FighterControl

Two Russian Intelligence-gathering vessels have been identified some 23 miles off the Scottish coast near Lossiemouth. Probably especially interested in the P8 Poseidons.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/two-rus ... ish-coast/

I foresee low level sonic booms around midnight as the Typhoons keep the Ruskies awake.

iainpeden wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 09, 2020 6:49 pm

I foresee low level sonic booms around midnight as the Typhoons keep the Ruskies awake.

Go for it, Guys!

And maybe, if the Navy can find them, send a couple of biggish ships to continuously run up and down quite close to the Russkis to "rock them to sleep" (or NOT!)

Is this news though? The Russian trawlers were always hanging round the Clyde years ago listening for our subs weren't they? Every NATO exercise has them snooping around.

These are quite common around sensitive military locations, as mentioned above. During the Cold War it was well known that Eastern Block / Soviet airlines would often carry monitoring equipment when flying in Western airspace. They would also 'deviate' from airways etc to snoop over bases near their route.

Vulture 01 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 10:15 am

These are quite common around sensitive military locations, as mentioned above. During the Cold War it was well known that Eastern Block / Soviet airlines would often carry monitoring equipment when flying in Western airspace. They would also 'deviate' from airways etc to snoop over bases near their route.

I used to go on board Soviet Bloc aircraft regularly and when I did the on-board 'Party Member would shadow me quite obviously. The Tu104 had a glazed nosecone and we always assumed that it was there for observation of western installations they flew over. Not sure about the deviation from planned routes, but that was certainly alleged at the time, although Air Traffic Control would certainly have noticed and done something about it (reported the pilot or informed other authorities). I will ask a retired ATC friend what he knows.

I have spoken to my former-ATC friend and he says that in 30 years as a Zone Controller he never heard of any Soviet Bloc aircraft deviating from it's planned flightpath. Seems like one of those things that was doing the rounds in those days!

I may be wrong, but wasn't there an instance in the last 15-20 years, of the crew of a scheduled overflight of a Russian airliner suddenly calling 'London Control' on a UHF London Military frequency?

Have a look off the coast of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave, or the skies along its border. Then compare the two Russian ships off Scotland during a storm, to the daily NATO sailings and flights around Kaliningrad.
P.

100arw wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 2:13 pm

Have a look off the coast of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave, or the skies along its border. Then compare the two Russian ships off Scotland during a storm, to the daily NATO sailings and flights around Kaliningrad.
P.

Exactly my comment to my OH when she flagged up yet another BBC news item making a drama out of three pairs of Typhoons sent up to watch over a Bear. Like it's never happened before.

The Baltic skies are invariably awash with RAF Sentinels (one at a time - I'm not suggesting a whole flock of them!), Swedish Korpen, or ZZ664 the RAF RC-135 currently cruising around over Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania.

I'm just looking forward to the day a Tu-95 goes technical and requests a landing at Waddington. Hey, we can all dream can't we ?

yes plenty of daily probing and listening flights by NATO assets daily, around Murmansk, The Baltic and also Crimea - P-8, RC-135, Sentinel, Korpen, U-2 - the French have even had some M2000 sorties with tankers out over the Black Sea recently. Probe, probe, probe is the game.

Sheikhy wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 2:47 pm

100arw wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 2:13 pm

Have a look off the coast of Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave, or the skies along its border. Then compare the two Russian ships off Scotland during a storm, to the daily NATO sailings and flights around Kaliningrad.
P.

Exactly my comment to my OH when she flagged up yet another BBC news item making a drama out of three pairs of Typhoons sent up to watch over a Bear. Like it's never happened before.

The Baltic skies are invariably awash with RAF Sentinels (one at a time - I'm not suggesting a whole flock of them!), Swedish Korpen, or ZZ664 the RAF RC-135 currently cruising around over Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania.

I had a very enjoyable week in Kaliningrad 18 months ago. Very interesting looking around the area and with no security problems in any way. Even booked an overnight stay through booking.com on an old "research ship", moored next to a submarine.
P.

Snoop,
The comment about WarPac airliners deviating came from a reliable source. Back in the 1980's a controller from RAF Neatishead came to brief cadets on our ATC unit about the station role.
He told us about the aircraft carrying kit and 'getting lost', so I'm betting he knew what he was talking about!

I can also remember an Aeroflot TU-104 in the early eighties coming into land on Heathrow's southern runway 09R,initially coming in from the east,over north London,then out to the west before turning base leg back towards LHR. Apparently,they had a "short term radio failure" as they turned base leg and managed to get almost to Farnborough, before recovering back towards Heathrow!. At the time Heathrow had been using that runway/direction for about a week. At LHR the aircraft was met by police/authorities etc who questioned the flight crew etc. Funnily enough,the TU-104 that operated said flight,hadn't visited the UK before and only made one other trip into UK airspace,some two years later!. At the time Farnborough was the base for many military test establishments and companies!!!

Plus an RAF Lincoln on "routine NATO liaison sorties" that "accidentally deviated" outside the Berlin Air Corridor in 1953, and was shot down by Russian fighters.
P.

CHINOOKER wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:34 pm

I can also remember an Aeroflot TU-104 in the early eighties coming into land on Heathrow's southern runway 09R...

It's a lovely story, apart from being a decade out. Aeroflot retired the Tu-104 in March 1979.
And in those days the runway would have been 10R. The magnetic deviation wasn't factored in until later.
But I also understand that if you'd written 10R, someone would have laughed at your "mistake". Meh!

My own rather rusty memories are that Tu-104s were no longer regular in the UK any time after 1973. Although I did see one photo claiming to show a Tu-104 at LHR as late as 1976!

The weekly Tu-104 into LHR (SU637/638, Friday lunchtimes) was invariably drawn from one of only a handful of TU-104s assigned to the Leningrad directorate that were cleared for international ops. Substitutes were rare, and in fact were just as likely to be the same old Tu-134 (I recall CCCP-65862 & possibly 65971 were the usual suspects) or a Tu-154 (CCCP-85130 - take it or leave it!). It was a constant frustration that out of the vast Aeroflot fleets (over 1,000 Tu-154s) we only ever saw the same old/same old.

I must admit, I didn't associate using a substitute airframe (of the same type) necessitated a different crew. In fact, I had previously assumed it was the always the same trusted & vetted crews, from the same international crew pool, week-in, week-out. Apart from being familiar with the routing, and possessing better than average english, Aeroflot simply didn't want to risk defections.

They may have also wanted to keep their best maintained and most reliable a/c for international routes. All the other ones smelled of cabbage (I kid thee not!)

Still, the things you learn, after all these years.....

100arw wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:08 pm

I had a very enjoyable week in Kaliningrad 18 months ago. Very interesting looking around the area and with no security problems in any way. Even booked an overnight stay through booking.com on an old "research ship", moored next to a submarine.
P.

amazing... what were the visa requirements etc...? Like a standard visit to Russia?

Sheikhy, Thanks for your detailed reply! You are probably right that I could be a decade out, or have attributed the wrong aircraft type to the story! Having started working at LHR for BA in 1974 I know that this particular incident was widely known about in and around the airport and reported in the press at the time! All I can assume is that after all this time,I have my aircraft types/years mixed up!.....After 50 years in the aviation world,the brain has become a bit "addled" at what happened when and how.....cheers,Stuart

steamy wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:57 am

100arw wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:08 pm

I had a very enjoyable week in Kaliningrad 18 months ago. Very interesting looking around the area and with no security problems in any way. Even booked an overnight stay through booking.com on an old "research ship", moored next to a submarine.
P.

amazing... what were the visa requirements etc...? Like a standard visit to Russia?

Far from it. An E visa is available on-line and covers visits for up to eight days for visitors arriving by land, sea or air. For me, I pop into Rigga, then a quick hop from there.
You need to be from one of the 58 approved countries, including all European Union member states. So I applied for an Irish passport, due to the Brexit situation. It takes four days to come, so apply up to twenty-four days before travel. The Kaliningrad area offers everything from sandy beach to what most, if not all on this forum, enjoy :-)

The same e-visa is also available for St Petersburg and Leningrad.

P.

100arw wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 5:01 pm

steamy wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:57 am

100arw wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:08 pm

I had a very enjoyable week in Kaliningrad 18 months ago. Very interesting looking around the area and with no security problems in any way. Even booked an overnight stay through booking.com on an old "research ship", moored next to a submarine.
P.

amazing... what were the visa requirements etc...? Like a standard visit to Russia?

Far from it. An E visa is available on-line and covers visits for up to eight days for visitors arriving by land, sea or air. For me, I pop into Rigga, then a quick hop from there.
You need to be from one of the 58 approved countries, including all European Union member states. So I applied for an Irish passport, due to the Brexit situation. It takes four days to come, so apply up to twenty-four days before travel. The Kaliningrad area offers everything from sandy beach to what most, if not all on this forum, enjoy :-)

The same e-visa is also available for St Petersburg and Leningrad.

P.

Leningrad is St Petersburg I thought... just its old name .. or in between name as I think it was St Petes-Leningrad-St Petes...