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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
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
Comments
Hide the following 15 comments
picture
05.02.2006 16:00
cameraman
LOCKHEED TRANSPORT PLANES
05.02.2006 17:42
GRAHAM
website required
05.02.2006 18:15
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
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
RVR800
Why hide suggestion that these are British aircraft
05.02.2006 19:06
RVR800
Query
05.02.2006 19:07
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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