Chinooks. Not exactly stealthy, are they?

[Dan Gerous]

I had a heads up of a helicopter exercise at Charterhall in Aug 2016 and headed over to get some happy snaps. I arrived with plenty of time and around noon heard the distinctive sound of an approaching Chinook. However it wasn't till 20 minutes later a Puma pitched up without any warning, then a Sea King followed by a Merlin which disgorged some troops and then finally the Chinook which unloaded more troops. There was also Lynx flying top cover, and apart from the Chinook I couldn't hear any of the other helicopters until they were almost next to me . These landed and took of again and I was then treated to the sound of the Chinook being thrown around with gusto, which obscured to me by a large wood. The process was repeated in reverse with the sound of the Chinook disguisung the approach of the other helicopters. Again, until you could see them, you wouldn't have known they were there.