Seen Over Your House Today

[Old Wombat]

After doing some asking around to people in the know it turns out that the Dragon Rapide was restored and is based only about 50km away so I will likely see it again.

Also the Stampe Sv4 that I seen a couple of weeks ago is also at the same airstrip for a while, maybe permanently.

You still in the Mount, Brad?

If so, that means it's within the circle roughly bound by Millicent, Penola, Casterton, Merino (maybe, 60km) & Dartmoor.

[Flyer]

Yes I is, and Nelson is where the airstrip is. 50km was a very rough estimate of mine, I don't actually know how far away it is except it's relatively close...

[Captain Canada]

I Keep hearing USAF H model Hercs with their new props, but it's always cloudy. Very distinct souns !

[Old Wombat]

Yes I is, and Nelson is where the airstrip is. 50km was a very rough estimate of mine, I don't actually know how far away it is except it's relatively close...

About 48km by road & 30km by plane.

[rickshaw]

A couple of mornings ago, I watch these contrails coming from the east. Three of them in formation.
This morning right now, they're back --- only there's four of them this time, on the same track too.

The first three I could see the sun glinting off the aircraft, but not this morning. They're much too high to identify too.

Chem-trails, I tell you!  Chem-trails to control your mind!    

[Flyer]

Yes I is, and Nelson is where the airstrip is. 50km was a very rough estimate of mine, I don't actually know how far away it is except it's relatively close...

About 48km by road & 30km by plane.

Rather good guesstimate then!

BTW the Dragon Rapide's rego is VH-AON and it had it's restoration completed in 2019.

[AeroplaneDriver]

From last Sunday...sitting in the back room watching football I heard a very distinctive wokka-wokka....told SWMBO "That is a Chinook!"

Looks like an MH-47, guessing out of Ft Bragg. 

[Leading Observer]

I tracked G-EVMK, the DHC-2 Beaver that regularly rumbles over my house, as it flew back from Duxford yesterday, to discover it landed at Grove, near Leighton Buzzard, at which point it dawned on me that when I was commuting from Stotfold to Aylesbury about 20 years ago, my route took right past the end of where the private airstrip now is!

[perttime]

Nine whooper swans in a neat formation.
I suppose they are picking their way further south.

[zenrat]

Car crash out on The Nepean thisarvo.  Must have been a bad one as when Charlie the Wonder Dog and I got to the footy oval at the end of the road there were two ambulances, a paramedic car, a cop car, and this...

20221025_180942 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[UberDave]

I'm retired from Robins ALC in Georgia where I worked on C-5 and C-17 aircraft for over 20 years. At Robins there was what I called "the daily air show." We had GA Air Guard B-1Bs from about 2000 until 2005 when they were retired in favor of the the E-8C Joint Stars. J-stars birds have a coolness factor of its own, being as how they appear like early jetliners from the 60's, but they're nowhere near as exciting as the Bones were. They would always launch in pairs, if they launched from the near end of the runway, it was more comical than exciting, they seemed to trundle along in slow motion with a deafening roar, as the noise subsided, you'd hear every car alarm within 5 miles going off. In the distance, you'd see the leader cut off the after burners and bank to the left, the number two guy would turn early and stay in A/B and cut the corner to catch up. Launching from the far end of the runway was a different story. One day I was working outside in a drizzle with low overhanging clouds, a pair of Bones had launched on the other end of the runway and the second guy cut the corner into the murk almost directly overhead and so close it seemed you could reach out and touch it. The pilot was banking hard and that fog that comes from pulling Gs enveloped the plane just as it entered the soup, coolness factor 10+. One day I was working in the hangar early one morning and the sun was beaming in through the open hangar doors, I heard the sound of round engines and caught the unmistakable silhouette  of a B-17, it turned out the airplane used in the B-17 from the 1990 movie "Memphis Belle" had shown up for ceremony to dub one of our B-1s Memphis Belle II, I skipped lunch to scope it out. It was a sad day for me when they decided to send our B-1s to the boneyard (no pun intended) but I did benefit from it. I was sent out on a parts finding mission in a little electric truck and wound up about as close to the runway as I could get without riding down the taxiway, I could feel it before I heard it, they say the speed of sound at sea level is 714 miles per hour, I turned and looked and saw a B-1 flash by lower than it would sit on its landing gear, in full A/B, it must have been going 713.5 MPH! What a show. There was always C-130s, F-15s C-5s C-17s and the like tooling around, but nothing topped that. The only thing that came close was when a C-5 zoomed by in similar fashion at an air show here, going about as fast as a C-5 can go. Since I've retired I don't get to see things so close up anymore, but, if I can get a shot of something cool, I'll post it...

[reddfoxx]

Excellent stories!  My near-sonic moment was in the mid-'70s as a kid, in our car pulling into the Toledo or Dayton airshow and seeing an F-101 streak up silently, then- WHOOM!  He had to be right near the edge.

[Captain Canada]

From last Sunday...sitting in the back room watching football I heard a very distinctive wokka-wokka....told SWMBO "That is a Chinook!"

Nice ! Love that machine. It's good to have aeroplane ears eh ?

[Pellson]

Last Thursday, it was 70 years to the day since the first flight of the SAAB 32 Lansen. To celebrate, the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight flew a two ship formation around the bases and airfield having had Lansens on active service through the years. While I was aware of the occasion, events and previous planning prevented me from driving to a vantage point on the estimated track, but by sheer luck, I heard a nowadays seldom heard but oh so familiar rumble, and lo and behold - I caught a good glimpse, if two miles out. By sheer luck, they had deviated ten miles or so from the point to point route, placing them in my vicinity.

Nice flashback indeed. Back in the day, I easily could recognise Lansens as well as Drakens and Viggen just by noise.

Btw - in general, spotting military aircraft was more fun in the old days when
a) there were multiple different types of fighters in service simultaneously, and
b) there was a base every 200th mile, meaning you could count on spotting something every day, and
c) not everything was boring grey!

Those were the days.. 

[PR19_Kit]

Wow, I didn't realise there were TWO Lansens still flying! That must have been a terrific moment for you.