Vocal Voices

I lurk on another major well-used forum, which deals in all modes of transport.

In the aviation section there has been some discussion about "warplanes" making unexpected appearances over Birmingham. It transpires that it was a single C-17 heavy transport aircraft doing bumps and circuits, practicing landing at Birmingham's International Airport. As many commercial airports are now very quiet, the RAF et al have done deals to allow them to be used for military training, presumably for a fee, a nice little earner for the airport.

Which prompted one member to reminisce. Apparently back in the 1980's, the RAF were not averse to doing similar deals, and actually gained permission for a couple of fast jets to make a nighttime "touch-and-go" visit to Heathrow, that airport being normally closed to night-time flying. That's where the aircraft land, roll, and immediately take off.

So two jets took off from a base in the South of England, ambled across to London, and duly lined up on the runway. However, being fighter jocks, they decided to scream down the runway and at the end, both planes were stood on their tails and went full-pelt into a vertical climb!

Unfortunately, Heathrow's noise-monitoring equipment was situated at the end of that runway. It was totally wrecked!

The authorities, shall we say, were not best pleased ….

There are 'touch and gos' and there are 'circuits and bumps' - you have to do a circuit before you can do a bump, and a touch before a go.

The Vulcans and other Vs did proper circuits and bumps where the main undercarriage would touch the deck but the nose wheel would stay up before the plane took off again. Lightnings would do 't's and 'g's and they were very often of the 'scream down the runway then do a steep (vertical) climb' type. I was on a Lightning squadron and have seen many such manoeuvres.

From the time mentioned I suspect the 'culprits' would either be Jaguars or Tornadoes with Tornadoes being the most likely as they were heavy and noisy beasts, even when the jocks were behaving themselves.