Awesome Tornado flypast

[Culio]

Hey guys :)

I was walking in the Isle of Skye last week (for my DofE Gold award, so it wasn't easy walking :P).

On the 3rd day of the main expedition, which was last Wednesday, my team and I were walking through a valley when I heard the distinct noise of a jet further down. Then out popped a Tornado tearing down the valley! It was damned low and still on its side turning (sorry, that's not correct terminology but meh :P) so we all got a spectacular view of it while it flew right past us.

It was great fun watching the Tornado (my basic a/c reccy told me it was a GR4) fly past. I guess it was practicing low altitude flying, unless the RAF has declared war on Skye! :ooh:

I was wondering which RAF station it may have come from, I know it can't be Kinloss as they have Nimrods, maybe Lossiemouth?

Still, a great view :D

[Alber Ratman]

Lossiemouth.. Maybe.. Coningsby.. Possibly .. Marham.. could be..

I will also see a Tornado tomorrow. It will be at a low level of 2 feet above the ground. So will be the one next to it..

What a great post! So you saw a Tornado GR4 (or was it a GR4A, I couldn't be bothered to explain the difference) flying at Operational Low Flying height (in a OLF area as well propably). Have a look at some of the spotter or the RAF websites and they will be able to show you the Squadron markings that adore the swing wing mean machine. They will also tell you where they are from, so next time you can make an educated guess!!

Have a nice day....

[Kerosine]

I'm of 2 minds about seeing jets at low level;
Love it seeing those magnificent machines flying, yet absolutely hate realising I'll never get to do it myself :{

[BlindWingy]

Always nice to hear from someone who appreciates seeing fast and pointy things at low level. Good luck with the Gold DofE Culio.

[Flap62]

Alber Ratman,

I am rather confused.

Someone posts an enthusiastic post about the pleasures of seeing a low flying aircraft. You appear to think this deserves a measure of light ridicule. Why mention the OLF areas bit - there was no suggestion in the original post of illegality.

There are enough people out there who would seek to stop low flying operations. When a member of the public compliments us on such a sight we should rejoice not seek to dissuade them.

[Alber Ratman]

No, just guiding the young fellow with a suggestion of carrying out a simple piece of reserch prior to making some of his comments. He has access to this forum, so he has access to Google.

I congratulate the guy on his progression towards the D of E gold award as not many youngsters show the ambition to get that far.

"declaring war on Skye" did it for me. OLF online..

http://mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/CB5422D3-F852-4C84-A09E-81B3757F7BEF/0/olf_timetable_september08.pdf

When I leave (very soon), I won't be posting on this forum. Why?? Because its a military forum and will have nothing to do with me any longer.

[Culio]

Alber Ratman,

I'm sorry, I fail to see what you're annoyed about, is one not allowed to post a thread purely saying that they enjoyed watching a jet fly past? This is just a light thread with a simple question because I was interested about where it had come from, doing research about low level flying seems a bit unnecessary, I don't want to get into an indepth discussion about it!

And the declaring war on Skye was a joke, didn't mean to offend if I did.

[barnstormer1968]

Hi Culio.
Hope your D of E expedition went well.:ok:
Unlike some rather bitter and twisted sounding folks, I'm glad you were given a good view of this Tornado, and hope it lifted your spirits long enough to give you a bit more energy for walking for a while.
In my military career, I went on to often be running distances similar to your entire D of E expedition in one go, BUT I could always find time to stop if anything military flew over. Even now, it brightens my day if I see a Tornado (rare) or Apache/Lynx while out walking.

Barnstormer1968

[Monty77]

Ratman

Good luck in civvy street, I hope you will not need to be able to spell.
Great news that you have decided you won't be posting here again once you're a traffic warden or something. Nighty night.

Culio.

Ignore this bloke. Feel free to post. I often wondered how my presence was received by guys like you who had spent the last 4 hours tramping up the hill, to suddenly have an aircraft whizz past, shattering the beauty of the scenery. I always felt better when folk waved, realizing I was a bit of an intrusion.

Cheers:ok:

[Long Drop]

Mr Ratman

Soon to leave the RAF, with your attitude that will be a serious blow to the Armed Forces, but somehow I'm sure we'll survive without you.

[Dis Gruntled]

Sooner the better you leave Ratman absolutely no need for that. You miserable s**t.

[Kerosine]

How dull would PPRuNE be without the odd random threads of lighthearted chat? Gives the place character. Of course Culio could have googled it, but then there would be no question and subsequently no conversation would there?

Some only see the worst in people :bored:

Maybe I've just had a bad day in work haha :p

[FloaterNorthWest]

Ratman,

Are you off to the CAA by any chance?

FNW

[Monty77]

No

He's not qualified enough for that.

Tesco car park monitor?

Does anyone have any job suggestions for Ratman in civvy street?

Crash Test Dummy?

Over to you lot.

[Alber Ratman]

Have a nice day.

[ACW599]

Hi Culio and congratulations on your sighting. It's good to hear that an RAF fast jet can find Skye. None has ever been able to navigate to N52°43’42” W002°59’48” (52.72842N 2.99677W) or SJ 32790 14987 (OSGB36) or IO82MR (LOC) or UTM 30U 500225 5842050 whilst simultaneously flying at 250ft MSD and in excess of 420kts.

[Kerosine]

None has ever been able to navigate to N52°43’42” W002°59’48” (52.72842N 2.99677W) or SJ 32790 14987 (OSGB36) or IO82MR (LOC) or UTM 30U 500225 5842050 whilst simultaneously flying at 250ft MSD and in excess of 420kts.
Based on that heap of numbers I'd have no bloody chance.

[Union Jack]

Does anyone have any job suggestions for Ratman in civvy street?

Is being a "rodent operative" too obvious a suggestion?

Alternatively, if he were to stay on perhaps he could volunteer for Splash Target Coxswain or UAV Navigator, sorry WSO/WSOp!

Jack

PS Only kidding Ratman - anyone who can come up with "adore the swing wing mean machine" is OK by me ....

PSS ACW599 Re "It's good to hear that an RAF fast jet can find Skye", are you from Yorkshire....?

[gar170]

Bad attitude complete s**t no sense of humour could only be one job open for him a Vat man

[PAPI-74]

.....just keep the idiot out of the same flightdeck as me.

What a Pillock.:ok:

[tykepilot]

ACW599 pft, you should complain! I payout HUGE amounts in tax, and regularly see and hear the "fork tailed devils" from Lakenheath, and last week, we had glorious contrails from some tiffies. But at N54.33.06, W00.06.01, other than Rescue 128 we never see rotary or fat albert type things - I personally put it down to a lack of joie de vivre!:(

[alwayslookingup]

Funnily enough Skye's exactly the place my wife and kids had their best Tornado moment. Walking across the Skye Bridge they were buzzed by a pair of IV Sqn jets from Lossie (yes, she stunned herself by by relating all that info to me, far to much time spent at Lossie, says she). Apparently the jets had swooped up the Sound of Sleat fast enough and low enough to impress and to show off the big white Roman numerals on the fin. The three of them were buzzing about it even an hour later when they met up with me again (I'd had a business call in Kylekin). A perfect day and a perfect sight. So, if that was you one glorious day in July about ten years ago, many thanks.

[Elmlea]

ACW599, are you in LFA9? If so, sorry; they may as well put up 2000ft concrete walls around that area when it comes to jet traffic!

[ACW599]

>Based on that heap of numbers I'd have no bloody chance.<

They're just different ways of expressing the same location, which by a curious coincidence just happens to be ACW Towers :-)

I keep hoping that one of them will find its way into someone's nav kit one fine day. If so, EGOS Low Level is on 376.675 and Ops is extn 7227. . .

[ACW599]

>ACW599, are you in LFA9? If so, sorry; they may as well put up 2000ft concrete walls around that area when it comes to jet traffic!<

Sadly, yes -- although the walls can't be that thick since occasional C-130s pass through the LFA and I even saw a couple of F-15s the other day orbiting Breidden Hill at about 1,000ft or so. The Valley weather ship puts in an occasional appearance as well, although not at low level.

>PSS ACW599 Re "It's good to hear that an RAF fast jet can find Skye", are you from Yorkshire....?<

Certainly not :-) Just angling for a response along the lines of "who is this tosser, of course we can bl00dy well find his house, let's go and wazz it tomorrow".

[PlasticCabDriver]

I'm leaving very soon as well, but please don't confuse me with Ratman when I pitch up at my new job. I am the non-grumpy one without my head up my arse, if anyone was wondering..

[Sunk at Narvik]

Guys n gals, not every hill walker out there is a sad ..erm..person. Very memorable evening many years ago I was out on my bike in the New Forest doing a spot of astronomy (very dark skies- yes really) and on the way back to Hale got well and truely flame grilled by a Tornado flying very low- what a fantastic sight and sound :E

On other occasions always a pleasure to spot Hawks whizzing along the valley floors in Wales. I recall the morning the news came in about the raid on Libya, my brother and I were in a youth hostel having brekkie, we raised a loud cheer, then looked around to see all the other hostellers looking very seriously at us.

We washed up and left :O

[MAINJAFAD]

Funnily enough Skye's exactly the place my wife and kids had their best Tornado moment. Walking across the Skye Bridge they were buzzed by a pair of IV Sqn jets from Lossie (yes, she stunned herself by by relating all that info to me, far to much time spent at Lossie, says she). Apparently the jets had swooped up the Sound of Sleat fast enough and low enough to impress and to show off the big white Roman numerals on the fin. The three of them were buzzing about it even an hour later when they met up with me again (I'd had a business call in Kylekin). A perfect day and a perfect sight. So, if that was you one glorious day in July about ten years ago, many thanks.

When did IV (4) Sqn start operating Tonka's from Lossie???? News to me (and the rest of the free world) Try XV (15) Sqn (IV Sqn have operated Harriers for most of my lifetime).

As for the Flak being thrown at Ratman, I will inform the Snipers of a few facts. The guy does have TWO AOC 1 Group commendations (both work related, not for secondary duty stuff), Did an excellent Sqn history a few years back, plus managed the production of it and got the sponsorship to get it produced out of Wasteofspace (a good six months work in three). Threw a very good history of a type being retired together in a few weeks and managed the production of it by the graphics people at Northolt. Has had an article published in one of the major aviation magazines. Has designed Sqn markings and had his name on the side of a rather specially painted aircraft, the same size as that of the pilot! Most of this work came about though this little thing called research (though he did have a little help from the members here and elsewhere on the type history). I don’t think he will have any problems getting work outside of the RAF with his skills and talents (I can't remember how many GEMs awards he has got, but its more than one).

As for the lad who started this thread, This is how you do it. I would like to thank the front-seater in the rear aircraft of the loose formation of two 72 Sqn Tucanos (didn’t have to use Google, because I know most of the Sqn markings used in the Royal Air Force at this time, though had I not known what a blue bar with a red boarder on the roundel stood for (along with the white arrowhead with a blue swift on it on the tail), I could have very easily looked it up on the internet) while in a very steep bank (wings almost vertical (again you will find all of the terms required via Google, if you bother to look)) who waved back to me while doing an inforced Adventure training (a big hazard of working in a Joint Service environment) hill walk on in the Lake District (general area of the main peak of Helvvellyn (exact location is important)) at around 12:00 on 11 Jun 2008 (as is timings, if you wish to find the information your looking for (Some spotter can then help you answer your question, attention to detail is most important). The only military aircraft I saw, bar a Leaping Heap miles away the same day in three days of hard walking, which I didn’t volunteer to do!!!

By the way, Ratman is leaving the armed forces for very vaild reasons, that are of his concern only.

[Culio]

You're not serious, are you?

You have no idea how idiotic it is to tell me how to write a thread, I'm not gonna be dictated by some old man telling me how to post on an internet board! You seriously need to get a life, sat on here telling people how to do things "properly".

Maybe we all don't want to follow your old-fashioned, boring ways of doing things? Times change, deal with it.

I don't CARE what time it was, fact is I didn't know the exact time, or EXACT location, because I was too busy helping a team member who had cut his arm, another member was navigating.

And for the LAST f***ing time, I'm not going to go onto google and "do some research" because I am not as sad as you, and I have a life.

Geez, some people..........:eek:

[TonkaEngO]

Albert Twatman & Mainjafad

What a pair of complete tossers - It is difficult enough to get keen youngsters into the Service without people like you making petty and uncalled for little digs - what's the matter? Tiny co*ks and feel inadequate?

[Flap62]

Mainjafad

I cannot believe you would say "this is how you do it " - and then proceed to make errors in spelling and grammar!!!!

What a complete and total spanker you are.

I stand by my original comment that anyone who makes a heartfelt post full of enthusiasm should be welcomed and not the target of purile abuse.
Culio please do not take these tosseurs as an example of military life - they could not be further from the norm!!

[angels]

Sorry, just interrupting to say that this thread is one of the reasons I love the Mil forum!

Culio, keep it up mate, wish I'd seen the flypast!

[spamcanner]

Here here to all the above. Go Culio!

[dallas]

Flaps,

It's always dangerous to criticise someone else's post with regard to spelling and grammar.

Sorry if I'm being puerile. :E

[Flap62]

You will notice that I made no attempt to set myself up as any kind of authority on the matter - that is the difference!!

[Focks 2]

Threw a very good history of a type being retired

You are allowed to say the 'J' word you know.