small deltawing a/c
 

Have asked this question else where on forum, but someone here might known.

Was in Skegness on Friday 18th March lunchtime. Saw aircraft thought it was the usual Tornado, but it had a small delta wing with stubby nose, looked like a flying shuttlecock in outline. Several thousand feet up up it headed out to sea did a couple of s turns then back to the west. Its engine? whistled rather than the usual roar. It was too manouvrable to be a Vulcan.

Reminded me of fifties type jet from DH or Bristol, or even a NASA flying body.

What is it?

My thought was possibly a Mirage 2000 using Waddington as a base for the BAe ACMI area over the North Sea. I couldn't establish if there currently any there at this moment however.

DH110 Sea Vixen ?

Beech Starship :ok:

Thought today could be Douglas Skyhawk..but in UK airspace?

Having looked at a few pics the only aircraft that comes anywhere near is the Vulcan bomber..is there one flying again?

Talking of Skyhawks, have Flight Systems or FR ever operated them here?

BigEndBob,

Methinks you saw a Typhoon.

Typhoon is the logical answer, particularly in Skeggy...

Nose is too pointed on Typhoon, same as Tornado they are shaped like the point of a pencil.

Closest looking aircraft Gloster Javelin.

Fiver says it was a Typhoon. If at altitude, you may not have noticed the gap twixt canard and wing giving the appearance of a rather more blunt nosed delta.

Tenner says it wasn't a Jav, for one simple reason. None left flying...

BAE use a sky hawk in Germany for target towing or some similar role. Maybe they popped over for the day!!

The whistling engine sound certainly points towards the A4 Skyhawk.

Conan is correct, there are no flying Gloster Javelins.

Some things belong dead, and the Javelin is one of them IMHO.

If you saw a Javelin I'm deeply envious. Maybe Lord Lucan was at the controls :D

Has the Mirage 2000 been eliminated from the enquiry?

edit: Would a Sukhoi have any business being in Skegness?

edit: Re-reading the thread makes me think a Mirage 2000 could be on the cards as a previous poster suggested.

I am begining to think it was something simple like a Hawk.
The sound, speed and manouverability would match a Hawk. Tried to get digital pic on my zoom camera, was able to track it but camera took a long time to focus and locked on out of focus.
I have 9000 hrs flying and have seen close up Tornados, Hawks, etc, and can usually quickly recognise what i have just had a near miss with! But this a/c still bit of a mystery.
Thats what prompted me to put forward question.

Just looked at pics of Mirage 2000, could be match.

If it whistled then it wasnt a Mirage 2000, they fly over here all the time and they definitely roar (only one big F-off engine!) - whatever the altitude!! (favorite trick is to blast through the overhead of my local aeroclub at 1000-1500ft when cutting the corner between the two restricted areas close by...)

AlfaJet ?

Even the RAF have some Alfajets.....

Regards, SD..

PS. for those thinking "Skyhawk, where from?" There used to be Skyhawks based at Cazeaux, just down the road from here, the first few times I definitely ID'ed them as such I thought I was going nuts too...not sure if they are still there as I havent seen them for a while.