Wikiposts
Search
Aviation History and Nostalgia Whether working in aviation, retired, wannabee or just plain fascinated this forum welcomes all with a love of flight.

What On Earth?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 22nd Apr 2004, 21:57
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: LANCASHIRE
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What On Earth?

i was travelling along the m62 towards manchester from leeds near saddleworth mor this afternoon on my vintage motorbike. as i was in a valley i happened to glance to my left and upwards. flying over very low were 2 aircraft i have never seen before.i only got a 5 second glance or so and they dissapeared. they were grey in colour, 4 props and looked as though they were converted from 50/60 type airliners. i could not see any markings due to them being nearly overhead and trying to look at them and look where i was going.they were travelling south, they were not hercules, and possibly had some sort of fairing on top of the fin
i have no interest in airliners so do not know what it looked similar to.but from what i could see looked possibly like something from the dc or viscount era

sorry if i have rambled on but i am curious to know what they are, can you help?
bolmas is offline  
Old 23rd Apr 2004, 07:12
  #2 (permalink)  
Gnome de PPRuNe
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,651
Received 311 Likes on 173 Posts
Lockheed Orions perhaps...? Based on the Electra...

And while we're on the "whazzat?" subject:

Saw a high-wing vintage taildragger downwind for Biggin's R/W 21 last night - throttled back, sounded like a big engine though possibly a radial, from the glimpses I got through the trees it had a curved trialing edge... anyone see it, know what it was?

Cheers

treadders
treadigraph is offline  
Old 23rd Apr 2004, 09:03
  #3 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: LANCASHIRE
Posts: 41
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
i have looked up the orion and yes it is the same or very similar to what i saw. however, who would these two belong to? they were a mid grey colour similar to the grey we had on lightnings in the 80,s which makes me think they were military.

MANY THANKS
bolmas is offline  
Old 23rd Apr 2004, 10:44
  #4 (permalink)  
Gnome de PPRuNe
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,651
Received 311 Likes on 173 Posts
They would have been - US Navy, Dutch, Canadian nor Norwegian maybe...
treadigraph is offline  
Old 23rd Apr 2004, 14:37
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Bedfordshire
Age: 43
Posts: 302
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Treadders, are there not some antipodean Orions kicking about too?

(most likely US Navy though)
No comment is offline  
Old 23rd Apr 2004, 14:41
  #6 (permalink)  
Gnome de PPRuNe
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,651
Received 311 Likes on 173 Posts
I believe so - haven't the Spaniards got them also, and perhaps others? Admit it I must, I'm a bit out of touch on Modern Air Forces...

If these were mid-grey, sound like Norwegian or Dutch IIRC - long time since I visited Mildenhall or Fairford show... Mind you, aren't USN examples in low-viz mid grey now?
treadigraph is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.