Google Earth - Aircraft Spotting

[Spodman]

This one has been reported all over the place, I didn't find it, but you can see the BBMF Lancaster in Google Earth at 52 20 10.87N 0 11 43.34W. I am finding it curiously addictive to look at fuzzy plan views of varigated aircraft, amongst other things. The ship at 51 30 24N 0 04 53W I suspect is HMS Belfast and looks luverly.

Anybody got some more?

[Globaliser]

The ship at 51 30 24N 0 04 53W I suspect is HMS Belfast and looks luverly. That's correct. I can't identify the cruise ship tied up next to her at the moment but it's bound to be one of the usual suspects - there aren't that many that come up to the Pool.Anybody got some more?Have you tried this site (http://www.googleearthhacks.com/)?

[Seloco]

Spodman, this one is "somewhere in England":
51deg41min11.66secN 1deg46min21.25secW

The plane is easy, but what is the car?!

[Photo]

Heathrow 09L has Four Air France A320's Landing. :eek:

(yes, I know it is the same one at different stages of Landing)

[Kieron Kirk]

Put 51 20 04 91 N 0 18 56 61 W into Google Earth.
What is the aeroplane? Only one on the UK register!


Spodman.

For a serious attack of aircraft recognition try " davis monthan afb az "

[treadigraph]

KK, it's Bart Woodall's Helio Courier G-BAGT - yes, he should have had G-BART! And whatever happened to G-BGIX? It's still got a current C of A...

[Spodman]

.... And while you're in Tucson stop off at the Pima Air Museum at 32 08 21 n 110 52 08 w which appears to have one of everything. American that is.

Hello Seleco, looks like a U-2 / TR-1, but I must be blind I can't see the car.

Thanks Globaliser and everybody.

[Seloco]

Spodman, there was a thread running a while back (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204921) about the need for a fast car accompanying U2/TR1s on landing to help with height assessment and steady the unsupported wings (I hope I am remembering this right!). Various posters identified the favoured car for this role as a Corvette, which may be what one of the blobs near the aircraft is. It's a shame GoogleEarth's resolution is so variable!

[Globaliser]

I can't identify the cruise ship tied up next to her at the moment but it's bound to be one of the usual suspects - there aren't that many that come up to the Pool.With a little help from friends, it's the Hebridean Spirit.

[Golf Charlie Charlie]

.... And while you're in Tucson stop off at the Pima Air Museum at 32 08 21 n 110 52 08 w which appears to have one of everything. American that is.


They have at least a Viscount and a Caravelle there......

[Genghis the Engineer]

I don't have the lat-long to hand, but look at a village called "Bourne End" near Marlow in Bucks. An Air Canada 747, presumably inbound to LHR, blots out the eastern half of the village.

G

[Specnut727]

If you haven't found the Air Canada 747 try copying this into the GE search bar.
51.5772055555556,-0.697269444444444
Lots of interesting things to look at near Davis Monthan. What are these ?
32.1474305555556,-110.855397222222

[station workshops]

Seloco,

car was a Ford Mustang, V8 4.5 litre engine. Usually carried only driver, sometimes a passenger, thought the latter configuration "degraded performance".

[treadigraph]

A unique type at 31.473427n, 106.232108w - who's gonna be the quickest to ID it...

[Specnut727]

Treadi,

That took me to the desert south east of El Paso, and I couldn't see anything. Is that the right place ?

Spec.

[wub]

Specnut
The aircraft you asked about are Grumman Tracers, with their wings folded
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Arkenbout/1854L.jpg

[treadigraph]

El Paso is corrrect, and the airport naturally - maybe I wrote the lat down wrong - can't see Googleearth at work, so here's googlemap (http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=31.792807,-106.388984&spn=0.002189,0.003573&t=k)

[Bravo73]

Treaders,

Is it the one & only McDonnell MD-220?

airliners.net link here (http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0486324&WxsIERv=ZpQbaaryy%20ZQ-220&Wm=0&WdsYXMg=Hagvgyrq&QtODMg=Ry%20Cnfb%20-%20Vagreangvbany%20%28RYC%20%2F%20XRYC%29&ERDLTkt=HFN%20-%20Grknf&ktODMp=Znepu%2018%2C%202002&BP=0&WNEb25u=Ovyy%20Oynapuneq%20-%20NveGrnzVzntrf&xsIERvdWdsY=A4NM&MgTUQtODMgKE=1fg%20fubg%20bs%20guvf%20sbhe-ratvarq%20%28O58%20Uhfgyre%20ybbxnyvxr%29%20ovm-wrg%20ba%20N.arg.%20Sreevrq%20gb%20Ry%20Cnfb%20va%20Qrp%2019 85%20naq%20vgf%20orra%20gurer%20rire%20fvapr.%20Ubcrshyyl%20 vg%20jvyy%20or%20cerfreirq%20va%20n%20zhfrhz.&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=2506&NEb25uZWxs=2004-01-08%2000%3A00%3A00&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=1&static=yes&width=1024&height=695&sok=JURER%20%20%28ZNGPU%20%28nvepensg%2Cnveyvar%2Ccynpr%2Ccu bgb_qngr%2Cpbhagel%2Cerznex%2Ccubgbtencure%2Crznvy%2Clrne%2C ert%2Cnvepensg_trarevp%2Cpa%2Cpbqr%29%20NTNVAFG%20%28%27%2B% 22ry%22%20%2B%22cnfb%22%27%20VA%20OBBYRNA%20ZBQR%29%29%20%20 beqre%20ol%20cubgb_vq%20QRFP&photo_nr=68&prev_id=0488794&next_id=0482859)


Edited to add (after T's post): Wahoo!

[treadigraph]

It is indeed, a nice looking aeroplane!

I've spent an infordinate am,ount of time looking at various airfields - if you like floatplanes, take a look at the NE side of Anchorage airport!

Found a couple of Starships at US airfields - can't remember where, but I think that's testimony to the age of the satellite photos rather than Beech overlooking a couple in their efforts to bulldoze the lot. (There is a survivor at Chino though, but not, I think, visible on Google.)

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

Point of order! The aircraft at Bourne End is on a northerly heading, so is outbound from LHR on a WOBUN SID. Also, five canoe fairings on each trailing edge means it's an ... A340.

I'll get my anorak. :}

[DaveW]

Lots of Starships - in fact, most of them that aren't in museums (http://www.rps3.com/Pages/Starship.htm) - at Pinal Airpark (http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=32.513034&lon=-111.322228&z=18.3&r=0&src=0)in Arizona.

One of only four left flying is the one at Mojave that was used as SpaceShipOne medium level chase.

[treadigraph]

Dave is Scaled's flying example full-sized or the 85% proof of concept aircraft built by SC?

Fifteen in that view - nearly a third of the total production!

[Matt Skrossa]

Try looking at:
52 22 16 70N 014 32 19W
You'll see a genuine spaceship. Well actually it's the ex McDonalds just outside the fence at RAF Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, England, which was designed to look like a UFO. Sadly it's now closed and looking very tired, but it was once voted the number 1 place to eat McDonalds in the UK (not sure that's much of an accolade!).

[Duckbutt]

Smartypants mode on, as the aforementioned Air Canada machine is well west of Heathrow heading N, presumably it was taken on a different day to the airport itself where 09R is shown as the t/off runway and (obviously) 09L for landing - witness the Air France Airbus which appears four times approaching or on the latter.

[treadigraph]

I had breakfast there once Matt - can't say it was any better than MacDonalds in North End, Croydon (which I have been led to believe was once the highest grossing MacDonalds in the world). Sorry, waaaaaay off topic...

Edited to correct the Nom de PPRuNe I was replying to!

[DaveW]

Dave is Scaled's flying example full-sized or the 85% proof of concept aircraft built by SC?

It's the real thing, Treadders - N514RS, the 51st example built (http://www.rps3.com/Pages/Starships%20NC-51%20to%20NC-53.htm#NC-51).

The 85% Proof of Concept aircraft N2000P was destroyed at Mojave (http://www.rps3.com/Pages/Starship%20Development%20and%20Construction.htm). :{

[Seloco]

I don't have the lat-long to hand, but look at a village called "Bourne End" near Marlow in Bucks. An Air Canada 747, presumably inbound to LHR, blots out the eastern half of the village.
G
I think it's outbound - heading north and already NW of LHR - great circle to canadian west coast?

[jh5speed]

... there's the Lancaster at 52 20 10.87N 0 11 43.34W

[jh5speed]

whoops sorry - this was mentioned in the first post. Going back to sleep now...

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

Hello Seloco; it's the invisible poster here! (Take a peek at posting no 20.) :}

It might be heading off in that direction because the NAT Tracks for that day required it, even if bound for Montreal or Halifax N.S.

[Seloco]

Point taken GALHI - I obviously need a bigger screen!

PS: isn't it WOBURN?!

[Georgeablelovehowindia]

No, it is WOBUN, because that's the five letter ATC designator of the intersection the departure goes to. It is indeed in the vicinity of Woburn! The SID only applies for westerly departures: WOBUN 2G for 27L and WOBUN 2F for 27R. The SID for traffic going northerly on 09 departures is the BUZAD. No prizes for guessing where that's near! Now we come to all the other LHR departures: BROOKMANS PARK, COMPTON, DETLING, DOVER, etc.

Er, excuse me while I go and lie down in a darkened room!

[Herge_uk]

There is a U2 sitting in a bay at 51 41 11.60 N 1 46 21.29 W

and a load od DC3s, a Shackleton, a hunter and some more belonging to Air Atlantique at Coventry Airport. 52 22 11.53 N 1 29 06.74 W

I also found a Jaguar squadron on a base somewhere over in Norfolk. I wonder what the military think about Google handing out high quality satellite images??

[DaveW]

I also found a Jaguar squadron on a base somewhere over in Norfolk. I wonder what the military think about Google handing out high quality satellite images??

I doubt they're ecstatic, but probably not that worried either. It's not as if the images are anything like real time.

The "Jag sqn in a base in Norfolk" is RAF Coltishall - and I know that without looking at Google Earth. The fact that it operates Jags has been common knowledge for those interested in that sort of thing for a couple of decades.

Dodgy stuff is hidden away when satellites go over, since their paths are so predictable. Which is why you can't see this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=214415) anywhere here (http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=37.243066&lon=-115.816159&z=12.7&r=0&src=0). :}

[Specnut727]

The images are a little old. The building I work in was opened in October 2004. It's at 27 34 19.01 S and 153 05 28.22 E Only a hole in the ground in the image.

[green granite]

37 14 13.42n 115 48 28.28w Groom Lake
to the left of the 4 white hangars, are they raptors?

[DaveW]

F-16s, I reckon (http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=37.244591&lon=-115.820348&z=18.8&r=0&src=0).

Apart from the 3x Janet 737s, King Air and 2xBeech 1900 (http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=37.239794&lon=-115.815996&z=18.9&r=0&src=0), the only other aircraft I think are visible are a pair of HH-60s or MH-60s (http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=37.246341&lon=-115.816068&z=18.7&r=0&src=0).

[Tim Zukas]

Dodgy stuff is hidden away when satellites go over, since their paths are so predictable.

Odds are the Lanc wasn't photographed from a satellite-- so keep an eye out for suspicious aircraft too.

[DaveW]

The presence of a camera carrying aircraft somewhere over the English countryside photographing Lancs would attract rather less attention than same over that location!

[Amos Keeto]

Find Rivolto, Udine, Italy. You can see the Frecce Tricolori MB339s all lined up on the apron with red and green-stained grass behind them!!!
Anyone looked at the Pensacola Naval Air Museum in Florida - try and identify all the museum aircraft outside there? By the way, the Blue Angels are away but their support C-130 is on the ramp!

[Globaliser]

Find Rivolto, Udine, Italy.45.978750N 13.049331E for the middle of the runway. The apron is just a bit to the east of that spot. Thanks to the Great Circle Mapper (http://gc.kls2.com/airport/LIPI) for the information.

[Evileyes]

The US National Museum of Naval Aviation flight line can be found at 30.2111N 87.1817W aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The museum itself is just to the South of that.

[Argonautical]

This one is a bit unusual - a Badger!

30 05 47N, 31 21 06E

[ShyTorque]

Not an aircraft, but a powerfully sobering thought, esecially if you have seen it from the surface..

21* 21' 53.39" N, 157* 56' 59.89" W

Here are some aircraft, near Gatwick, but not what one might expect:

51* 09' 07.82" N, 0* 12' 54.57" W

[pmills575]

The last grid ref is Gatwick Aviation Museum and a very old (pre 2001) picture at that!

[India Four Two]

Have a look at CFB Cold Lake (54 24 16N, 110 16 43W), where there was an air show on the day the photo was taken.

[PPRuNe Pop]

How often is Google Earth updated? Anyone know?

[treadigraph]

Dunno how often out of date will e update , but they are expanding the new coverage on a daily-ish basis.

[Flap40]

Look to the right of Argo's Badger at 30 06 34.56N 31 24 34.07E and you can see a bit of an "oopps"!

Also at 56 55 48.24N 23 58 45.80E is a TU22 which has since moved a couple of hundred metres south into the "Museum" next to the terminal.

[Duckbutt]

How often is Google Earth updated? Anyone know?

The resolution of the area of Lancashire where I live was greatly increased back in November (I can now clearly see my car in front of my house) but judging by the rebuilding of a nearby road the photo itself would have been taken in the summer of 2000.

[wub]

This site gives details of updates as they are posted
http://www.googleearthhacks.com/

This confirms Duckbutt's supposition that Lancashire was taken in 2000 (see Dec 2nd update data)

[The SSK]

Is this a Cessna floatplane at Prestwick?
55 30 26.60N, 4 35 54.48W

[captain_murray]

have at lok at Glasgow prestwick international airport. A very interesting UASF 747 sitting just off the runway!

anyone know what it is??

[captain_murray]

Hi, actually theres 3 another 2 sitting on runway 03

[ShyTorque]

The last grid ref is Gatwick Aviation Museum and a very old (pre 2001) picture at that!


I know, I landed there last autumn. The ex-RAF Whirlwind 10 isn't shown for a start. :8

[London Jets]

On the subject of Prestwick, it looks like there was another two runways to the south east of runway 03 threshold. where the golf course is. Does anyone know its history?

L J

[captain_murray]

googel earth is great but i wish it would work on my laptop, its a sony vaio pcg-fx805, pretty smart but its may 4 yrs old now.

Still use google maps and just pic satelittle images but not as quick or easy!

if anyone knows if theres anyway i can get it work it would be much appreciated!

[seacue]

My laptop is a couple of years old and Google Earth works Ok if I do not follow their recommendation which is to use the ActiveX version. Using the ActiveX version gets me a flashy "light show" and my machine locks up.

[treadigraph]

Captain Murray, those are USAF C-5s... I suspect the one on 03 had been photographed twice during roll-out and the pictures stitched together in Google Earth.

[captain_murray]

anyone know the location of any aircraft yards in the deserts ie mojave??

[PPRuNe Radar]

The seaplane at Prestwick was almost certainly G-SEAI, now based on Loch Lomond. It was based there for a while.

The C5s were all there together. Carrying out logistics flights during some conflict or other. Bosnia maybe.

The Prestwick images are all around 6 or more years old. The evidence being the non existence of the Polar Air Cargo hangar which was constructed in 2000.

The other runways were the remains of RAF Ayr (Heathfield), also known as HMS Wagtail for a period during it's life.

More info here:

RAF Ayr/Heathfield (http://www.hawkertempest.se/ayr.htm)

[seacue]

I throw over the transom for general amusement a small program I have written. It converts text files of geo coordinates to KML files which Google Earth plots. This is really a DOS program, though I developed it on a Windows XP Home system. I've never had problems running "DOS" programs on XP, even large ones like dBase and Borland C compiler.

The text file name must be of the form NAME.TXT, where the NAME must be 8 or fewer characters.

The text file can contain many points each on its own line.
Each must be latitude longitude title with no punctuation between fields.
Coordinates may be either dd mm ss.ssN or ddd.ddddW format. Negative values are NOT accepted. The title of the point may be any reasonable length.

The program AIR2KML.EXE and a sample AIRPINS.TXT file and the resulting AIRPINS.KML file may be downloaded from http://users.erols.com/rcarpen/ It is the AIR2KML.ZIP file. Don't confuse it with the similarly-titled TXT2KML program. One executes an EXE file by double-left-clicking on it ... or you can create a shortcut on your desktop.

Just double-left-click on any KML file and Google Earth will start and display that file. These points will be shown in addition to any already shown if G-E is already running.

You may want to un-tick the name of the file in the Google "Places" box when you get close to a point since the push-pin may obscure what you seek.

seacue

[Duckbutt]

Terrific resolution at Frankfurt Main airport. Have a look at the Cathay Pacific 747 at 50.03.05.39N 8.35.27.03E, four men up doing something at the starboard wing root - any idea what?

[Bre901]

four men up doing something at the starboard wing root - any idea what?No idea at all but I can tell that the fifth one that you forgot to mention is the boss as he is standing up (see his shadow), supervising them most probably.

I guess the planes to the west have just been washed as the tarmac looks wet below the wings and the stab. Lots of them actually - or is it de-incing ?? (although the turf isn't that winter-looking and we seem to have CAVOK)

Did you notice the dozen C17s on the south part of the airport (plus 2 C5s)

[seacue]

M. Bre, the others might be standing as well, just so close to the fuselage that they were in its shadow so their shadows aren't visible.

A thought, anyhow.

Notice over by the 10 fuel reservoirs what looks like a Viscount with "Lufthansa Training" writting on the sides.

Toward the bottom of G-E's "Layers" pane there are places you can tick to find each year's photo coverage. It looks like that one was June 28, 2005.

sc

[ImageGear]

No one's mentioned the B2 parked outside the hangar - are they that common?

[BLK 33]

Look at the Gibraltar runway where the road crosses and there's a Tornado or some such (can't quite make it out) being attended by the AFS.

[Duckbutt]

Lets hope they got it shifted quick as there's a 737 a few miles to the East lined up with the runway.........

[London Jets]

ImageGear

what are the coordinates of the B2 that you are talking about?

L J

[Cool_Hand]

Here's always a couple of cool areas to have a look around...

Palmdale and Edwards.

34 37 24.62N 118 05 29.60W F117
34 56 25.68N 117 53 25.02W F22
34 57 11.41N 117 53 02.84W SR71
34 54 10.77N 117 52 31.63W B1
34 38 14.70N 118 04 55.44W B2
34 37 08.82N 118 05 03.10W Boeings JSF candidate.
34 36 10.09N 118 05 09.65W SR71's, U2, some strange stealth aircraft.
34 57 07.09N 117 53 19.61W X-29

Tuscon aircraft graveyard,

32 09 58.15N 110 51 46.60W

Mojave Boneyard

35 03 50.69N 118 09 46.64W

Neverland :-)

34 44 46.50N 120 05 16.66W

Nuclear test sites,

37 01 27.22N 116 01 26.56W

[Shaft109]

Vulcan B2 at Woodford nr Manchester. Last one preserved in white.

[Liffy 1M]

Cairo International and the nearby Almaza airbase are also worth a look - lots of interesting stuff parked around.