FighterControl

Arrival of this years RNAF 'TAC Blaze' deployment at Carlisle airport on 21/02/19

S-456 AS532 'Wildcat 01'
S-444 AS532 'NAF 02' - Arrived 22/02/19

D-101 CH47D 'Grizzly 1'
D-664 CH47D 'Grizzly 2'
D-667 CH47D 'Grizzly 3'

Q-05 AH64 'Redskin 01'
Q-14 AH64 'Redskin 03'
Q-09 AH64 'Redskin 02' All based for next 3 weeks.

Sorties into Spadeadam range normally twice daily ( 09:30 Dep in morning weather dependent )
In the past Kirkbride airfield has also been used.

Geoff Mackay
Carlisle

Thanks Geoff. It's been a while since the Dutch have been over, so it will be nice to get some military action in our local area, and hopefully catch up with a few of the regulars. Here's hoping for blue skies and some gorge action.

Im heading for the Gorge on Thursday. Hopefully might see something. In the past the Dutch have been very 'considerate' to us spotters.
Hope to see everyone over next 2 weeks.

Geoff

Thanks for starting the thread Geoff, I'll be up all day Tue + Wed & will probably get up to the Airport a few times after work while the Ex is on .
If I see or hear anything I'll post it here or get in touch .

Stewart .

geoffmackay wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:30 am

Im heading for the Gorge on Thursday. Hopefully might see something. In the past the Dutch have been very 'considerate' to us spotters.
Hope to see everyone over next 2 weeks.

Geoff

Do you just walk acoss the footpath from the parking just after the cattle grid? I notice the footpath says its usable even when the red flags are up but ive always been a bit wary. I tried to get round from the other side of the river but its a hell of a walk.

Follow the road as if you were going to Wiley Syke. Just after the first cattle grid ( its on a slight downhill and bend to left ) you will see an area big enough for about 5 cars. You will also see a wooden sign pointing to the Gorge. Follow the well trodden path ( the walk takes about 15-20 mins ). You will see a brand new fence which was just erected late last year. It has some crossing points on it. Beware very steep drops and bank can be slippery. Eventually yo will hear the waterfall and just make towards it. Again the track is only wide enough for one person at a time so please be very careful. Eventually you will come to a small grassed area with some old campfires on it. The waterfall will be to your left, a beautiful site. Looks even better when the Apaches come up the river.
Hope you have some luck, Im going up on Thursday.

Re Cougars, two noted today were S-444 and S-456. S-444 came over a day later than the rest going by reports elsewhere on here, so possibly S-453 has gone home. S-444 was having work done on it today and didn't fly.

geoffmackay wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:21 pm

Follow the road as if you were going to Wiley Syke. Just after the first cattle grid ( its on a slight downhill and bend to left ) you will see an area big enough for about 5 cars. You will also see a wooden sign pointing to the Gorge. Follow the well trodden path ( the walk takes about 15-20 mins ). You will see a brand new fence which was just erected late last year. It has some crossing points on it. Beware very steep drops and bank can be slippery. Eventually yo will hear the waterfall and just make towards it. Again the track is only wide enough for one person at a time so please be very careful. Eventually you will come to a small grassed area with some old campfires on it. The waterfall will be to your left, a beautiful site. Looks even better when the Apaches come up the river.
Hope you have some luck, Im going up on Thursday.

Thanks Geoff. I went over there on sunday and I know where you mean. I hope you get lucky with some shots. Im there myself on thursday, so I might get to thank you in perosn for the info. Lets hope it works out.

<<so possibly S-453 has gone home>>

Geoff,
Mode S reports show it has not left Holland. Maybe they are incorrect. Did you actually eyeball the serial?
14.00-16.00 Tuesday could be interesting at Spade.
P.

Apologies all, S-456 & S-444 are Cougars.

S-444 arrived on 22/02 as NAF02


Well spotted!

Geoff

S-453 has been reported numerous times as being present, but I'm 99% certain it never left the mainland, which shows the importance of NOT relying 100% on Mode-S logs which clearly aren't always correct!

Stuart,
Whilst you are very correct in what you say, I think the error this time was not a Mode S log error (if there is an error) but copies of an initial incorrect eyeball report.

Arrived at 10.30 to find it very quiet with only the APU running on what turned out to be Grizzly 2 , at 13.23 pm Wildcat 3 with 3 POB requested start up followed by Grizzly 2 with 7 pob then Grizzly 1, they would have dep for Spade by 13.45 but the range was closed until 14.00 & nobody would answer the phone .
They dep at 13.58 for approx 2 hours contacting Spade on 282.050 & talked to SKYRAY who informed them on what threats were available , Wildcat was working on the west of the range while the Grizzly's worked the North East .
Stewart .

Arrived at Carlisle Airport at 9.40 hoping for an early start but found out later from Danny that as they are night flying ,sorties are starting at 14.00 in Spadeadam .
Action started at 13.26 when Grizzly 1 + 2 req start up & dep for Spade at 13.53 .

14.43 - Whiskey formation 2 x Apache req start up & dep for Spade at 14.54 just as Willdcat 1 req start up , he lifted off at 15.05 but spent the next 30 min working in the infield area with troops doing paracending , as this was happening a C-130 did a fly through then as Wildcat 1 taxied back in at 15.35 Grizzly formation came back , landed & shutdown .
15.42 - D-664 which I'd not seen move did a few ground runs before shutting down at 16.00 .

16.36 - Grizzly 1 & Wildcat's 13 + 14 req engine start for what would be 2 hrs range time in Spade .
16.45 - D-664 req engine start .
16.50 - Redskin formation which had departed earlier using the Whiskey callsign arrived back from Spade , landed & shutdown .
17.02 - Grizzly & Wildcat formations (2+2) dep for Spade but only did 1 circuit of the field before coming back in to land due to I think the worsening weather .

Nice to meet up with Danny again today for the 1st time in nearly 3 years .

Freq heard today Carlisle 123.6 , Spadeadam 128.725 & 282.050 .



Stewart

Stewart, the weather did indeed worsen. We heard them approaching, but they didn't appear at the range and driving back to Longtown, the weather was poor with little visibility for flying. I've had a decent enough 3 days at Carlisle/Spade, but no gorge action seen by me. Nice to catch up with a few folk I haven't seen for a while. Watching the weather for next week, and may head down again. I didn't see Chinook 664 or Cougar 444 fly at all in the 3 days I was there, but did manage to get all 3 Apaches flying.

I am thinking of coming North to see the Dutch so can someone tell me if they are all visible at Carlisle if they do not fly? As a non-photographer the weather is not a deciding factor.

Called in today just after 13.30 for my dinner while doing a job at Brampton , everything was in with nothing running .
Just after 14.00 the Tower gave the Dutch the weather for Spade , 2000m visability but a cloud ceiling of only 200m.

14.20 - Wildcat 5 started up for what would be more infield activity with go arounds, at the same time the sorties to Spade were called off due to the weather.
1 Grizzly asked the Tower if it was OK to carry out local flights & the Tower said they had no problem with this, start up followed with the Chinook doing local flights / circuits within a 2 mile radius while I was in the area .
.
Hi Mike , everything is visible either from the road next to ECM car deliveries or the OLD Tower but I'm not sure if you will get to see all the serial numbers .

The Cafe under the old tower was open serving food while I was there .

Stewart

Thanks Stewart.... I can live with just getting what I can if I can see them all. It is about time I visited that part of the country.

Hope to be there on Monday before heading across to Leeming for a few Typhoons.
Rgds.. Mike

10.14 - 282.050 - Redskin formation - Dutch Apache's cleared in to range for 2 hr sortie .
Stewart .

Cancelled and return in due to bad weather