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View Full Version : What On Earth?

bolmas
22nd Apr 2004, 21:57
i was travelling along the m62 towards manchester from leeds near saddleworth mor this afternoon on my vintage motorbike. as i was in a valley i happened to glance to my left and upwards. flying over very low were 2 aircraft i have never seen before.i only got a 5 second glance or so and they dissapeared. they were grey in colour, 4 props and looked as though they were converted from 50/60 type airliners. i could not see any markings due to them being nearly overhead and trying to look at them and look where i was going.they were travelling south, they were not hercules, and possibly had some sort of fairing on top of the fin
i have no interest in airliners so do not know what it looked similar to.but from what i could see looked possibly like something from the dc or viscount era

sorry if i have rambled on but i am curious to know what they are, can you help?
treadigraph
23rd Apr 2004, 07:12
Lockheed Orions perhaps...? Based on the Electra...

And while we're on the "whazzat?" subject:

Saw a high-wing vintage taildragger downwind for Biggin's R/W 21 last night - throttled back, sounded like a big engine though possibly a radial, from the glimpses I got through the trees it had a curved trialing edge... anyone see it, know what it was?

Cheers

treadders
bolmas
23rd Apr 2004, 09:03
i have looked up the orion and yes it is the same or very similar to what i saw. however, who would these two belong to? they were a mid grey colour similar to the grey we had on lightnings in the 80,s which makes me think they were military.

MANY THANKS
treadigraph
23rd Apr 2004, 10:44
They would have been - US Navy, Dutch, Canadian nor Norwegian maybe...
No comment
23rd Apr 2004, 14:37
Treadders, are there not some antipodean Orions kicking about too?

(most likely US Navy though)
treadigraph
23rd Apr 2004, 14:41
I believe so - haven't the Spaniards got them also, and perhaps others? Admit it I must, I'm a bit out of touch on Modern Air Forces...

If these were mid-grey, sound like Norwegian or Dutch IIRC - long time since I visited Mildenhall or Fairford show... Mind you, aren't USN examples in low-viz mid grey now?