stalked whilst stalking.

Just thought I would share this little episode with you .
Having glassed four Roe in a field ,I decided to try and stalk along the hedge and get in a bit closer, There were two bucks in velvet and the does laying down about 150 m out into the field , as I was creeping across an open bit of ground ,keeping as low as possible , I heard a helicopter , not unusual in itself in this area.
Over the rise appeared two Apache's in all their glory ,after passing overheard they then turned back around and made several high speed passes whilst twisting and turning ,until the roe had decided they had seen enough and ran to cover ...cheers boys.

To be honest though I wasn't fussed about the deer as they will keep and its the first time I had even seen the Apache in the flesh , and boy are they dark and mysterious and also quite intimidating to have them buzzing around you . :eek:
 
Now that would have been fun to see Brough.
Where the Apaches loud.
Thats 80 million or so of our money there you know each (before armaments etc taken into consideration)
As you say worth missing out on the deer for today to see that.

atb for next time out f.
 
Over the rise appeared two Apache's in all their glory
And I thought the injuns had arrived, whoooooo whoooo:D
 
Ditto. I had the Dutch Air Force provide four as top cover for work in Iraq - they are indeed the dogs danglies.
 
I see a lot of Apache's around my land :rolleyes: but far more COWBOY'S with running dog's :doh:

Must have been a good sight, the only thing i see a lot is the police helicopter ;)

ATB
Wullie.
 
Salisbury plain isn't so far as the crow or Apache flies :rolleyes: I was describing the said aircraft to my 16 year old lad who as most lads of that age know absolutely everything about everything, said it was a longbow variant , oh ok said I and then he continued to say that the pod on top of the rotors was a radar and this was the longbow , I am quite impressed at this point so he continues , saying that only about one in four of the American Apache's are the long bow because as they are usually seen in numbers that it wasn't neccessary for them all to have this longbow radar apparently , however all of the British Apache's are the longbow type. With that he then walks off leaving me gob smacked ...perhaps Ive been wrong and he really does know every thing... or is it a wind up .:oops:

Since the episode I have had a quick google and they really are quite something,
 
A few months ago i was on the 194 heading home when 3 passed overhead, heading towards the coast. They beared left and seemed to follow the coast north.
Prob from Cattrick heading to Bulmer. First time i saw them very impressive.
 
Once had a Hercules fly up the glen below the side of the hill that I was stalking on, so low that I was actually looking down on it. Awesome sight but did nothing for my chance of a deer that morning.
 
The most impressive thing I saw was a trio of A10 Warthogs coming low down the valley towards me. 'Ugly but well hung' is a well coined phrase for them.
 
When I used to drive tractors in Lincolnshire in the late 80s erly 90s, the A10s used to use us for target practise, you would get them diving in at you then banking away they would line up another tractor or combine in another field! Awesome stuff. Though to seem them at their most awesome we used to sit on the sea bank at RAF Wainfleet and watch them use that smacking great gun on canvass targets set out on the marsh. You could hear the gun at my mum and dads 9 miles away! The only thing better used to be watching the tornados bombing targets at night, they would come steaming in low low low let the bomb go and pull straight up full throttle and afterburners glowing in the night sky! Many a happy hour spent watching that. Apaches are amazing aircraft Id love to see them guns live on the marsh!

I also saw the first Mig29 to come legitimatly into British airspace it crossed over the coast at Sandilands, Sutton on Sea 22 years ago (ish) on its way to display at Farnborough. Been a bit (well a lot) of a plane geek I identified it straight away then spent the next 24 hours convincing myself I had to be wrong!

A good day out can be had in Wales on the mach loop if you like to see jets flying underneath your view point.



I recommend 44 seconds and 2.45
 
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I used to see a lot of these flying around when I lived in Norfolk,ugly but you'd feel pretty safe in one..deadly too. The picture puts the gun in perspective.


"Each of those seven barrels is 112" long. That's almost ten feet. The entire gun is 19-1/2 feet long.

It doesn't eject the empty shells but runs them back into the storage drum. There's just so dang many flying out, they felt it might damage the aircraft."

Back to stalking now :)

fraser
 

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As a nipper I spent every summer with my Warrant Officer uncle and aunt at Waddington or other East Anglia bases where he was usually attached to Vulcan Squadrons.

The Vulcs were impressive enough, especially when they were running the engines up under test conditions with the aircraft chained down - kids would hang on the mesh fencing to see who could stand the noise the longest.

However, the highlights for me were always when a visiting Lightning came on base, as the departure usually meant a bit a show involving a full power take off and a quick rotation to vertical - all under full AB. Bit like this The Lighting's climb to altitude performace is still pretty remarkable even today - from brake release to 36,000ft in under 3 minutes!

Something to really make the hairs on your neck stand up hearing those twin RR Avons at full noise.
 
Cracking clip Orion.....Its amazing the way the could just stand them on thier tails and hit that alititude so fast
 
Cracking clip Orion.....Its amazing the way the could just stand them on thier tails and hit that alititude so fast

Ah, all is not as it seems. ;)

Some really good youtube clips on the Lightning doing the 'show' take-off but, surprisingly it wasn't the best method used to get to altitude fast and into the Russkie Bears. Here's the info:

The Lightning possessed a remarkable climb rate, and its time to reach an altitude, or time-to-climb, was exceptional. To achieve this short time-to-climb, Lightnings employed a particular climb profile, which was more shallow in angle compared to that demonstrated at air shows. The Lightning was famous for its ability to rapidly rotate at the end of the runway and climb almost vertically away, but although this near-vertical climb was impressive, it did not yield the best time to altitude, nor was it a demonstration of the ability to sustain a vertical climb. When Lightning pilots performed their trademark tail-stand, they were actually trading airspeed for altitude. The Lightnings would seemingly zoom “out of sight,” accelerating away, when in fact they would slow to near stall before pushing over into level flight. During the optimum time-to-climb profile, the maximum climb angle never exceeded 30 deg.


The Lightning’s optimum climb profile began with an afterburner takeoff. Immediately after takeoff, the landing gear would be retracted and the nose held down to allow rapid acceleration to 430 KIAS, then a climb initiated and stabilized at 450 KIAS. At this IAS, the climb rate would be constant at approximately 20,000 ft/min. The Lightning would reach Mach 0.87 at 13,000 ft.The pilot would then maintain Mach 0.87 until the tropopause, 36,000 ft. on a standard day. The climb rate would decrease during the constant-Mach portion of the profile.If further climb were required, the Lightning would accelerate to supersonic speed at the tropopause prior to resuming the climb at supersonic speed.


A Lightning flying its optimum climb profile would reach 36,000 ft less than 3 minutes after brake release.This was—and is—impressive performance. That the Lightning never reached the climb rates of some of its contemporaries during this profile was not important; that it reached altitude quickly, was.
 
My ex and I were living on Naval Air Facility El Centro in California for the last years of our marriage. This was an ordnance base, with loits of different aircraft coming in and out. The most impressive were the Cobra Gunship Helicopters. The poor guys and gals who flew them would have to hover at 50' in 126 F degree heat in 20 mph cross winds to expend all their fuel before landing. These folks were quite skilled.

Another skilled bunch was the US Navy Blue Angles exhibition flight team flying F-18's. Our base was their "winter" base and they would practice their routines twice a day for four months, culminating in an air show where aircraft of all descriptions would land (B-17's , B-25's, an pusher Northrop flying wing, etc) for public viewing and walk around. It was great.~Muir
 
I was flying back from Cyprus on a VC10 in 1988 when the Lightnings had just finished their final armaments camp there and were returning to the UK. Two aircraft joined us and came inboard of the VC10 wings and proceeded to circle round our wings. They then stood off and waggled their wings before shhoting off at full speed.

Stan
 
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