Unidentified Flying Objects.....

[EGCC Rwy 24]

.....but not saucer shaped!

Yesterday afternoon, I was travelling on a Northbound train through Ashchurch (Gloucestershire) at around 16:30. My eye was drawn to two small "things" in the sky.

At first glance, they could have been Storks, complete with baby-carrying bags. Once I focussed properly, they still looked pretty much the same - wings and a bulb shape underneath.

They were close together, one behind the other and heading roughly South.

I was of course fairly close to GCHQ, so maybe I should just erase the whole thing from my memory, but.......

......anybody got any clues?

Thanks,

Nick
Reporting Points Web Site (http://www.reportingpoints.info)

[proteus6]

The British armed forces have not exactly had much success with UAV’s – to date the only UAV to enter operational service has been the ill-fated Phoenix. However, the inability of this poorly designed, unreliable and ill-equipped UAV to undertake operations in the high summer temperatures of Iraq led to MOD to approach the US about the possibility of operating the General Atomics Predator A.
http://spyflight.co.uk/images/jpgs/uavs/960010_4.jpg
The approach was obviously successful because, with almost no publicity, the RAF began to actually operate the Predator. Early in 2004 the RAF formed 1115 Flight, also based at ISAFAF, Nevada, as part of a subordinate unit to the US Air Force’s 15th Reconnaissance Squadron. The compliment of 1115 Flt is around 44 personnel, the Predators are flown by RAF GD pilots, either with a fast-jet or fixed-wing background, supported by a tri-service mix of sensor operators, including some 'ground' personnel from the intelligence branch. Data interpretation is undertaken by various intelligence specialists from the US and UK. Individuals from 1115 Flt are completely intergrated with their US colleagues operating the Predator in Iraq, as part of a US/UK Combined Joint Predator Task Force, with UK operaters acting in support of UK forces operating around the Basra area. All RAF personnel are trained alongside their US colleagues at ISAFAF and many have achieved a particularly high standard on their courses.

[EGCC Rwy 24]

I don't think they were quite like that - although that is interesting reading, thanks.

They were black, had a bigger "bulge" underneath - the bulge looked spherical. They didn't seem big enough to be "manned" - though I appreciate that size/distance can be misleading.

Any more clues?

[411A]

These types of ahhh...devices, can be found along the southern USA border, looking for illegal crossers, Mexicans mostly.
They are very good at the job, so good in fact that a lot more have been ordered, and yes they look very similar to what EGCCrny24 observed.
Could be the same, I suspect.

Now, as for the 'real' flying saucers, IE: those spotted in the late 1940's early 1950's in the vicinity of the state of New Mexico, these were undoubtedly visitors from far away, who noticed the bright flash in the New Mexico desert on 16July1945...and just wanted to have a look to see how 'advanced' we were.
Having decided that those funny folks on earth had a long way to go, these visitors quietly went away, secure in the knowledge that we would be killing far more of our own, long before we would pose a threat to 'others'.

Or something...:}

[Ian L]

Edgley Optica?

[EGCC Rwy 24]

Edgley Optica ? Good suggestion and maybe!

I don't recall the "raised" tailplane at the back though. Also, seemed smaller than an Edgley, but that could be an illusion.

[proteus6]

RAF Predator Operations


http://spyflight.co.uk/images/jpgs/uavs/phoenix3b.jpg
The British armed forces have not exactly had much success with UAV’s – to date the only UAV to enter operational service has been the ill-fated Phoenix. However, the inability of this poorly designed, unreliable and ill-equipped UAV to undertake operations in the high summer temperatures of Iraq led to MOD to approach the US about the possibility of operating the General Atomics Predator A.