Spotted military aircraft?

[anonymous-user]

I saw something today. I was driving into Harrogate from Ripon and flying West over Menwith Hill I'd say was a jet aircraft. It appeared to be going quite slow (like one would expect of a WW2 flypast!) and quite low. Its silhouette appeared to be similar in shape to a fighter jet but much larger, definitely longer. I know it's vague, but any ideas?

[djc206]

Definitely not a bizjet?

[anonymous-user]

No, was quite sharply shaped and appeared to be in dark military colours, also at that height and on that path I wouldn't have expected a commercial jet to be (however i am np expert on flight paths etc!) I figured it might have been a flypast of a historic military jet.........

[Eric Mc]

I don't think your description is good enough for anyone to work out what it is you saw.

The usual identification points are -

position of tailplane (high, low, middle)

number of engines

type of engines (piston. turboprop, jet)

shape of wings (straight, swept back, delta, eliptical, tapered, biplane etc)

sound

colour scheme

[spitfire-ian]

I'm taking a punt and saying...



Avro Vulcan B2, XH558 - Royal International Air Tattoo 2010, RAF Fairford by imulford, on Flickr

[anonymous-user]

No Eric, probably not!

I saw it in side profile only for a limited time so a lot of what you ask wasn't possible. I guessed it might have been something from Leeming and that some enthusiasts would know exactly what it was from the time, place........

I saw a Jet Provost circling Epping this week though, red and white, a lovely sight.

Ian, maybe, my first thought was 'bomber' because of the scale, and sideways on I did think Vulcan, but surely that would be highly unlikely given numbers?

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 10th August 10:51

[anonymous-user]

Repost!.

[spitfire-ian]

XH558 was out and about yesterday in that part of the country which is why I suggested it

[Richjam]

Xh558 was certainly over harrogate yesterday afternoon.

[GoBig]

Saw XH558 over the Ribble Valley at about 5.30pm yesterday, heading east.

Edited by GoBig on Sunday 10th August 15:27

[Eric Mc]

There is only one flying Vulcan. You might very well have seen it.

Here is a set of images showing a Vulcan in plan and profile -

[anonymous-user]

Wow!!!!!!!
Cheers!

[spitfire-ian]

Avro Vulcan XH558 by imulford, on Flickr

[Richjam]

The smokey trail as in Ian's picture is usually a give away if it's XH558.