low flying aircraft over Turvey, Beds?

[willow-blossom]

In the last 20 minutes there have been 2 really low aircraft flown over my house in Turvey, Bedfordshire - think they might be military as they were dark grey and flying quite slow (not jets) - how can I find out where they have come from/where they are going and why do they fly so low over the village? We have Cranfield nearby. Thanks.

[mudcity]

I live just down the road in Clifton Reynes and there is a fair amount of low level military traffic around this area,basically the main corridor for military going east/west/east is south of Daventry however when that is busy then they use a corridor which runs roughly over Thurleigh/Olney/Hanslope hence the low level traffic...however as we hardly have any air force left the traffic gets less and less each year and when/if the windfarms are built in this area I guess that will be the end of that...shame as its great fun watching the fast jets..hope this helps.

[willow-blossom]

Thanks mudcity that is really interesting! I love watching the planes fly over (reminds me of the days when my mum used to drag me to the airshows at Cardington lol).

[OLNEY2d]

It might tickle you to know that this low-level route was (and might still be) known as the ho-chi-min trail amongst some of the pilots who flew it. I think the name was given to a number of routes in actual fact, but a good friend recalls hooning up and down this particular ho-chi-min in a Phantom en route to Wales. Git.

We used to live a short distance from where it passed just west abeam Olney (hence my monicker) and have fond memories of seeing a wide variety of types hurtling along low and fast. Hercules were always good entertainment value and we saw a number of Helis travelling a good deal lower than the fixed wing traffic; one noteable occasion being level with the spire of Olney church - unsure of the legality on that one !

[willow-blossom]

Thanks Olney2d that's very interesting too. It really surprises me how low they fly, literally look like they are skimming the trees over the school playground and always seems to be at home time too!

[Simtech]

They were probably C130s. I live in Bromham and we sometimes get them flying westbound at low level. On one occasion one got a bit close to the built-up area and I was treated to the full belly view as he pulled a very steep banking turn to avoid. I've also seen Tornados, Jaguars, Harriers and F-15s on the same route.