HA-HA!!! I wuz right all along!

Splottboy

Well, possibly...
Earlier this year I posted that 2 huge F14's flew way-too-low over my house, probably from RAF Valley. Few guys said, "NO, not F14's...F14's only in Saudi airforce..."

Today on Radio 2, there was "debate" ok, arguement, about low flying in Wales.
THEN...It was mentiond that the USA, French, German AND Saudis use N.Wales for training.

Could it be the Saudis I planes I saw? They were low, and I mean Real Low, lower than anything else I've seen anywhere up here. And on a flight path I've only ever seen 4 other planes take, and these were twin-tailed too, but not F14's.

As a bit of a plane Nut, ( Ex ATC 1344 Sqdn, seen shows at St Athans, Duxford, visited about 3 US airforce bases in East Anglia etc ) I'm convinced these were F14's.

Come on "Goose, Maverick", help me out here !!!

IcarusGreen

F-14


Tornado gr4


Typhoon

jay12

i saw the tornado and typhoon one two seperate occasions flying super low in scotland. one flew when we were at loch ness and were freaked out as we thought it was the loch ness monster

Jimbob_no5

F15's, just had the air weapon training up at kinloss the last fortnight, mate of mine says they look like F14's but they're are F15's, don't take my word for it but thats what he said

Splottboy

Was F14 or VERY similar, both rear tails were Vertical, NOT ANGLED, but Boy, there were moving quite fast.

The roar was amazing, house shaking in fact. Mrs saw em too.

And, I'm talking LOW, not roof level low, but probably under 200ft.

Yes, I know they aren't supposed to be that low, but they were...

Jimbob_no5

i don't know what the low level restriction is down there but Scotland, mainly further north is low flying area 14 which is 150ft

the typhoons have been up at lossiemouth quite a bit lately and they do tend to fly down loch ness

Anonymous

F14 are swing wing, F15 are fixed wing.

And my keyboard only goes up to F12

IcarusGreen

F-15 is very different as it has no sweeping wing like the F-14 and tornado but does have a twin tail.

Anonymous

Jimbob_no5 wrote:

i don't know what the low level restriction is down there but Scotland, mainly further north is low flying area 14 which is 150ft

the typhoons have been up at lossiemouth quite a bit lately and they do tend to fly down loch ness

I don't know if there's a special circumstance here though. For years, the RAF and allies used the valleys around Snowdonia specifically to train ultra-low high speed flying.

chedabob

Anonymous

Wow, chedabob. You're amazing. I want to be just like you. That was the wittiest thing I've ever seen. It was so witty I sneezed.

The Northern Monkey

My dad worked on the radar in the nose cone of that Tornado

Raymondavalon

chedabob

Epic fail on attempted humour...

Jimbob_no5

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Jimbob_no5 wrote:

i don't know what the low level restriction is down there but Scotland, mainly further north is low flying area 14 which is 150ft

the typhoons have been up at lossiemouth quite a bit lately and they do tend to fly down loch ness

I don't know if there's a special circumstance here though. For years, the RAF and allies used the valleys around Snowdonia specifically to train ultra-low high speed flying.

yeh isn't it called boom alley or something? before sonic flight was banned over land, watched the concorde documentary the over week that mentioned that

Northwind

The Northern Monkey wrote:

My dad worked on the radar in the nose cone of that Tornado

He worked for blue circle cement?

(it's possible this injoke is too injokey, if it is, blame my uncle)

mrfmilo

F-15 probably.



I see (hear them first...) them flying over my house once in a while, last one must have been at 100-150ft straight over our garden then into a vertical climb and away

anjs

My brother in law had a small incident whilst flying a F15 a few years ago

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... Lakenheath

anton1r

I'm not much of a plane buff/nut but god damn that F14 is a thing of beauty isn't it! What is it us Brits are currently flying? Tornado's right?

A bit OT here but does anyone know what the career progression from civvi on the street would go like to getting in the cockpit of one of these bad boys...

Are we talking Uni degree -> Join Raf -> then what??

mrfmilo

anton1r wrote:

I'm not much of a plane buff/nut but god damn that F14 is a thing of beauty isn't it! What is it us Brits are currently flying? Tornado's right?

A bit OT here but does anyone know what the career progression from civvi on the street would go like to getting in the cockpit of one of these bad boys...

Are we talking Uni degree -> Join Raf -> then what??

In Afghanistan it's mainly Harrier GR9's

And as a fighter pilot? Degree is not needed (but you can gain one from joining) but 5 GCSE's including English/Maths and 2 A-Levels are the minimum.

If you're accepted (very hard to get in, think 400 sign up every year, 4 get in) you go on the Officer course (all pilots are Officers) and then pilot training etc etc. which takes 2 years IIRC.

So in 2 words -very hard

pte1643

Deffo not a Tomcat.

Firstly these were only operated by the US Navy and the (strange but true) Iranian Air Force. It's certainly unlikely that Iranians are going to be allowed to train over the UK.

I'm pretty sure the last US operational F-14 flight was in 2006.

Twin tail... Gotta be F-15.

These are operated by, obviuosly the Yanks, but also the Saudi Air Force, Japanese Self Defence Force and Israeli Air Force.

Either gonna be a Yankee one on a jolly from Lakenheath, or a Saudi one on training attachment.

anton1r

mrfmilo wrote:

So in 2 words -very hard

lol this bit I didn't doubt..

So are the harriers the only fighters we use?

anton1r

actually i done my own googling:

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/defensive.cfm

and

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/offensive.cfm

mrfmilo

anton1r wrote:

mrfmilo wrote:

So in 2 words -very hard

lol this bit I didn't doubt..

So are the harriers the only fighters we use?

Nope, Tornado GR4, Harrier GR7/GR9 and Eurofighter are all currently in service with the F-35J coming into service soon.

Harrier's are just the most common on missions abroad, whereas Tornados and the Typhoon are defensive aircraft based in the UK and respond to unknown aircraft in UK airspace etc. (QRF)

Splottboy

Still maintain, planes were; Twin Tailed, Swing Wings...F14's as good as...

I've seen F111''s, Tornadoes, Vulcans, Harriers, Hawks, Hercules, B52's, the new Typhoon, nearly all WWII and loads of WWI planes,

Northern Monkey: My Dad worked on the Blood Hound missiles, Britains first line of defence against those pesky Ruskies in the 1960's...

Think he was also involved with others, around the time of the scrapped TSR2 plane.

pte1643

Splottboy wrote:

Still maintain, planes were; Twin Tailed, Swing Wings...F14's as good as...

If you're convinced they are F-14's then best you phone Mr Cameron... The Iranians are invading.

Splottboy

Naw, too fast for Iranians!!! Saudis...

"Don't touch me...I kill you ! "

"Knock, Knock...I kill you ! "

Anyway, Cameron in India, where their National Economic growth is 8%, ours is 1.5%

But, when you have 8yr olds working 12 hr shifts for a few quid a week, well...

anjs

Currently all the Harriers are back in the UK. Tonkas are doing the work in the stan at the mo

IcarusGreen

Tornadoes used to be in the Falklands also but they now have the typhoons.

anjs

Well the F3 are just about to come out of service, only a few left in service now at Leuchers providing northern QRA

lawman

my grandad was a mechanic for the squadren that hit the ruhr dams 8) i win

Happy Harry

The best place to experience low-flying jets is apparently Machynlleth Loop near Valley in North Wales. It's where the serious spotters go.

Check out this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7zHlOi4T4

There are a couple of F-15s in it.