2 C-130 Hercules Lockheeds land Leeds Bradford

cameraman | 05.02.2006 15:50 | Anti-militarism

2 lockheed hercules Land Leeds Bradford today
(American milatary )

2 american "unmarked" grey Lockheed herculees transport planes have landed at Leeds Bradford airport and are on the tarmac NOW sunday afternoon, the first was spotted over kirkstall the second over leeds centre, are these awaiting the collection of prisoners from an american flight ?
these are very rare planes to been seen landing at any civillian airport, let alone 2 within 30 mins of each other, sorry about the pictures, but i only had my digicam with me

cameraman

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

picture

05.02.2006 16:00

cameraman

LOCKHEED TRANSPORT PLANES

05.02.2006 17:42

I WAS LOOKING OUT OF MY BEDROOM WINDOW IN EXETER EARLIER THIS WEEK AND I SAW A PLANE LIKE THIS ONE FLY OVER.IT WAS NOT ON THE USUAL FLIGHT PATH INTO EXETER AIRPORT.I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE OF IT(WHAT A SHAME).WHAT A DISGRACE THIS IS GOING ON.THE NEW WORLD ORDER IS NOW WITH US.

GRAHAM

website required

05.02.2006 18:15

Are they within view of the public ? Keep an eye on them if they are. Find someone with a good scanner and see if you can pickup any call-signs when they take off. You see a lot of them at Prestwick but that is also a military airport. Oh, and check the airport terminal - Eoin Dubsky and the Shannon protestors ran into a bunch of “Special Expeditionary Force” yanks in the public terminal when there were three C-130's there !

I'd guess two planes doesn't mean prisoners, one is big enough for that normally. Maybe they are just dropping off Afghan heroin like Air America always did, maybe its special forces.

It would be good to set up a website to keep track of all military aircraft movements over the UK.

Danny

Could be innocent diversions

05.02.2006 18:51

There could be something sinister about these movements, and the current climate certainly fuels suspicion that these are rendition movements; however I suspect these are innocent diversions.

The US Air Force has used UK civilian airports for positioning troops to Iraq, but there they had nothing to hide. The US is aware of opposition in Europe to the practise of extraordinary rendition, and rendition movements could take place far more discreetly and with greater security using an RAF base. How many plane spotters will now be watching these aircraft like hawks, hoping to see or photograph orange clad figures being loaded.

There has been some disruption to air traffic in the south due to the closure of Luton airport following a runway overrun. Could this movement be a result of that incident I wonder.

RVR800

Poor mans radar...

05.02.2006 19:01

Scanning is of course illegal, though that never stopped anyone. Receiving and decoding SRR/Mode S transponder responses would be more interesting - then you could completely automate the plane spotting. Of course you are relying on the transponder to accurately identify the aircraft. Not sure if it would be legal - it would depend on whether the SRR was considered wireless telegraphy. Case law on traffic radar detectors suggests not.

RVR800

Why hide suggestion that these are British aircraft

05.02.2006 19:06

Why has plane spotters suggestion that these are British aircraft on training flights been hidden?

RVR800

Query

05.02.2006 19:07

Danny,

In what way is Prestwick a military airport?

Used by the Yanks as a stop off for years, but by no means another Leuchers.....or else someone better tell Ryanair!

Amused

identification

05.02.2006 20:00

That is beyond any doubt an american airforce c130 with long range fuel tanks fitted and distinctive grey matt unmarked finish I agree it is highly unusual for such an aircraft to use a civillian airport never mind 2 of them in the same day, something must have blocked them from using the desired runway or something sinister must be on the cards here.
The last recorded usaf c130 to land at LBA was in 2002 and made an emergency landing when a crew member was taken ill.
I would hazard that they are waiting to collect from an incoming flight possible from europe and they may need to keep certain people seperated, once loaded they will return to the USA, usually at first light.
Watch the skies, gather evidence !

non

Decoding

05.02.2006 20:12

"Receiving and decoding SRR/Mode S transponder responses would be more interesting - then you could completely automate the plane spotting. Of course you are relying on the transponder to accurately identify the aircraft. Not sure if it would be legal"

Never mind that, would it be expensive ? Do you have links to suitable gear ?

Prestwick is a civilian airport that carries out a lot of military functions, more so than any other large Brtish civilian airport. Airtraffic control there is housed with military atc, on a different site, although not fully integrated and the RAF controllers probably don't earn the same.

If you are worrying about flying form there, worry about this instead - it is also where they test fly aircraft if they think they are liable to crash. I saw an Antanov there once, it seemed taller than the building but its wings drooped to the runway. I saw a sub coming out the nose of a Galaxy once but the Antanov was scarier.

At Shannon the paint was thin enough to see the previous markings, Canadian Airforce ( though they were yanks ).

Danny

Mode S SSR Decoding

05.02.2006 21:22

I saw something in use at an aerodrome (without primary radar) a while ago, but didn't ask what the equipment was. Google reveals the Kinetic Avionic SBS-1 receiver/decoder at around five hundred quid. It won't be qualified for safety critical roles but that dosn't matter here. Besides planespotting/investigative journalism it could be used to identify aircraft failing to observe noise restrictions, and when your lo cost flight goes technical maybe it could reveal if that is the truth, or if the aircraft has been diverted to serve a more profitable route. I wonder if a handfull of these located around the country could update a central database and allow anyone to query what is in the sky above them. Well what claims to be in the sky above them anyway.

It might also be possible to obtain aircraft movement information under the Freedom of Information Act. Aerodromes are required to keep records, radar tapes and RT recordings for the periods specified by law (in the Air Navigation Order I think).

SSR is an open specification so there is nothing preventing a home built receiver, but your electronic skills need to be pretty good at these frequencies.

There's also the possibility of passive radar. I know of an American radio amateur whos working on this who has had some success. He gave a presentation at a meeting I attended in December - I'll have to re-read it.

I can't see Ofcom licencing you to run your own primary radar for planespotting purposes though.

RVR800

Roundels ?

05.02.2006 22:09

Ta much RVR800, very informative & useful.

Cameraman, your photos are from underneath and seem dark - did you get a look at the sides of the aircraft ? If not any chance of nipping back in daylight ?

"They are not unmarked, the RAF roundel is on both sides and the grey paint is also the standard." -deleted

Danny

Identification

05.02.2006 23:09

I do not agree with 'non' that there is no doubt about that these are US aircraft. These are Lockheed Martin C130K transport aircraft (note the four bladed props - the later 'J' model has six bladed props) fitted with additional fuel tanks mounted on underwing pylons. The Royal Air Force uses these aircraft in this configuration. The photographs show underside and no markings are visible. The grey colour scheme (viewed against a grey sky) is not unique to the US Air Force - see

http://www.lyneham.raf.mod.uk/html/hercules/kmodel.htm.

Observations or photographs of the sides and markings of these aircraft are required to accurately determine whose they are.

RVR800

Danny....

07.02.2006 22:24

Danny,

Okay, I know Prestwick airport well. In fact, my 4 year old daughter's idea of a good day out is standing opposite the maint terminal watching the Ryanair, BMI baby, and transport 747s take off. There's HMS Gannet, a helicopter anti-sub and air-sea rescue base nearby.

So where are the RAF controllers, and what do you base the suggestions of extensive military use on?

Amused

She wore blue stockings, bluer than stockings was the night ...

08.02.2006 04:00

>In fact, my 4 year old daughter's idea of a good day out is standing opposite the maint terminal watching the Ryanair, BMI baby, and transport 747s take off.

Then you are raising her better than all the four year olds whose idea of a good day out is McDonalds. By the time she is my age planes will be rarer than dodos. I guess you are a casual visitor though or don't visit other civilian airports because there really is a wider variety of military aircraft there, much more so than other civilian terminals. Not that its that important.

>So where are the RAF controllers,

Prestwick ATC isn't far away. Instead of looking at the planes, turn around and watch the traffic. Have a look at the cars at shift change (normal hours) and you'll see more than a few RAF unifoms.

> and what do you base the suggestions of extensive military use on?
I don't know if I would go as far as to call it extensive, substantial is a better word. I used to work there. You want a state secret to substantiate my claim ? Female RAF ATC uniforms come in blue stockings and suspenders. I really 'worked' there.

Okay, I lie, I never even got a sniff of a RAF ATC, but the rest is true. Here is something everyone who has worked at an ATC knows - there are way more near-air collisions every than the public ever get to hear about.

Danny

Tin foil hats on chaps.

13.11.2006 00:46

Or maybe they are just transport C-130s, most (and British) US C-130s are plain grey these days.

Long range fuel tanks - these external tanks are pretty well a standard fit on any C-130.

What does this amount to? A couple of C-130s, whose ownership you cant tell us landed at an airport for some reason that you actually have no evidence for or knowledge of. Jeez, talk about the tin foil hat brigade

Lurker