It has been a glorious day here with blue skies, warm sun and good visibility. This morning at around 11:30am I heard a collection of sounds that made me look up and I saw a Hercules (C130) with two helicopters in loose formation behind....too high up to I.D. the Helos but we are only 15 air miles from Westlands and often have Merlins going over with the occasional Apache....the rest are usually Sea Kings and Lynx's from Yeolilton.
The reason I am writing this is because 10 minutes later, they appeared again only this time the Herc had two trailing drogues out with one Helo looking as if it was connected with the 2nd one formating on the other drogue. We are located on the South Coast (Bridport) with the sea only 1 mile away and I reckon these aircraft were well over the sea at an estimated height of around 5000ft travelling West.
Can anyone throw any light on what was possibly going on here?.....presumably the C130 was not RAF but I am only guessing as I thought RAF refueling was VC10 etc and usually at great heights over the North Sea.
NAVW: Q)EGTT/QWFLW/IV/M/AW/000/040/5038N00253W022
FROM 08/02/11 09:00 TO 08/02/22 16:30 H0278/08
D)0900-1630 EXC 16-17 FEB.
E)AIR TO AIR REFUELLING TRIAL WI AREA BOUNDED BY THE FOLLOWING
COORDINATES 5050N 00223W, 5042N 00218W, 5028N 00323W, 5035N 00328W
AUS 08-02-0190/325/AS6
F)SFC G)4000FT AMSL
Sounds like this, I'm guessing it's Merlins as they're the only UK helo with an AAR probe. VC10s are too fast to refuel helicopters, and you're never going to get rotary above 10000 feet anyway.
As I remember the original idea was to use Hercs to refuel the Merlins, then the RAF got rid of the delivery capability which had mostly been used in the Falklands. So by the time the Merlin Mk.3 came into service there weren't any suitable tankers!
Thanks for that info 'Skippybing'....will keep the Binoculars handy in case they come around again in the next few days....be nice to I.D. the C130 as to whether it is RAF or USAF etc. Also will get a better look at the Helo's too.
As Tonks has pointed out.....rather them than me (especially after seeing that short film ... :o
I Know that Marshalls of Cambridge had two Hercules re-fuellers when I was there in 2000, and as far as I can remember they were RAF, but Im not sure if they were in use even then?
It might have been one of them, they were painted in standard olive and brown camoflage colours and were just like a normal hercules, but obviously with probes.
Also saw a testbed herc for the C-130J Engine and some in the process of being lengthened, interesting trip!
This might help to shed more light onto the situation?
Apparently the AAR probe/rotor disc clash is more common than you'd think, still must be pretty exciting for those involved!
Personally my bladder endurance matches that of the Lynx perfectly so I'm glad we're not thinking of tarting around with AAR.
They may have been using the AFSOC MC-130Ps that are at Mildenhall which are used to refuel the USAFE HH-60s and AFSOC MH-53s that are based at Lakenheath and Mildenhall respectively.
The USAF and USMC have gotten quite good at HIFR (Helicopter In-Flight Refueling) but it's used more for extending on-station time than range.
[quote="Bridon Bear"]It has been a glorious day here with blue skies, warm sun and good visibility. This morning at around 11:30am I heard a collection of sounds that made me look up and I saw a Hercules (C130) with two helicopters in loose formation behind....too high up to I.D. the Helos but we are only 15 air miles from Westlands and often have Merlins going over with the occasional Apache....the rest are usually Sea Kings and Lynx's from Yeolilton.
Can anyone throw any light on what was possibly going on here?.....presumably the C130 was not RAF but I am only guessing as I thought RAF refueling was VC10 etc and usually at great heights over the North Sea.
Intrigued...
Hi,
You can subscribe to http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/login.jsp and select the Narrow route NOTAM brief option. Choose a 28 day expiry date and fly between two or more NAV beacons covering your location. This will give you NOTAMS covering your area.
For example. I live in Bournemouth and want info for the south coast. I would select the narrow route brief option and in the Route box, type DCT BIA DCT YVL DCT SAM. This will give me NOTAMS for mostof the south coast including your flight refuelling missions + kite flying over Blandford Forum!
Well many thanks to all for your inputs on this thread.....I will pop in to the Notams site as Jason mentions...sounds interesting....also thanks to you Pringle the ID of the Herc has been solved...will keep my eyes peeled for other sightings in the coming days.
You watch...I will be ready to spot 'em with the trusty Binos and the weather will clamp down right on cue no doubt.... :@
