Hi all. A bit of an oddball.....
We went walking at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge today. Lots of helicopter noise as we walked across the fields. Eventually, just like in the
standard war movie, a helicopter slowly rose above the treeline and
headed towards us, at maybe about 100ft or less. Fortunately without
guns ablaze. It flew off at low height behind the trees and was audible
for a considerable time.
But as it passed, I looked for any markings. None whatsoever. Neither
civil nor RAF. It was just a plain dark matt khaki green all over. I'm
no chopper expert, so no clue what it might have been; looked like a
very chunky 2-seater with some big engines. Wimpole staff were also
puzzled as they'd seen it too.
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this not so?
On 24/04/2024 19:28, Mike Scott wrote:
Hi all. A bit of an oddball.....
We went walking at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge today. Lots of helicopter
noise as we walked across the fields. Eventually, just like in the
standard war movie, a helicopter slowly rose above the treeline and
headed towards us, at maybe about 100ft or less. Fortunately without
guns ablaze. It flew off at low height behind the trees and was audible
for a considerable time.
But as it passed, I looked for any markings. None whatsoever. Neither
civil nor RAF. It was just a plain dark matt khaki green all over. I'm
no chopper expert, so no clue what it might have been; looked like a
very chunky 2-seater with some big engines. Wimpole staff were also
puzzled as they'd seen it too.
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this not so?
There are exemptions granted, upon application to the CAA, for film work
and for aircraft in historically accurate liveries.
Hi all. A bit of an oddball.....
We went walking at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge today. Lots of
helicopter noise as we walked across the fields. Eventually, just like
in the standard war movie, a helicopter slowly rose above the treeline
and headed towards us, at maybe about 100ft or less. Fortunately
without guns ablaze. It flew off at low height behind the trees and
was audible for a considerable time.
But as it passed, I looked for any markings. None whatsoever. Neither
civil nor RAF. It was just a plain dark matt khaki green all over. I'm
no chopper expert, so no clue what it might have been; looked like a
very chunky 2-seater with some big engines. Wimpole staff were also
puzzled as they'd seen it too.
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this not so?
Mike Scott wrote:
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this
not so?
There are exemptions granted, upon application to the CAA, for film work
and for aircraft in historically accurate liveries.
Hi all. A bit of an oddball.....
We went walking at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge today. Lots of
helicopter noise as we walked across the fields. Eventually, just like
in the standard war movie, a helicopter slowly rose above the treeline
and headed towards us, at maybe about 100ft or less. Fortunately
without guns ablaze. It flew off at low height behind the trees and
was audible for a considerable time.
But as it passed, I looked for any markings. None whatsoever. Neither
civil nor RAF. It was just a plain dark matt khaki green all over. I'm
no chopper expert, so no clue what it might have been; looked like a
very chunky 2-seater with some big engines. Wimpole staff were also
puzzled as they'd seen it too.
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this not so?
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
The building is shown on a 1902 OS map at TL 320 502.
https://www.flightradar24.com/2024-04-24/12:34/4x/AAC311/34e92e16
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattisham_Flying_Station
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18.9&lat=52.13521&lon=-0.07244&layers=168&right=osm
On Wed, 24 Apr 2024 19:51:28 +0100, Colin Bignell <cpb@bignellREMOVETHIS.me.uk> wrote:
On 24/04/2024 19:28, Mike Scott wrote:
Hi all. A bit of an oddball.....There are exemptions granted, upon application to the CAA, for film work
We went walking at Wimpole Hall near Cambridge today. Lots of helicopter >>> noise as we walked across the fields. Eventually, just like in the
standard war movie, a helicopter slowly rose above the treeline and
headed towards us, at maybe about 100ft or less. Fortunately without
guns ablaze. It flew off at low height behind the trees and was audible
for a considerable time.
But as it passed, I looked for any markings. None whatsoever. Neither
civil nor RAF. It was just a plain dark matt khaki green all over. I'm
no chopper expert, so no clue what it might have been; looked like a
very chunky 2-seater with some big engines. Wimpole staff were also
puzzled as they'd seen it too.
I thought all aircraft had to have some sort of ID visible. Is this not so? >>
and for aircraft in historically accurate liveries.
Wimpole Hall has been used as a filming location in the past. It's
advertised as a filming location on the National Trust website. And "just like in the standard war movie" does possibly suggest precisely such a scenario :-)
Mark
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
"Alan J. Wylie" <alan@wylie.me.uk> writes:
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
P.S.
The building is 5km or so north of Bassingbourn Barracks, previously
the home of the Army Training Regiment, now the Mission Ready Training
Centre (MRTC), a unit responsible for training troops for operations
abroad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassingbourn_Barracks
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
The building is shown on a 1902 OS map at TL 320 502.
Alan J. Wylie <alan@wylie.me.uk> wrote:
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches
your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
The building is shown on a 1902 OS map at TL 320 502.
That's the abode of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Blundell
On 25/04/2024 08:36, Alan J. Wylie wrote:
"Alan J. Wylie" <alan@wylie.me.uk> writes:
Flightradar 24 shows an Army Air Corps Apache AH-64E in the vicinity at
about 12:30. No markings in the photo on the website, the colour matches >>> your description. It seems to have taken off from an expensive villa
style house north of Croyden Road between Croyden and Arrington and
headed to Wattisham Flying Station.
P.S.
The building is 5km or so north of Bassingbourn Barracks, previously
the home of the Army Training Regiment, now the Mission Ready Training
Centre (MRTC), a unit responsible for training troops for operations
abroad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassingbourn_Barracks
I don't think it came from there. I had a look on flightradar, and it
seems it came from Wattisham, there's a discontinuity when it reaches
Croydon Road, then it messes around Wimpole and heads back to Wattisham
and circles for a while, with another discontinuity in the track
recording. Maybe it landed? Or maybe they turned off the tracking
equipment?
Anyway, the mystery seems solved; we had a better view than anything at
an airshow :-}
Again, thanks for the input.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 300 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 39:13:03 |
| Calls: | 6,708 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 12,241 |
| Messages: | 5,353,639 |