Mallet Blow exercises ??

[Andyph]

I have a vague memory of a large formation of C130 notamed to go through the lakes. I cant remember who i was with but we went up to the Appleby valley as we thought that was the most likely route only to see them from a distance as they came out of the M6 pass going north. Could have kicked myself for thinking the M6 pass was too narrow for a large formation.

Yeah I vaguely remember seeing that Notam too. But didn't go with you though - guessing I was down south.
Wasnt there a lot of fast jets too - F3 as escorts and muds too.
Cant remember if the drop zone was Spade, Otterburn or West Freugh airfield?

Wasn’t that the old “Bullseye” exercises involving lots of C130 nations at Lyneham? I remember seeing Canadian, New Zealand & other Nations flying C130s through Sennybridge & LFA7.

No Bullseye was very different - Pegasus Fury was a 15 ship (or so) and mass assault landing.
Bullseye was a competition with single Hercs going round the same route 20 mins apart scoring points for accuracy of drop etc.

[Blackcat1]

Yeah I vaguely remember seeing that Notam too. But didn't go with you though - guessing I was down south.
Wasnt there a lot of fast jets too - F3 as escorts and muds too.
Cant remember if the drop zone was Spade, Otterburn or West Freugh airfield?

Wasn’t that the old “Bullseye” exercises involving lots of C130 nations at Lyneham? I remember seeing Canadian, New Zealand & other Nations flying C130s through Sennybridge & LFA7.

No Bullseye was very different - Pegasus Fury was a 15 ship (or so) and mass assault landing.
Bullseye was a competition with single Hercs going round the same route 20 mins apart scoring points for accuracy of drop etc.

Thanks. I was only a nipper then

[toom317]

Heard the Bucc story before and can understand how it happened. There was an old 50's style bin lorry on the range that was one of the targets. It was usually the main target and it was painted in large black and white checks. Unfortunately the FAC's caravan was also painted in large black and white checks, so thats probably where the confusion arose there. Mentioned earlier was the Jags setting fire to the range and the FAC's setting of in the Gazelle to put it out. I don't klnow if it was the same day but it happened one day I was there and I think a Lynx may have been involved as well. There were quite a few of us civvys there and I'm sure we were all thinking of lending a hand to put it out, as it required a flight in a helicopter to get to the fire. Anything for a free jolly.

Do they still do FAC training at Spade. Have been there on only a few occasions over the last 5 years or so, mainly for the Dutch helicopters. The now Red and White checked FAC cabin is in a right state. The last time I was there earlier this year, there were Swallows nesting in it.

Could it have been a pair of Apaches instead of Lynx? Ive just put up a couple of Spadeadam vids showing the Gazelle and the Apaches and also the burning moor here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAgZz-5hVPc If you do go to have a look please subscribe and like the videos and leave a comment it helps to get You Tube to push them out to other viewers Thanks. I am slowly going through some old DV tapes and will have more to post soon but I dont currently have any way of playing tapes from my original 8mm camcorder so Im looking out for a second hand one so I can get them digitized as well.

It was definately a Lynx, as a few of us thought about offering our fire fighting services, as it would have meant a ride in a helicopter to get to the fire. (I'm not even sure the Apache was in service then).

I wish I had the time to dig out some of the old slides and scan them, as this thread has brought back some great memories of the "good old days" on the ranges.

Re the mass herc formations mentioned earlier, there were a few occasions where a small fleet of Hercs would be based at Carlisle airport, but the best one was in 1997 (?) when there was a large exercise on with Lynx and Gazelles based there for around 2 weeks during which one memorable weekend there were 15 Hercs parked at the airport. This was in preparation for a battalion drop on Otterburn, and there were loads of Para's dossed out on the airfield. I can also remember seeing one of those side curtain artic lorries with the the curtain slid open and seeing loads of parachute packs on hangars in it.

[Andyph]

Part answer

There have been two major accidents to low-flying aircraft involved in Mallet Blow exercises: a German air force Tornado aircraft crashed during Mallet Blow 86/4, and two RAF Harrier aircraft collided in mid-air during Mallet Blow 87/3.



From

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=55536

and the Dutch F-104 - there is a memorial to it at Otterburn - Maybe it didn't crash during a MB? it was before my time

12 April 1983, F-104G serial D-8337. Pilot 2nd Lt Martin Sasbrink Harkema sadly killed.

https://www.i-f-s.nl/accidents-incidents-1983-2/

The Starfighter did crash during a MB - so the Sec Defence was wrong there were 3 Mallet Blow crashes- - Dutch Starfighter, German Tornado and the Harrier Collision

[Andyph]

Just out of interest how often do fast jets use Spade or Otterburn these days?

[Black Mike]

Just out of interest how often do fast jets use Spade or Otterburn these days?

During the Dutch deployment, I didn't see any fast jets on Spadeadam range only a Phenom running north to south at around 500ft. I did see a few Typhoons further to the west so most likely transiting from LFAs.

Mike

[AlexLee05]

Just out of interest how often do fast jets use Spade or Otterburn these days?

I've noticed typhoons circling at 10,000ft and above a couple times in the last year or two. I think most of the SAM evasion training can be simulated with onboard systems now so I'd imagine most of the SAM evasion training is done over the North Sea