Mallet Blow exercises ??

[Tiger-G]

https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/p ... 04581.html

I think this a link to that 15sqn red tailed Tornado....copyright Peter Nicholson.

(I can't seem to find a way to post it ??)

[Andyph]

DickFlute

Thank you for sparking my memory. I was at Spadeadam on the glorious 1st August 1990. Everything you noted came through Spadeadam. We were on the road past Wiley Sike. In addition to your list we noted early doors

mission 301 2 RAF Tornado at 0902
mission 302 Single German RF4E at 0911
mission 303 2 German RF4E at 0917
mission 304 4 Danish F16s at 0921
mission 305 4 Danish Drakens at 0921

I did take photos but as you say the jets were either right over the top of us or some distance away. I've digitised them and will try and post. They give some impression of what it was like.

My best memory of low fly at Spadeadam was the previous April (26/4/90) watching 2 French Mirage IVA go through (callsign 4TF376/377). As ever you could never read them off!

Most other attempts at days out on Spadeadam failed due weather.

Yorker

Funny I was thinking there were German Rf-4E early doors and my memory was failing!

Just wonder if anyone was at Otterburn (Alwinton) for the August 1990 Mallet Blow Exercise.

It was the week after Sadam invaded Kuwait.

If you were there you might recall the red finned XV sqn Tornado - every pass that week was mind blowing - I have seen lots of super Low passes but he was very special!.

Also the lunch time A-10s wanting to change target to the shack (which was the FAC's location!) - pandemonium broke out on the radio!

Also (and I think it was that Mallet Blow) the 10 ship of Canadians that also were pretty special at Alwinton - came from directly infront of us and dived into the Croquet valley right infront of the mound .

Very happy days!

Andy

I was up at Alwinton quite a bit on my motorbike back in the day. I even took it to the top of the hill to save me a walk.......something I regretted on the way up, and definitely on the way down !!

That XV sqn red tailed Tornado pass was beyond amazing, fully swept. There used to be a couple of pics of it on Google images, but they seem to have disappeared . There's still a pic of it on approach in Google images, but it really doesn't do it justice. I'd love to see some decent shots of it

Tiger would you be a tall lad from Sunderland, dressed in black motorcycle leathers on the day?

Hi, has anyone got a copy of Unseen Airshows they would be willing to sell?

I wrote Unseen Airshows back in the early 90s - there is essentially nothing relevant in it anymore - but still have a few tucked away.
Lowdown I did a few years later

Hi Andy, was more just from a general interest point of view than actual location info. I'll PM you.

no worries - there is nothing in Unseen Airshows that as not in Lowdown later..

[Andyph]

in the Team Tornado book by John Nicol and Peters is this photo - no Idea who the photographer is (anyone here?)
but it was taken that day - the lad in the Black shirt is a 21 Year old me!

The book was a follow up to Tornado Down

Mallet Blow Tornado! and Me! by Andy Heap, on Flickr

[Nighthawke]

ZA447 coded EA of XV Sqn also had a red fin.I have a couple of poor slide scans of it at Linton-on-Ouse on 13th June 1990.

[Andyph]

Just interested where everyone went on the Tuesday/Thursday (Anticlockwise) track.
I tried the layby past Elsdon. and Spade. - both great.
But my favorites were Druridge Bay or Amble across from the lighthouse and watching the CAPs get in amongst the mud movers - my only sighting of Lightnings in the wild and in a fight!
Fighters just pulling off as they reach the coast.
and the same gig in the Eden (Appleby) Valley for the Southern CAP - had a spot with good 360 Views near Langwathby and pretty much right in the centre of the CAP racetrack
or near Orton (just above the M6 pass/Tebay) but looking North and it was at the southern end of the CAP racetrack.
Mud formations running south but with F4s up their backside!

Happy days!

[Tiger-G]

Andyph:

"Tiger would you be a tall lad from Sunderland, dressed in black motorcycle leathers on the day?"

I am tall, and was rockin' an 80's mullet back then, and from Hartlepool.....not too far from Sunderland. I can't remember if I still had my old black leathers then, or my newer red/white ones ?? I don't remember ever seeing anyone else up there on a bike ??

[Andyph]

Andyph:

"Tiger would you be a tall lad from Sunderland, dressed in black motorcycle leathers on the day?"

I am tall, and was rockin' an 80's mullet back then, and from Hartlepool.....not too far from Sunderland. I can't remember if I still had my old black leathers then, or my newer red/white ones ?? I don't remember ever seeing anyone else up there on a bike ??

My memory is a bit fuzzy - but I remember a lad in Black motorcycle leathers - cause it was the hottest day of the year (probably just double figures up the hill though)
and I remember you saying "i don't tend to go into Newcastle being where I'm from " - I had remembered it as you saying it was Sunderland. But it was 33 years ago!
I'm guessing you are just out of shot on the above photo

[Hymermobiler]

Thanks Andy for pointing me to this thread. Im Paul Jackson the other half of the Lowdown double act :-) I didnt do video or photos back then just radio. It was hard work keeping up there was so many squadrons flying everyday. Everything was word of mouth or magazines. We really needed the internet 10 years earlier!

I found out about Alwinton from a guy at the fence at Warton and talked my Dad and my brother into giving it a go. I had recently bought a half decent car that would make the trip. It was a long way from near Bolton where we lived to draw a blank but we were not disappointed. We dragged all sorts of stuff up the hill including a stove for a brew a couple of big brollies and of course my scanners and some big batteries to run them. There was already a crowd up there when we arrived and a we took a fair bit of stick for all the stuff we lugged up right up until we had a shower and John and Jenny and Colin were suddenly our best friends as they got under our spare brolly. The friendship was sealed when some UH F-111 went through and called button blue on the radio I didnt have a clue but John and Colin did, they whipped out their freq list and punched in the freq and there they were chatting away as they headed south to avoid the CAPs. After that we regularly met up at airshows and excercises and introduced each other to more aircraft nuts.

There was a guy with what sounded to me a Geordie accent I think he was called Geoff who sat with a telescope looking up the valley logging everything that came over the distant ridge and giving us a heads up of type and number of ships. Im pretty sure he was there every time I went to Alwinton.

Re the Red tailed Tornado wasnt that the one that went over you Andy when you were on the lower hill near the flag and you actually hit the deck it was so low or was that someone else?

I started doing video later and have just been nagged into putting some clips on You Tube by my nephew who is also a keen photographer. If you want to take a look its here https://www.youtube.com/@Lowdown-Low-Fly/videos I will be uploading more clips but I need to capture the video and edit out the bad language when the jets were a bit too low :-)

[Tiger-G]

Thanks Andy for pointing me to this thread. Im Paul Jackson the other half of the Lowdown double act :-) I didnt do video or photos back then just radio. It was hard work keeping up there was so many squadrons flying everyday. Everything was word of mouth or magazines. We really needed the internet 10 years earlier!

I found out about Alwinton from a guy at the fence at Warton and talked my Dad and my brother into giving it a go. I had recently bought a half decent car that would make the trip. It was a long way from near Bolton where we lived to draw a blank but we were not disappointed. We dragged all sorts of stuff up the hill including a stove for a brew a couple of big brollies and of course my scanners and some big batteries to run them. There was already a crowd up there when we arrived and a we took a fair bit of stick for all the stuff we lugged up right up until we had a shower and John and Jenny and Colin were suddenly our best friends as they got under our spare brolly. The friendship was sealed when some UH F-111 went through and called button blue on the radio I didnt have a clue but John and Colin did, they whipped out their freq list and punched in the freq and there they were chatting away as they headed south to avoid the CAPs. After that we regularly met up at airshows and excercises and introduced each other to more aircraft nuts.

There was a guy with what sounded to me a Geordie accent I think he was called Geoff who sat with a telescope looking up the valley logging everything that came over the distant ridge and giving us a heads up of type and number of ships. Im pretty sure he was there every time I went to Alwinton.

Re the Red tailed Tornado wasnt that the one that went over you Andy when you were on the lower hill near the flag and you actually hit the deck it was so low or was that someone else?

I started doing video later and have just been nagged into putting some clips on You Tube by my nephew who is also a keen photographer. If you want to take a look its here https://www.youtube.com/@Lowdown-Low-Fly/videos I will be uploading more clips but I need to capture the video and edit out the bad language when the jets were a bit too low :-)

Hi Paul,

Good to see you on here

As you will have seen on here, I used to go up to Alwinton for Mallet Blow and I'm trying to get some pics of it put in the public domain. Seems everyone, including me, have them languishing away on film, negatives or slides but not haven't digitised them

I've been talking to Neil ( if you're his uncle, what does that make him ?? ) on Facebook, and he said you know a few people who frequented the hill. If possible, please have a chat with them and ask if they can get their pics put online for us all to see. It would be such a shame if that era of low level photography was documented. As I've said previously.....the modern spotters wouldn't believe what used to go on at Alwinton (a valley within a valley for some pilots) !!

[Blackcat1]

I love this thread! Not Mallet Blow related but I do miss the Phantoms , F3s, Sea Harriers Capping within the North Wales MTA and then dropping down to chase all types of Mud movers through the Loop and other parts of LFA7 . 1 great memory is 4x 74 Sqdn Phantoms chasing Jaguars, Harriers & Tornados through the Sennybridge gap, even F111s were fair game a few times I recall

[Hymermobiler]

[/quote]

Hi Paul,

Good to see you on here

As you will have seen on here, I used to go up to Alwinton for Mallet Blow and I'm trying to get some pics of it put in the public domain. Seems everyone, including me, have them languishing away on film, negatives or slides but not haven't digitised them

I've been talking to Neil ( if you're his uncle, what does that make him ?? ) on Facebook, and he said you know a few people who frequented the hill. If possible, please have a chat with them and ask if they can get their pics put online for us all to see. It would be such a shame if that era of low level photography was documented. As I've said previously.....the modern spotters wouldn't believe what used to go on at Alwinton (a valley within a valley for some pilots) !!
[/quote]

Yes Neil is responsible for the You Tube Channel. I didnt think anyone would be interested in my shakey and blurred clips these days as the standard of modern equipment is mind blowing. Check out the guys that live stream from LN and CBY etc the quality of their stuff is excellent. Same for the early photos but not as bad as early video. I only know one other that took photos on the hill at Alwinton and that was Colin Walters. I think Neil has spoken to him on Facebook recently but I'm not on that as Ive enough on without it :-) John and Jenny mentioned in my last post are still with us but they were/are radio scanner people and I had not met Andy Heap at this time. Our paths crossed at a pub (surprise surprise) at a Mildenhall Airshow later and we became firm friends.

John and Jenny were from Cumbria, as was Colin Walters, they introduced me to Tony Richardson (big patch collector) also from Cumbria and John Layden (Best radio man ever) from Doncaster who they had met through Laydo putting an ad in Airforces monthly or something asking if anyone was interested in sharing freqs (no internet back then remember) and we started to go to airshows and excercises and ranges etc. Then I met Andy. He introduced me to Colin Tomlins and Iwan Davies and Jamie Hunter who was just starting out in his career. Andy told me about Unseen Airshows and I suggested we do another and include the radio stuff for a complete guide as we now had plenty of locations photographers and all the tactical freqs sussed. The rest is history and its great to hear from people who bought Lowdown and found it useful. I remember being up the hill at Dinas (Andy says the Taffys will be on at me for not saying The Bwlch lol) and seing a lad on the level below with his copy checking he was in the right place or programming his scanner. Im sure Andy will provide some Alwinton stills when he digitises them.

I will be uploading more clips to You Tube as I can get them on my PC and edit out the swearing although I dont currently have a player for my early 8mm video tapes that camcorder has long gone so Im looking for something on ebay. Too many tapes to get them done commercially as most are air shows and the like. I do still have my digi cam though so will start going through them and capture the good bits. Im retired now so It will be something for Neil to rember me by when I kick the bucket :-)

Paul

[Andyph]

Hi Paul,

Good to see you on here

As you will have seen on here, I used to go up to Alwinton for Mallet Blow and I'm trying to get some pics of it put in the public domain. Seems everyone, including me, have them languishing away on film, negatives or slides but not haven't digitised them

I've been talking to Neil ( if you're his uncle, what does that make him ?? ) on Facebook, and he said you know a few people who frequented the hill. If possible, please have a chat with them and ask if they can get their pics put online for us all to see. It would be such a shame if that era of low level photography was documented. As I've said previously.....the modern spotters wouldn't believe what used to go on at Alwinton (a valley within a valley for some pilots) !!
[/quote]

Yes Neil is responsible for the You Tube Channel. I didnt think anyone would be interested in my shakey and blurred clips these days as the standard of modern equipment is mind blowing. Check out the guys that live stream from LN and CBY etc the quality of their stuff is excellent. Same for the early photos but not as bad as early video. I only know one other that took photos on the hill at Alwinton and that was Colin Walters. I think Neil has spoken to him on Facebook recently but I'm not on that as Ive enough on without it :-) John and Jenny mentioned in my last post are still with us but they were/are radio scanner people and I had not met Andy Heap at this time. Our paths crossed at a pub (surprise surprise) at a Mildenhall Airshow later and we became firm friends.

John and Jenny were from Cumbria, as was Colin Walters, they introduced me to Tony Richardson (big patch collector) also from Cumbria and John Layden (Best radio man ever) from Doncaster who they had met through Laydo putting an ad in Airforces monthly or something asking if anyone was interested in sharing freqs (no internet back then remember) and we started to go to airshows and excercises and ranges etc. Then I met Andy. He introduced me to Colin Tomlins and Iwan Davies and Jamie Hunter who was just starting out in his career. Andy told me about Unseen Airshows and I suggested we do another and include the radio stuff for a complete guide as we now had plenty of locations photographers and all the tactical freqs sussed. The rest is history and its great to hear from people who bought Lowdown and found it useful. I remember being up the hill at Dinas (Andy says the Taffys will be on at me for not saying The Bwlch lol) and seing a lad on the level below with his copy checking he was in the right place or programming his scanner. Im sure Andy will provide some Alwinton stills when he digitises them.

I will be uploading more clips to You Tube as I can get them on my PC and edit out the swearing although I dont currently have a player for my early 8mm video tapes that camcorder has long gone so Im looking for something on ebay. Too many tapes to get them done commercially as most are air shows and the like. I do still have my digi cam though so will start going through them and capture the good bits. Im retired now so It will be something for Neil to rember me by when I kick the bucket :-)

Paul
[/quote]

I don't know if it is true . But I heard some buggers didn't by Unseen Airshows from me - they just photocopied it?

[Hymermobiler]

Hi Paul,

Good to see you on here

As you will have seen on here, I used to go up to Alwinton for Mallet Blow and I'm trying to get some pics of it put in the public domain. Seems everyone, including me, have them languishing away on film, negatives or slides but not haven't digitised them

I've been talking to Neil ( if you're his uncle, what does that make him ?? ) on Facebook, and he said you know a few people who frequented the hill. If possible, please have a chat with them and ask if they can get their pics put online for us all to see. It would be such a shame if that era of low level photography was documented. As I've said previously.....the modern spotters wouldn't believe what used to go on at Alwinton (a valley within a valley for some pilots) !!

Yes Neil is responsible for the You Tube Channel. I didnt think anyone would be interested in my shakey and blurred clips these days as the standard of modern equipment is mind blowing. Check out the guys that live stream from LN and CBY etc the quality of their stuff is excellent. Same for the early photos but not as bad as early video. I only know one other that took photos on the hill at Alwinton and that was Colin Walters. I think Neil has spoken to him on Facebook recently but I'm not on that as Ive enough on without it :-) John and Jenny mentioned in my last post are still with us but they were/are radio scanner people and I had not met Andy Heap at this time. Our paths crossed at a pub (surprise surprise) at a Mildenhall Airshow later and we became firm friends.

John and Jenny were from Cumbria, as was Colin Walters, they introduced me to Tony Richardson (big patch collector) also from Cumbria and John Layden (Best radio man ever) from Doncaster who they had met through Laydo putting an ad in Airforces monthly or something asking if anyone was interested in sharing freqs (no internet back then remember) and we started to go to airshows and excercises and ranges etc. Then I met Andy. He introduced me to Colin Tomlins and Iwan Davies and Jamie Hunter who was just starting out in his career. Andy told me about Unseen Airshows and I suggested we do another and include the radio stuff for a complete guide as we now had plenty of locations photographers and all the tactical freqs sussed. The rest is history and its great to hear from people who bought Lowdown and found it useful. I remember being up the hill at Dinas (Andy says the Taffys will be on at me for not saying The Bwlch lol) and seing a lad on the level below with his copy checking he was in the right place or programming his scanner. Im sure Andy will provide some Alwinton stills when he digitises them.

I will be uploading more clips to You Tube as I can get them on my PC and edit out the swearing although I dont currently have a player for my early 8mm video tapes that camcorder has long gone so Im looking for something on ebay. Too many tapes to get them done commercially as most are air shows and the like. I do still have my digi cam though so will start going through them and capture the good bits. Im retired now so It will be something for Neil to rember me by when I kick the bucket :-)

Paul
[/quote]

I don't know if it is true . But I heard some buggers didn't by Unseen Airshows from me - they just photocopied it?
[/quote]

Andy cant tell a lie. That would be me and I still have it on my HDD as .jpgs :-) Do you want to buy a copy?

[Andyph]

Hi Paul,

Good to see you on here

As you will have seen on here, I used to go up to Alwinton for Mallet Blow and I'm trying to get some pics of it put in the public domain. Seems everyone, including me, have them languishing away on film, negatives or slides but not haven't digitised them

I've been talking to Neil ( if you're his uncle, what does that make him ?? ) on Facebook, and he said you know a few people who frequented the hill. If possible, please have a chat with them and ask if they can get their pics put online for us all to see. It would be such a shame if that era of low level photography was documented. As I've said previously.....the modern spotters wouldn't believe what used to go on at Alwinton (a valley within a valley for some pilots) !!

Yes Neil is responsible for the You Tube Channel. I didnt think anyone would be interested in my shakey and blurred clips these days as the standard of modern equipment is mind blowing. Check out the guys that live stream from LN and CBY etc the quality of their stuff is excellent. Same for the early photos but not as bad as early video. I only know one other that took photos on the hill at Alwinton and that was Colin Walters. I think Neil has spoken to him on Facebook recently but I'm not on that as Ive enough on without it :-) John and Jenny mentioned in my last post are still with us but they were/are radio scanner people and I had not met Andy Heap at this time. Our paths crossed at a pub (surprise surprise) at a Mildenhall Airshow later and we became firm friends.

John and Jenny were from Cumbria, as was Colin Walters, they introduced me to Tony Richardson (big patch collector) also from Cumbria and John Layden (Best radio man ever) from Doncaster who they had met through Laydo putting an ad in Airforces monthly or something asking if anyone was interested in sharing freqs (no internet back then remember) and we started to go to airshows and excercises and ranges etc. Then I met Andy. He introduced me to Colin Tomlins and Iwan Davies and Jamie Hunter who was just starting out in his career. Andy told me about Unseen Airshows and I suggested we do another and include the radio stuff for a complete guide as we now had plenty of locations photographers and all the tactical freqs sussed. The rest is history and its great to hear from people who bought Lowdown and found it useful. I remember being up the hill at Dinas (Andy says the Taffys will be on at me for not saying The Bwlch lol) and seing a lad on the level below with his copy checking he was in the right place or programming his scanner. Im sure Andy will provide some Alwinton stills when he digitises them.

I will be uploading more clips to You Tube as I can get them on my PC and edit out the swearing although I dont currently have a player for my early 8mm video tapes that camcorder has long gone so Im looking for something on ebay. Too many tapes to get them done commercially as most are air shows and the like. I do still have my digi cam though so will start going through them and capture the good bits. Im retired now so It will be something for Neil to rember me by when I kick the bucket :-)

Paul

I don't know if it is true . But I heard some buggers didn't by Unseen Airshows from me - they just photocopied it?
[/quote]

Andy cant tell a lie. That would be me and I still have it on my HDD as .jpgs :-) Do you want to buy a copy?
[/quote]

Nah I've still about a 4 or 5 left at my mum's and we are probably quits now!- to be fair shagger I did the guide originally to meet people who were into the hobby more than anything as we never saw anyone else.
That obviously changed!
Still blown away that the loop is now a worldwide known place.

[Hymermobiler]

Andy To get us back on track and lose the horrible quoting cock ups above remind me was it you that hit the deck on the lower hill with the red flag when the red tailed Tonka went through at about 5 feet off the deck? I remember it happening and us lot on the big hill were all laughing. I seem to remember talking to you about it once and you saying that was me but it could have been someone else.

[Andyph]

Andy To get us back on track and lose the horrible quoting cock ups above remind me was it you that hit the deck on the lower hill with the red flag when the red tailed Tonka went through at about 5 feet off the deck? I remember it happening and us lot on the big hill were all laughing. I seem to remember talking to you about it once and you saying that was me but it could have been someone else.

No It wasn't me that ducked on that pass- yes I remember looking down on it too - he just came down the valley at about 10ft - mind blowing I've seen 1000s of passes of low level and it still stands out!
My dad fell over with the same jet on a different pass at Alwinton that week - you might remember he attacked the airfield and went into the far valley - then changed and came round into the Alwinton valley over us - nearly taking everyone off the hill with him - got dad by surprise .

I did have a reputation of ducking though - your mate Swabby in his SHAR almost collecting me off the upper ledge at the Bwlch - Crazy !>!>!!

seem to have lost my ducking skills though as I took this of a lad called Frank who flies with me at the gliding club
22A - Copy by Andy Heap, on Flickr

Lesley was on the hill with me - after I took the photo she was lying down behind a rock and called us both crazy !*!*s

Happy days Shagger

[Andyph]

There are a few Alwinton photos hiding in here too

odznrkF3vF1If6rl by Andy Heap, on Flickr

[Hymermobiler]

There are a few Alwinton photos hiding in here too

odznrkF3vF1If6rl by Andy Heap, on Flickr

I found the CDs for that 1998 one and the 2001 version today and realised some of the stuff Ive posted to You Tube was already on my HDD because the clips were on both those CDs

[Hymermobiler]

And that Harrier shot of Colin Tomlins at Cadair is still the dogs Meat and two veg! No cropping either he used to be so upset if he chopped a wing nose or tail or had to crop his shots down

[Blackcat1]

Got the Lowdown book and the Unseen Airshows book