Identify this aircraft?
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Join Date: Apr 1999
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Identify this aircraft?
The BBC are running a story about a mysterious aircraft flying over the Wem/Sleap area of Shropshire.
Here's the photo they put up...

I'm pretty certain that's a Britten-Norman Islander - any info from the locals?
Here's the photo they put up...

I'm pretty certain that's a Britten-Norman Islander - any info from the locals?
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I thought of the Verhees Delta too, but as I remember its trailing edge is less straight, and curves in rather than slightly out as pictured.
(nb for those confused with its F-P registration: the designer is Belgian, and the plane is based in Belgium - but the French experimental register is slightly less hard to access than the Belgian counterpart. Many Belgian experimentals/homebuilts have F-Pxxx registrations.)
(nb for those confused with its F-P registration: the designer is Belgian, and the plane is based in Belgium - but the French experimental register is slightly less hard to access than the Belgian counterpart. Many Belgian experimentals/homebuilts have F-Pxxx registrations.)
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That's not the right trailing edge shape for the Taranis. And it's not a VariEze either, as the Sleap airfield spokesperson suggests in the BBC piece. But if it's near Sleap/Wem then the chances of neither Sleap nor Shawbury knowing are very slim. It's inside the Shawbury MATZ so highly likely to have been talking to them.
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Thanks 'PK as I said I know what the tin triangle is but was wondering why you would use something as unsophisticated as a straight wing type as chase plane. Maybe all the Shropshire aero club members have been sworn to secrecy?
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Somebody tried to photograph a model aircraft. There was a moth on the lens. Photo actually taken near Loch Ness. Photo quality degraded due to passage through digestive system of large amphibian. Photographer missing. Possible alien abduction.
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Could be another UAV?
A bit of a longshot, but it could be another UAV such as the BAE Kingfisher, if they were doing trials into swarming or close formation flying (e.g. for in-flight refuelling feasability trials).
BAE Kingfisher. Specifications. A photo.

Otherwise it could be a derivative of the BAe Stabileye UAV from the 1980s.
BAE Kingfisher. Specifications. A photo.

Otherwise it could be a derivative of the BAe Stabileye UAV from the 1980s.
