What's flying over your house

[John Privett]

Whilst flying this afternoon we had a Spitfire fly almost directly overhead - heading roughly east to west over Epsom Downs. That must have been around 3pm. It returned about an hour later.

[David P Williams]

Just had a V-22 Osprey fly over the house (South Shropshire) heading east at about 500ft. Never seen one in the air before - wierd looking thing.

[Tony Bennett]

whilst on holiday last week, i spent many happy hours watching these fly over the villa and round the bay.

[Colin Leighfield]

Canadair CL215? I've seen these in Spain, great plane.

[John Privett]

Posted by David P Williams on 14/05/2014 18:04:01:

Just had a V-22 Osprey fly over the house (South Shropshire) heading east at about 500ft. Never seen one in the air before - wierd looking thing.

Wow - that is unusual. And I'll confess, I had to 'google' it to see what it was you were talking about!

[J D 8]

Some years ago there was this strange but sort of familiar thumping coming from the direction of the sea,then 4 Bell HU-1 huey's came into view,one smoking badly. It was the sound of Nam like on the news reports or my childhood. They were former Irish rescue service which had been replaced with Sikorsky 115's. After the closure of RAF Brawdy at the end of the cold war it has gone rather quite here on the west wales coast,except for the airline traffic high above on the Atlantic route.

[Kevin Wilson]

Posted by John Privett on 05/05/2014 00:26:34:

Whilst flying this afternoon we had a Spitfire fly almost directly overhead - heading roughly east to west over Epsom Downs. That must have been around 3pm. It returned about an hour later.

That went over me about 5 mins earlier (Caterham).

Didn't see it on the way back though

 

I am just off the southern end of the runway of RAF Kenley so see a few memorial flybys.

And of course the gliders torment me every time I stuck digging the garden

Tantalisingly whistling over on finals

Edited By Kevin Wilson on 14/05/2014 19:57:29

[Paul Marsh]

A Cheshire Police Heli, loitering. Must be looking for someone. Been loistering for 10 mins at about 400 ft, sounds even more noisy at dusk!

Edited By Paul Marsh on 14/05/2014 21:35:47

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

You should make one of those Tony

John

[John Privett]

Posted by Kevin Wilson on 14/05/2014 19:54:38:

Posted by John Privett on 05/05/2014 00:26:34:

Whilst flying this afternoon we had a Spitfire fly almost directly overhead - heading roughly east to west over Epsom Downs. That must have been around 3pm. It returned about an hour later.

That went over me about 5 mins earlier (Caterham).

Didn't see it on the way back though

The return track looked to be more or less the reciprocal heading, but perhaps half a mile or so to the south.  Our guess is that it may have been flying from, then back to, Biggin Hill.

Edited By John Privett on 14/05/2014 22:27:24

[David Pearce 4]

The sun has got it's hat on, the Tiger Airways Stampe biplane from Staverton has just flown over engine popping as it throttles back, and I'm going flying down our field for as many hours as I fancy. Sometimes life is good!

[Colin Leighfield]

Good one David. In 2006 I did an hour of aerobatics in that over the Bristol Channel (60th. birthday). Doing loops at 2,000 ft. over the Severn Bridge was something else. I remember the importance of not infringing the airspace over the nuclear power station.

I was impressed with how smooth and steady the Stampe was (Renault engine, I think), and the open cockpit was surprisingly snug and cosy. The Tiger pilot with me (John) was ex RAF and a great bloke. A couple of years ago my step-daughter went to Staverton and did an aerobatic flight in Tiger's Slingsby Firefly, with a lady pilot, I think. I'm pleased that they're still going, must go down there again some time!

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Once saw a Firefly give an aerobatic display at Doncaster airfield (now Lakeside) very graceful.

John

[David Pearce 4]

Thanks Colin. The pilot is Tizi Hodson, quite a pilot and interesting character. I was lucky to fly with her in the Stampe. Look here:**LINK**

[Colin Leighfield]

Thank you also David. She certainly is an interesting lady.

[Nick Farrow]

I guess I'm very fortunate to have this being regularly given the absolute beans over my house (like I have to run out on the sound of that racing merlin)

And also one or more of these that rips the roof off at 11pm!

[David P Williams]

Where are the V22s based Nick? I didn't know there were any in this country until I saw the one yesterday. I just get pairs of Hercules skimming the roof in the dark.

[Glenn Stratton]

I believe, and I may be wrong, David, the V22s are based at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk.

[David P Williams]

Ah thanks Glenn. Used to go to the big airshows there years ago, they were fantastic.

[David Pearce 4]

Well the day started with a lovely Stampe popping away over my roof (see above), I then had a day flying at our club with 7 flights and seven landings plus lots of good company. Then this evening as I sat in the garden with a glass in my hand a Stearman, resplendent in yellow and blue, flew over to complete a great days aviation. If today gets any better I shall burst into song! (And we don't want that!)

[Glenn Stratton]

The Americans certainly know how to put on an airshow David, I have been to a few! There was a rumour a couple of years ago that they were going to start again, sadly nothing!

I used to live in West Row David, I would sit in the back garden and watch the aircraft come and go, Galaxy, Starlifter, various marks of 135, various Hercules marks, Blackbird and the occasional U2, can't remember what choppers were based there, more of a plane man then!

RAF Lakenheath isn't far, so would see the fighters from there fly over, including visiting aircraft from Germany, I remember seeing Lufftwaffe Phantoms there and the USAF A10 Warthogs would stay there when their base was closed for maintenance.

[David P Williams]

Yes I used to live in the Peterborough area and did my PPL at Sibson. A10s were a constant problem joy to see, as they tracked down the runway cetreline at 200ft.

The Mildenhall shows were fantastic - just like going to America for the day. Every unit on the base ran a barbeque and beer stall, and you could pay in pounds or dollars. I remember seeing an F117 and SR71 there - I think the SR71 took off early in the day, flew a mission over Russia, then did a couple of fly-by passes as a demo slot when it returned. Great part of the country for aviation.

[Glenn Stratton]

I think that's what I miss about the Mildenhall shows, that certain vibrancy! The last show I went to I remember the Vulcan doing a great display.

Going back to rumours, heard one that they were contemplating closing Mildenhall.

[Codename-John]

Fairly certain I saw an F22 Raptor whilst driving home yesterday afternoon, It certainly looked like one from the distance I was away anyway unless anybody knows any different ? 4:15 ish on the A483 between Chester and Wrexham, Only a few hundred feet high and going quite slowly, going west so I presume towards Valley maybe ?

[John Privett]

Not over my house, but at the model show at Blackbushe today there were a few interesting full-size aircraft around, in addition to all the models.

On several occasions a Chinnook was visible in the distance - no idea if it was several or just the same one reappearing.

Later in the afternoon a Long-EZ (Burt Rutan canard design) flew over just to the north.

Then just after the end of the show a Cessna 182 landed. Ok, you say, what's unusual about a Cessna 182?(apart from it not being the more common 152 or 172) Well this one was a float-plane! I've never seen a float-plane land on a runway before, not in real-life anyway. Obviously the floats have retractable wheels, but it did look most peculiar taxiing down the runway perched on top of the floats on top of the wheels...