick and Leeming along the way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_School_of_Transport
Just been right over work near Beverley - looked as they were following A154 south towards the bridge
I too was at a Lynham open day, may have been 1986. My uncle was based there, think he was a load master(?). He put our names down for the flight, we just stepped into the back and my uncle had put in a special word for us and they sat us right next to the loading door. All became clear when they opened the door mid flight. Amazing how many crisp packets were sucked in through the cargo net. We got to see Concorde I think, at Bristol airport? My other uncle was in air sea rescue and offered to take me up in a Wessex, I was terrified as I was only 5 or 6. Always regretted it.
Managed to see them through the binoculars over Easingwold direction from the Chevin. Too much UV to see them clearly, but cool all the same
Now I know what was in the sky! Didn't see it but it drowned out the dulcet tones of the local red kite.
Aiming to see them twice today. I've got a spot that overlooks Abingdon airfield then while they loop over Halton Camp I'll scamper back over the hill on the bike and hopefully see them fly over Oxford as they head back to Brize.
Well! I was in the West of Scotland this morning then rushed back to Edinburgh to sit on the sunny banks of the Forth where I clicked on the FR24 link above to find they’d just flown over the exact spot I was in about 90 minutes earlier. To say I’m a tad narked would be an understatement! I now know why people use the face palm emoji 🤦♂️
Sad that they're not having a fly past over The Peak District.
I was brought up living under the Manc airport flight path. We would sometimes (hear first) see them come into land, also at the local Woodford aerodrome airshows.
We got to see Concorde I think, at Bristol airport
Would in all likelihood have been pre-production Concorde 202, at Filton Airfield (north Bristol) where it was built. It was moved outside in the early 80s and lived there until '88 if memory serves. Currently in Brooklands Museum.
Filton was used extensively in the 70s & 80s for Hercules touch & go training; it was almost a daily occurrence.
Just by chance we saw them fly over Grasmere whilst we were contemplating a paddle.
Thought it was a bit odd, not the normal jet training flights.
SAS barracks just got buzzed
Great humble brag there
BITD I had a Saturday job at Currys, some chap walks in and buys up all our stock of freezers to be delivered to RAF Lyneham that day. We load up the van and get there where we are directed to a Hercules. Unload the freezers direct into the Herc and they flew off to the Ascension Islands in preparation for the Falklands conflict, talk about prompt procurement............
I'm ex 7 Para RHA, so will miss the big green taxis, always more pleasant to be in than Chinooks, fallen out of quite a few of them in the past, was always a thrill watching gear and arti being pushed out the back at low level.
Been years since i left, but i know there are issues with the new A400, despite bigger capacity, the prop wash seems to stop you being able to deploy sticks of jumpers from both sides, so you can actually drop less troops than you could from a Herc? At the moment the RAF doesn't even really have the aircraft left to support the airbourne forces, most troops are jumping from civvy planes or having to do exercises in the States to take part in larger scale jumps
The map showed they were supposed to pass very close to our work, but the ended up going much further West before looping round towards Lake heath/Mildenhall.
Would have been nice to have seen them.
Did see an Apache on the way home though.
Saw them as I cycled home tonight, following the Ridgeway just outside Swindon. Will miss them locally as I love the sound as they fly over
Also saw them (x2) heading south over Grasmere around lunchtime, loads of fast jets heading north all day, great sight.
I saw them flying over towards Mickle Fell at about 1:45 this afternoon, as I was heading towards Ravenstonedale - quite a sight. There’s a chance I’ve caught them on my camera - I’ll have a look later when the boys are in bed.
Saw them this afternoon, I popped in to the kitchen for a brew and they were heading round Carleton Knott towards Kirkby Lonsdale. I'm going to miss seeing them. Although we're on the night time Ho Chi Minh Trail for the MC130s from Mildenhall, usually at about 2200 and 1000ft, in winter.
Well, despite all my careful research and planning, they went and changed the last part of the route, turning west between Westbury and Trowbridge, then back past Chippenham, Lyneham and on towards Brize. I did see them, but only really thanks to my binoculars. I did keep an eye on ADS-B, which showed they’d turned back west again from over the Chilterns, swung back around the other side of Bath, and back past Chippenham again. Which let me watch them all the way around, until they landed at Brize. Shame they didn’t follow the original plan, they’d have flown right over my head, but I saw them flying around my neck of the woods, where I’ve seen them ever since they were introduced. Living in Chippenham, right on Lyneham’s approach path meant I saw Hastings, Beverley, Belfast and Hercules, back from when I was first able to understand what those things flying over my house were. Even with Lyneham shut, there’s still always things flying around.
I did get one photo, at the optical limit of my phone’s zoom, so I can say I saw them! 😁
Pretty damning write up in the Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/14/c-130-hercules-raf-change-to-a400m/
Looks like they did a low pass over Lake Windermere. That should be worth watching 🙂
talking to a bloke in the pub tonight who works on the steamers and he saw them go over while they where out on the lake. i never saw/heard them working in ambleside but the jets have been busy the last few days.
If I remember correctly the bloke who wrote the Telegraph article is a serial critic of MOD procurement who used to write a lot for The Register (which should need little introduction on here). Not saying he’s wrong, just that’s what he does.
I'm feeling a little sad today.
I was on the first Course of pilots trained on the C130J, flying them brand new, with only delivery mileage. Then the first C130J Co-pilot upgraded to Captain, and when I left the RAF, had the most C130J hours in the world!!!
I was also the first RAF pilot to fly all 5 Mks of C130 - not many of us flew the W2 version (Snoopy, the meteorological research version)
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52976297316_a0d97ab5a1_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52976297316_a0d97ab5a1_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oHknwu ]IMG_0784[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/queenie2010/ ]Bindylou[/url], on Flickr">http://[url= https://flic.kr/p/2oHknwu ][img] https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52976297316_a0d97
I was on a volunteer day with work yesterday on the dorset coast, thinking I would miss them as not at home (near boscombe down) They suddenly appeared and flew right over our heads, I have never scrambled so fast to take a photo! You can just see Old harry rocks bottom right. The other photo is blue sky, and my video is one second of the sand and my foot 😀
Sad to see Fat Albert taken out of service. My first experience of the Hercules was an air experience flight with the ATC. I watched a night parachute jump from the back ramp as two sticks of Paras jumped out of the side doors. I was also stationed at Lyneham once I joined the RAF. Goodbye Albert, you’ve done well.
Heard them go over while at work. Told kids that the aircraft noise was probably hercs. Looked out window and an Apache longbow is playing silly buggers. Pretty unusual to see in these parts.
Disappointed I didn't see this thread in time, living between Hereford and Brecon they're a regular sight, I'll be sad not to see them again. I only read it this morning, and thought they might call by Credenhill on the way from Cosford to Valley, which sure enough they did, balls. Mid-post update; they also called by Shobdon which is even closer! I believe they have landed there on occasion, with an extended runway.
Shobdon info, for anyone interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shobdon_Airfield
Don't forget Charlie's flypast this weekend will still include them.
Presumably they're dragging along all the F35s we have, without borrowing any from the yanks.
"
dantsw13Free Member
I’m feeling a little sad today.I was on the first Course of pilots trained on the C130J, flying them brand new, with only delivery mileage. Then the first C130J Co-pilot upgraded to Captain, and when I left the RAF, had the most C130J hours in the world!!!
I was also the first RAF pilot to fly all 5 Mks of C130 – not many of us flew the W2 version (Snoopy, the meteorological research version)"
You probably know my dad Colin Barter (RIP) he captained Snoopy in his final tour and was a highly distinguished C130 pilot. I will check his log books to see if he managed all 5 Mks.
Sadly they were no where near me. One did fly down the River Dee past my house in Kirkcudbright a few weeks ago just at dusk. My house is on a hill and it was almost at the same height as me. Amazing sight and sound!
David - the C130J only entered service in the late 90s so he probably didn't manage the Mk4/5. AFAIK there were only 2 other pilots in the early cadre of C130J pilots who had flown Snoopy and they were a few months behind me.
I know the name, but sadly don't believe I ever met him.
Pretty damning write up in the Telegraph
I don't know of any military procurement in the last few decades that hasn't had bad press of some sort or another. There's always always some-one ready to say "you shouldn't have bought that, you should've bought this instead"
It's not so much the procurement aspect, more the disposal of the old stuff. Soon there'll be nothing left to dispose of apart from some blokes with fluffy hats and red jackets. But that's ok, the tourists love 'em.
Yeah you're not wrong, like most public services the military has been hollowed out by Tory austerity. I've heard an opinion recently which pretty much said; below a certain strength you start to loose the corporate memory of how to do stuff, and this is the smallest the military has been in a number of decades.
At the moment the RAF doesn’t even really have the aircraft left to support the airbourne forces, most troops are jumping from civvy planes or having to do exercises in the States to take part in larger scale jumps
British military procurement in a nutshell.
Yeah you’re not wrong, like most public services the military has been hollowed out by Tory austerity. I’ve heard an opinion recently which pretty much said; below a certain strength you start to loose the corporate memory of how to do stuff, and this is the smallest the military has been in a number of decades.
There is the theory that once a group gets below a certain size, there is not the experience or depth of knowledge sustained to keep a standard of training, i think we're past that unfortunately.
Flew the C130J from '07 to '12. Great aircraft and crews.
Will be missed.
Just thinking about it @dantsw13, if you were one of the first C130J pilots, did you fly me back from Norway in March 02?
It'd be particularly memorable as the panel that covers the life raft in the wing came off mid flight and ripped a hole in the tail. We then made an emergency landing in Stravanger. We had a glorious night in the the Raddison SAS hotel on the RAF credit card whilst waiting on a replacemnt to come out from the UK. No dodgy tv channels or drinks were put on the room, honest........
The only reason I ask is that in the pre flight brief, the pilot was very proud that it was a new "J" and itd take x amount of time off the flight back to teesside. We were gutted when they sent out an old one the next day.
3 hercs just heading towards Northampton.
Cobrakai - not me, but I remember the event as I was on the Ops Desk that day!!
@dantsw13, to be fair, we didn't have a clue what was going on. When we landed at stravanger we all said, "he wasn't kidding, that was fast!" Then we saw snow and hills and thought this isn't Teeside?!
The loadie then pointed up as we went down the ramp and we all went, "aaaah, that'll be why."
After 3 months of snow holes and living out the back of my wagon, it was surreal sleeping in a massive double bed with clean sheets!
<p style="text-align: left;">I think it just passed overhead in Ely but could have just been one of the Mildenhall supply planes</p>
