Originally Posted by
surely not
the 3 low flying, 4 engined, aeroplanes were heading South East over Ditchling, East Sussex at around 9.00pm tonight
Were they seen simultaneously, or at intervals ? If the latter, were they definitely three different aircraft or could it have been one aircraft orbiting ?
A400Ms have ADS-B, so they normally appear on the flight-tracking websites. RAF C-130s typically only have Mode S/EHS, so they usually don't get tracked but will are still detectable. For example there were two C-130Js, Jigsaw 1 and 2, doing some fairly sporty low-level manoeuvres (judging by EHS returns) in this neck of the woods around 20:50 yesterday evening.
Your best bet might be to find somebody local who keeps a Mode S log.