meleagertoo
3rd Jun 2024, 16:59
The Typhoon has been in RAF service for 20 years yet, even as an avid sky-watcher I have never seen one until today - and what a show it was!
Living in E Anglia we used to be inundated with fast jets but in the last 20 years all we see now (hear mostly) are F15s doing high level manoeuvering and the very occasional low level Herc or Wokka.
Today late morning the sound of a pure jet approaching became apparent and reaching a long, slow crescendo a minute or so later four Typhoons cruised overhead very slowly in a left turn, at a notably high aoa at about 1000ft. Three were in a well-spaced and tidy vic about 10 spans apart while No.4 was maintaining steady (not weaving) position some way behind - maybe at 3 times the separation of the others. The noise remained audible so they remained close by and they came back over three more times on exactly the same track, each time with No4 in trail. They did not show up on Plane Finder which surprised me as there are several active puddlejumper fields and a gliding site nearby.
The app showed a Voyager and a C17 in a repeated holding pattern at 1000ft ten miles off Lowestoft and an Embraer Phenom in the vicinity too, so clearly an exercise was ongoing. As the Typhoon noise disappeared the heavies left their offshore orbits and passed over Southwold in trail heading NW at c.1000ft. No way were the Typhoons within 20-30 miles of the others while I was watching them.
What were the Typhoons doing, and why the 3 + 1 formation?
Living in E Anglia we used to be inundated with fast jets but in the last 20 years all we see now (hear mostly) are F15s doing high level manoeuvering and the very occasional low level Herc or Wokka.
Today late morning the sound of a pure jet approaching became apparent and reaching a long, slow crescendo a minute or so later four Typhoons cruised overhead very slowly in a left turn, at a notably high aoa at about 1000ft. Three were in a well-spaced and tidy vic about 10 spans apart while No.4 was maintaining steady (not weaving) position some way behind - maybe at 3 times the separation of the others. The noise remained audible so they remained close by and they came back over three more times on exactly the same track, each time with No4 in trail. They did not show up on Plane Finder which surprised me as there are several active puddlejumper fields and a gliding site nearby.
The app showed a Voyager and a C17 in a repeated holding pattern at 1000ft ten miles off Lowestoft and an Embraer Phenom in the vicinity too, so clearly an exercise was ongoing. As the Typhoon noise disappeared the heavies left their offshore orbits and passed over Southwold in trail heading NW at c.1000ft. No way were the Typhoons within 20-30 miles of the others while I was watching them.
What were the Typhoons doing, and why the 3 + 1 formation?