View Full Version : Lyneham This AM
midsomerjambo
3rd Dec 2008, 08:28
Anyone any idea what the 4-engined civvy-looking heavy on a Runway 07 approach to Lyneham around 09.10 this morning was? I'm no expert when it comes to airliners and I thought at first maybe it was an A340 but the engines looked more like something you'd expect on an old 707 (longish and thinnish with a funny crown-shaped thing on the exhausts) and the fuselage looked a bit thin for an A340. I couldn't see any identification on it from where I was standing.
Puzzled, MSJ
spamcanner
3rd Dec 2008, 08:31
Sounds like a DC8 to me.
threeputt
3rd Dec 2008, 08:37
It's a stretched, civi freighter DC8 that has been operating in and out of the Lima Alpha for some years now. Flies over my house on a regular basis.
3P:ok:
midsomerjambo
3rd Dec 2008, 08:42
Yes I wondered about that myself, but the nose didn't really look right and it looked pretty long for a DC-8 (could've been a stretched one I suppose). Whatever it was, I wonder what it was doing going into Lyneham.
midsomerjambo
3rd Dec 2008, 08:46
Thanks 3P - mystery solved. Any idea what purpose it serves?
All on freight these days. Fascinating to watch though - classic 4 smoke trails, all definitely from a different era.
I've just seen a Heron fly past my window. Somebody on the estate must have a pond.
midsomerjambo
3rd Dec 2008, 10:28
FAO EOSM37
You say "If you know then you know. If you don't, then you don't need to know". You may very well be right about that. However, I probably know a lot of things that I don't need to know - that's what makes the world such an interesting place to me. I imagine if you impose this maxim on yourself, your world must be pretty limited in its scope.:cool:
BTW, what constitutes an "old PPRUNE crusty" in your opinion? You're hardly a spring chicken yourself now are you? ;)
soddim
3rd Dec 2008, 10:39
I imagine the arrest and detention of a Tory MP guilty of discovering what the Home Office knew and we didn't (because they were hiding it from us)rather focuses the mind towards on the need to know issue!
Dengue_Dude
3rd Dec 2008, 11:03
It's a well known fact that anyone working for the military in secret squirrel airlines et al don't even file flight plans.
God there are some anal people on these threads. If it was that much of a secret, they'd operate into a different MOD airfield.
Wasn't so long ago there was an Eastern European presence in Wootten Bassett to keep an eye on what was happening across the airfield perimeter fence.
There's a great Yorkshire expression 'Get yersen felt' which basically means 'get your head out of your @rse'.
I reckon it applies here. It was a reasonable question.
Some civil aircraft are employed to carry freight etc into Kabul, Kandahar, Baghdad and other such sandy places - it's possibly/probably one of those.
Wrathmonk
3rd Dec 2008, 11:44
Or it could have been picking up the Aurora that went u/s last night :E
TwoStep
3rd Dec 2008, 11:47
The DC-8 in question is this one: 9G-RAC Dc8 62 Lyneham :: Sun87251z.jpg :: Fotopic.Net (http://grahamwasey.fotopic.net/p55199488.html)
But not half as interesting as the little Swedish hotrod that's been buzzing around this week...:cool:
That explains the stuttering ramjet noise that I heard in bed last night.:ok:
The problem with compartmentalisation, is that often, living within the compartment you don't know what is going on outside it! For most of us, our reaction to the OP's question would be as given.
However, the information is out there,and often from official sources. Google is a wonderful tool. For example, a quick google on DC8 Lyneham found
MK Airlines
DC8-55F 9G-MKC 4LA/4TO Brize Norton or Lyneham 28.3–4.4.03
to transport supplies to UK troops in Gulf via Kuwait/Fujairah
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/589/erg_epia_exemptions_list_exceptional.pdf
So that's what they are doing at Lyneham. Transporting supplies.
Hell, these even a photo of one on this thread:
http://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/312717-dc-8-over-london-2.html
Now if you were to ask 'what are they carrying', 'when do they leave' etc then that would be need to know.
exscribbler
3rd Dec 2008, 14:39
Like this one?
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm250/exscribbler/IMG_1349.jpg?t=1228318758
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm250/exscribbler/IMG_1353.jpg?t=1228318671
midsomerjambo
3rd Dec 2008, 15:33
Well Flt. Lt. Mac, I'm certainly not so interested as to go wasting the time of Lyneham Ops. to assuage my curiosity - I'm sure they have far better things to be getting on with (unlike you and me ;)). It's just that I've worked in the Chippenham area for almost 15 years and this is the first time I've observed a DC-8 inbound to Lyneham so I was just interested - even though it seems that it's maybe not such a rare occurrence after all. Actually, to tell the truth, it's the first time I've seen a real live DC-8 - I'll get my anorak...
Top Bunk Tester
3rd Dec 2008, 15:40
As it is a civvy frame, if you tune your VHF airband radio, which I'm sure as a bona fide spotter you will have, to EGDL's approach/departure frequency you may get some clues....I believe the said frames adopt the callsign "Janet nnnn" ;)
anotherthing
3rd Dec 2008, 16:44
So EOSM37 berates the thread originator for asking about some info legally and readily available on the web.
Then Top Bunk Tester suggests the originator breaks the law by saying ...tune your VHF airband radio...to EGDL's approach/departure frequency...
Good skills :}
Biggus
3rd Dec 2008, 17:24
Hey guys, it's really no big deal. If you all promise to keep it to yourselves I'll let you know what's going on....
The DC-8 is running small, high value, items of contraband (antiques, paintings, jewelery, etc) into the country for the royal family, senior politicians (of all parties), freemasons and the powerful people who lurk in dark shadows but really run the country.
On it's outbound flights it is taking out crashed UFO parts and alien bodies for examination in one of the series of secret laboratories set uparound the planet.
However, perhaps it's most important, and sensitive role is.......
Hold on, there's someone at the door, don't go away, I'll be right back....
Top Bunk Tester
3rd Dec 2008, 17:30
Anotherthing
humour noun [U]
the ability to be amused by things, the way in which people see that some things are amusing or the quality of being amusing:
He's got a great sense of humour (= he is very able to see things as amusing).
I must say I find his schoolboy (= childish) humour rather tiresome.
The Cambridge Online Dictionary
BEagle
3rd Dec 2008, 19:36
On its outbound flights it is taking out crashed UFO parts and alien bodies for examination in one of the series of secret laboratories set up around the planet.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Internet/zxzxz.jpg
You mean the ones which used to be stored here before it (allegedly) closed:
RAF Rudloe Manor (http://www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicrudloe.html)
Why has that black Omega got so many aerials.......:oh:
The information supplied by XV277 is out of date and not current.
I know - that's why I put the date in it. However, the OP wasn't to know that. Until now! :ok:
Current -8 doesn't need an noise exemption.
fastener
4th Dec 2008, 13:14
What a hunk of junk. Glad it's not flying over my house!!
Jumping_Jack
4th Dec 2008, 15:31
This really isn't a recent occurence. We had DAS operating stretched DC-8 into Lye every other day during the 1st Gulf War (alternating with Guppy and Belslow). Having seen the way the DAS aircraft were maintained and crewed I am amazed each time they turned up!
Green Flash
4th Dec 2008, 16:09
Jack
Concur! Witnessed a DC8 of dubious vintage deliver some vehicles in a sandy place a few years ago. The APU was busticated so they kept the starboard outer running whilst on the ground. Took them (crew and cargo handlers) about 4 hours to extract the vehicles through the side cargo door onto a K-loader type thingy. We watched (from a very safe distance) them bounce the wagons to get them round the corner of the door and on to the loader:eek:
I was down at the 09 threshold at the reds when one took off during GW1. I've never seen that much tarmac used before, thank god the ground drops away.... Bit like watching it take off from a big green aircraft carrier.
Dengue_Dude
4th Dec 2008, 19:54
Where's your sense of adventure?
I reckon you're windy - and in sandy places you're likely to get it under your foreskin - then you discover a world of grief.
Reckon this thread's closed isn't it? Unless some anal MF is going to lecture us on all the stuff that's in Jane's again. . .
Not big enough to be Sir Suck-it-up-without-a-bag's new jet!
sled dog
5th Dec 2008, 13:03
Green Flash, you mentioned once seeing a DC8 with a u/s APU. Strange, as all the Deisel 8s i have been involved with have not had APUs fitted :confused: The -70 series i cannot comment on, but you implied the a/c you saw was old. The DC8 series on a whole was ( is ) a very reliable work horse . So there :p
Logistics Loader
5th Dec 2008, 18:56
quote
lived in Chippenham 15 yrs never seen one before"
hmmmmmmm
i recall being at EGDL.. when the Dc8 turned round for West departure and starboard undercart sheared !!! that was circa 2002/03...
guess the Dc8 has been in stealth mode for a while..
UFO's are real,
the RAF is an hallucination
midsomerjambo
7th Dec 2008, 11:01
Well LL if you're going to quote me at least quote me properly - I said I'd worked in the Chippenham area for 15 years, not lived there (since when was Chippenham in Somerset?). I work indoors BTW :rolleyes:
Flt Lt Mac said: That information is about 5 years out of date.:rolleyes:
Uh oh. Mate, my friendly advice to you would be not to be suckered into speculating at all on the validity of any information. After all - this is a public forum. What you shouldn't be doing is passing on any information about any movements.
Loose lips sinks ships fella. :)
Logistics Loader
7th Dec 2008, 15:48
There was a haze induced mist in my eyes...!! Finest bottle of Red..!!
I didnt fail geography at school or ever got lost on Dartmoor...!!
but i'd say you shot yerselff in da foot with with a statement like never "observed one" but then to back peddle, by saying you work indoors..!!
hey oh...
Mmm. My advice would be to stay shtumm and not to use insider knowledge to confirm OR deny something you've seen on the interweb. You don't know who is reading chum. I know it can be difficult sometimes, but politely refer any interested party to the MoD for more advice if they're that interested.
Lets put this one to inexperience. :)
Sorry Mac. I was just struggling to be just as condascending and as pompous as you were, on page #1.
midsomerjambo
8th Dec 2008, 10:48
EOSM - Fair point you make :} Having never actually flown into Lyneham as other than SLF I wouldn't have been able to tell you the runway headings off the top off my head. So to check I had a quick shufti on Googlemaps aerial view and in front of the piano keys the runway headings are marked 07/25 (if my eyes don't deceive me). On further investigation (airport-data.com) it seems they should be 06/24 (correct?). So I wonder if the runway painter had a large lump of iron in his pocket when he consulted his compass prior to applying brush to tarmac. :O
isaneng
8th Dec 2008, 15:39
Just how old is this google earth stuff anyway? And how disappointing to find it's aerial photog and not super secret satellite imagery. Another myth dispelled. Maybe Santa will bring me something to make up for it......
Its at least 10 years old according to the car on my driveway. I planned on using it last year in Malaysia for some survey work, and when I got there, according to GE I was stood in a plantation. But it looked like a shopping centre to me.
Back to the original question, my guess is that a DC8 freighter, operating from a known transport base, was carrying freight.