V22 in Mlitary formation past Stansted
 

Spotted at approx 14h45 LT: two Police helo's, two large Sikorsky type helo's (CH53's?) and a V22 in formation passing Stansted Airport/ Bishops Stortford heading approx Southwestwards. The V22 in "slow cruise" with rotors half tilted. Looked like a US Military formation under escort?

Any info?

I believe the President of the USA is due to drop in on us imminently. Was it that?

Yep - it's for the president - never seen so many helicopters around LHR before. I expected a landing at standsted but something big went into LHR and judging the amount of helicopters I'm guessing it was AF1

The two V22's flew over Saffron Walden in "full speed ahead" mode. Nice to see and hear.

DH

I'm not sure what you mean by "something big".

Obama's VC-25 is a 747, it's no bigger than any of the couple of dozen 747s that you may have seen landing at LHR today.

The helos (VH-3, VH-60) normally precede POTUS's arrival by a day or so.

They turned up around Northolt a bit later - I assume on one of the London helicopter routes. There were three V-22s. Apparently, they are for the President's staff, the press and the Secret Service.

Also spotted were other 2 helicopters - I think the VH-3D Sea Kings that the President travels in.

Two VH-3Ds and three MV-22Bs from Marine Helicopter Squadron One have been at RAF Mildenhall for the last few days...

Saw of these flying around over London today, awesome aircraft!

What's even more amazing is that the MV-22s were towed all the way across the Atlantic by three Marine KC-130s.

Meanwhile, a pair of C-5s brought most of the ground-based paraphenalia into Mildenhall. That's 200 tonnes of stuff.

There truly is no expense spared for the excursions of the not-a-king of the country-without-classes.

The Osprey isn't air-transportable, so other than sticking them on a boat there wasn't a lot of choice.

Saw the Obamatrain leave the station this morning, whilst supporting the runners in the London Marathon near Canary Wharf, and as mentioned the V-22's look and sound very impressive and despite having been in a couple of them, they look SO much bigger than the SeaKings and accompanying Police EC145's.


SHJ

Lift off from RAF Mildenhall
 

And here is the President's helo group as it left Mildenhall on that day.