Every other morning between 9.30am and 10am, three military aircraft (I assume they are military as don’t show up on flight tracker) fly at very high altitude, East to West over Stourbridge.
They fly close and parallel to each other, and are jet engined.

Over to you spotters to find out the type of plane they are….

Can you get a closer look using binos/telescope? 2 or 4 engined? Do they appear to be at a similar/higher/lower altitude than normal passenger aircraft?

how big? Wing shape?

Just with naked eye this morning, can’t tell wing shape, from vapour trails poss 2 engined.

Not much help I know! I’m next off on Wednesday and Thursday this week, so if its clear I’ll be poised with binos

Regular military transport to Cyprus and then onto Afghanistan?

Wrong direction, probably heading out to the states

CIA rendition flights.

Baby Robins

That’s what I thought allthepies

These are too small to be baby robins

Golden Eagles?

3 ac in formation – probably military.

1 large 2 small – prob a tanker and 2 jets off for training

3 small – a bunch of Fast Jets transitting at High Level (more fuel efficient)

Wrong direction, probably heading out to the states

Thats’s what I was thinking. Probably ferrying US personnel on rotation from Afghan back to the States.

They are more than likely mil jets heading to the danger areas in mid Wales for a play. Judging on your location probably f15’s from mildenhall or lakenheath (the us one) and they’re using a corridor to cross controlled airspace hence the formation

I’ve never noticed them coming back, so must use another route or fly back during the night

I’ll try and get a description of the jets next time

I am in Stourbridge too Houns and have heard these. I tried tracking them last week on planefinder.net but nothing comes up. I will try and get a photo when I next hear/see them.

When I was a kid, in still weather my dad would often pause when outside scraping cars or something and listen carefully. We heard nothing at first then with sufficient patience we could discern the faintest of rumbling sounds (it was very quiet where we lived).

He started combing the clear skies with binoculars, and after several weeks he found what was clearly two B52s so high up they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye. They’d be on the same flight path usually so they could be found again in a similar part of the sky at the same time.

That was in the late 80s/early 90s though so they might not do that any more.

They are more than likely mil jets heading to the danger areas in mid Wales for a play. Judging on your location probably f15’s from mildenhall or lakenheath (the us one) and they’re using a corridor to cross controlled airspace hence the formation

If it’s fighters, it won’t be Mildenhall – the only air wing that flies out of there (officially) is the 100th Air Refuelling Wing (they refuel U2s exclusively…), although there are wings attached to the US Spec Ops command for Europe and reconnaisance units based there. I doubt that you see any evidence of these.

The fighters are F15 Eagles of the 48th Fighter Wing flying out of Lakenheath.

When I was a kid, in still weather my dad would often pause when outside scraping cars or something and listen carefully. We heard nothing at first then with sufficient patience we could discern the faintest of rumbling sounds (it was very quiet where we lived).

He started combing the clear skies with binoculars, and after several weeks he found what was clearly two B52s so high up they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye. They’d be on the same flight path usually so they could be found again in a similar part of the sky at the same time.

That was in the late 80s/early 90s though so they might not do that any more.

The USAF used to fly B52s out of Fairford in Gloucestershire on “Nord-Cap” missions between 1950 and the late 1990s.

Fairford is still used by the USAF but they only maintain a caretaker staff there now, although the field can be fully reactivated as a FOB within 48 hours – it was last used for active B52 missions in 2003 during operation Iraqi Freedom. It has been known to be used as a refuelling stop for B1 and B2 bombers and also the occasional U2.

U2’s are still used? I thought they were too shootdownable? Is that only with more advanced (in terms of military hardware) enemies than the Talaban?

Not at all, the U2’s are in service right now over Afghanistan and who knows where else. They transit through Fairford every couple of weeks, one going west and the one other east to relieve the first. They’re hangared over night and sent on their way the next morning. You can tell when they’re coming, a NOTAM is issued declaring the runway at FFD open for about four hours (it’s usually closed).
They’re way modified now, far more capable than they were in the Gary Powers era.
They were renamed as TR1s for a while but they’re back as U-2s now, U2S IIRC.

The USAF used to fly B52s out of Fairford in Gloucestershire on “Nord-Cap” missions between 1950 and the late 1990s.

We were about 50 miles NW of there, so a bit close to get so high up. Also I seem to remember seeing what may have been a mid-air refuelling plane with them.

They would’ve been heading more or less eastwards IIRC.

By the way. the 100ARW at Mildenhall aren’t exclusive to the U2 at all, they will service all kinds of trade, often not even US. They’ll go and park themselves in a racetrack pattern over the North Sea, off Cornwall, or over the Med and wait for the fast jets to show up. There is a website ‘Banter Ops’ that I used to have a login for where you could see what was coming and going from Mildenhall and Lakenheath. Often you’d see a tanker, or several, launch from Mildenhall and soon after a bunch of F15s from Lakenheath, they’d be calling something like RANGER or MATRIX, whatever, you could often tell from the jets callsigns which ones the tankers were on their way to service.
And there are other active units at Mildenhall, the 101SOS I believe with their Herks and H53s (soon to be Ospreys) and the SRW boys who have their Rivet Joints (RC135s) to play with.

In the days of the SR71 Blackbird, they used a unique fuel which only the KC135Q tankers were able to carry. You always knew when there was a Blackbird about, the Q’s would all launch about 3 hours beforehand.

Fascinating stuff ….. (or is just me ?)

They transit through Fairford every couple of weeks, one going west and the one other east to relieve the first.

Do they land/take-off at night (like about 22:00ish)? I live in Cirencester and every so often hear a big jet late at night. I’d assumed it was something from Kemble, but was suprised that they’d do night landings. I can see the point of bringing a U2 in/out in the dark.

No I think they’re during the day strangely, an early afternoon arrival and a dawn departure. They are notoriously tricky to land, they have a chase car that follows the landing aircraft along the runway giving the pilot instructions on what the aircraft is doing, the chase cars have another U2 pilot onboard. Also on departure they are unstable and heavy due to the departure fuel load, they have outriggers on the wingtips (to prevent the wingtips contacting the ground) that fall away as the wing achieves positive lift. The outriggers then need to be retrieved by the chase car.
I guess all this faffage require daylight ?
As a guess, it’s more likely to be somthing going into/out of Brize Norton that you’re hearing. The U2 is relatively very quiet (and small) but some of the older coal-burning types at Brize like the VC10 and Tristar, and some of the Russian types that visit are way noisier.
Also the RAF charter various types for their air bridge out to Ascension and the Falklands and these can often be older generation types. What’s the schedule for those flights ? You can find our easily I would imagine as the public can buy tickets on those flights.

By the way. the 100ARW at Mildenhall aren’t exclusive to the U2 at all, they will service all kinds of trade, often not even US.

Good news for defence budget cuts then as I hear gas is cheaper from the US

Hawks from Valley doing basic formation.

Good news for defence budget cuts then as I hear gas is cheaper from the US

Interesting question, I wonder if military aircraft fuel is tax-free like civil aviation ?

RAF/USAF transiting to the Wales operational training area from somewhere like Coningsby.

jet powered baby robins – they are significantly larger and faster than the elastic band powered version you are likely to be familiar with

in the days of the SR71 Blackbird, they used a unique fuel which only the KC135Q tankers were able to carry. You always knew when there was a Blackbird about, the Q’s would all launch about 3 hours beforehand.

IIR they used JP7 fuel which was so unvolatile you could drop a lit match onto some & it wouldn’t ignite.

I often used to watch Vulcans being refuelled by K2 Victors at height as they went out over the North Sea.

When my brother in law was stationed at Akrotiri (Cyprus) we went to stay with them for a while and we weren’t woken every morning by the U2 taking off (because it didn’t exist) 😆

They are notoriously tricky to land,

Almost impossible as there is no downward visibility in a U2, therefore 2nd pair of eyes required in the car.

Also the RAF charter various types for their air bridge out to Ascension and the Falklands and these can often be older generation types.

Until Lyneham closed, there would be one of these going in or out at least once a week; it’s very quiet around here nowadays. Sadly. 🙁

Countzero I feel your pain

I worked at Lyneham for 18 years both uniformed and contracting, I drove past there last month and the place was dead and I had a huge lump in my throat with sadness

Can we PLEASE make it a pre-requisite with these threads that all references to flying things are accompanied by an awesome photo.

I’ll start.

Until Lyneham closed, there would be one of these going in or out at least once a week; it’s very quiet around here nowadays. Sadly.

[pedant]Not the South Atlantic charter, im afraid! At it’s peak (2008/9 ish) we had 2 A300s a week heading for Iraq, and 3 DC8s a week heading for Afghan; all Air Cargo. The South Atlantic charter was operated from Brize.[/pedant]

Edit:

A military transport flew over the Second Severn Bridge today at stupidly low altitude. The bridge tower were way above the plane. Would off been an epic pic.

I wish I had my camera 🙁

They are notoriously tricky to land, they have a chase car that follows the landing aircraft along the runway giving the pilot instructions on what the aircraft is doing, the chase cars have another U2 pilot onboard. Also on departure they are unstable and heavy due to the departure fuel load, they have outriggers on the wingtips (to prevent the wingtips contacting the ground) that fall away as the wing achieves positive lift. The outriggers then need to be retrieved by the chase car.

There was a James May program about flying to the edge of space in a U2. The outriggers on the wings looked like a really low tech solution in such an expensive plane. But I guess they work.

Another cute flying thing:

The last time I saw the SR71 fly was at Fairford many years ago. And yes they do leak fuel on the ground because in-flight due to extreme heat the seals actually all begin to work properly. The fuel is safe on the ground and won’t ignite

As for the planes the OP saw I’d hazard a guess they will either be F-15C’s or F-15E’s from Lakenheath.