Pembrey Range

[SteveS]

I'm in Tenby next week, how busy does Pembury Range get at present?

The only other choice is St Athan, and I can't imagine much going on there.

Steve

[Blackcat1]

Hi there

Pembrey is hit and miss, mostly Valley Hawks use it but saying that the last couple of months have seen its fair share of F15Es/Harrier's/Tornado GR4s and even Typhoons visit! Freqs are 264.725 and 241.55

St Athan is even more hit and miss, since they dont service the frontline jets anymore and dont get detachments of Hawks that use Pembrey, its mostly quiet, helo's seem to use it a lot and of course the odd C130 carrying out approaches and also the occasional VC10 having an air test. As with most things in this hobby everything is hit and miss. If you are in Tenby check out the MOD website for info on exercises at Casletmartin/Manoriber, as they arent too far from you.

Visit
http://www.raf.mod.uk/crowales/

And check the links for exercise and ops

Cheers and good luck

[SteveS]

Chris - Thanks for that, I think I remember you talking about it once at Brize?

Blackcat - The only link in Exercise and Ops is for Joint Warrior and that's mainly low-flying confined to Scotland I think. Thanks for the tip off on St Athan. What would roughly be the average number of a/c using Pembrey Range in a day?

Anyone got a link to a viewing guide for Pembrey or Castlemartin?

[apgphoto]

Castlemartin has its own viewing area grid ref SR 927 977 which is the main watch tower where you get good views over the whole range

[Blackcat1]

I was visiting Kidwelly castle with my girlfriend last time i was down at Pembrey, great views of the range from the top of the castle lol although the wind was atrocious and heavy showers so suffice to say i didnt see anything lol but a normal day with the usual Hawk movements can see about 8-10 flights depends on what part of the course 19 Sqdn are on, when the weather is bad on the east coast the frontliners seem to head down to (sometimes) Sunny Pembrey.

At the bottom of the MOD site there is this link

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/About ... Events.htm

Nothing on there at the mo re Castlemartin, but Pembrokeshire its a lovely area to visit and you may got a couple of helos using Castlemartin/Manorbier or maybe a couple of jets carrying out CAS without it being NOTAMED.

Enjoy, hope the weather is goods for you

[SteveS]

What's the score for photography there, a lot of the vids I've seen at Pembrey have aircraft making quite high approaches and staying high, around 2000ft in most vids.

Do they all approach high, or is much in the range of a 300mm?

Steve

[SteveS]

Anybody?

[Blackcat1]

Hi there

It depends some attacks are made at 250-500 feet but some between 5000-6000 feet, the strafe runs are normally made between 100-250 feet, its a quiet range though compared to the east coast, helo's also use the range using their mini guns and side guns, C130s also use the beach for landings usually getting crews destined for Afghanistan some practice on the sand. Its hit and miss, big exercises a few years ago used the range a lot, iv'e seen everything from Hawks to Mirage 2000S/Super Etendards (during exercises) even Dutch/Belgian F16s

Enjoy your holiday, Pembrey or the pub?? id choose the pub but if you are near leave your scanner on and get a headset so you can listen out for range acitivity.

Cheers

[SteveS]

Thanks Blackcat,

Going to pop down tomorrow, see what I can see.

As for St Athan, did it Monday, only caught one VC-10 airtesting

Steve

[Figure8]

Hello Steve

Only just saw your post, i'm a regular visitor to Pembrey but as Blackat says its often hit and miss.

I usually see Hawks and you can get very close if you take the 4 mile hike down the beach to the range perimeter. The Hawks usually do straffing runs and stay high, but if they are using the bomb targets then they come very low along the beach, so as long as the sun is not too bright, you can get decent shots. If the tide is out you can shoot away from the sun. If you have a bike its well worth either riding it down the beach or there is a parallel path about 200 yards from the beach and through the trees.

I have found that most slots occur on the half hour and 10.30 seems a popular morning one. If you don't want to get that close you can see the targets from the Kidwelly to Ferryside road, there's a farm gate about 200 yards on the left after the turnoff for the holiday village and near the turn to Llansaint.

Hope this helps, n.b. Fridays the range is pretty dead and you raely see anything after midday.

[Longbow]

Small vid of Tornadoes on Pembrey range

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mnJPxwb2KI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;