Some sort of military chopper over London

[theplayingmantis]

There was what to my untrained (2 visits to duxford and hendon!) eye looked like some sort of apache longbow type attack chopper flying over canary wharf (actually slightly west of us but not over the river) around 11.45 today as i popped to starbucks.

anyone have an idea what it may have been? see Chinooks all the time from my office but never seen one of these before.

[schmunk]

It will have been an Apache. I've seen them a few times flying up and down the Thames.

[theplayingmantis]

schmunk said:

It will have been an Apache. I've seen them a few times flying up and down the Thames.

ah ok. it looked mean.

[essayer]

Apache, Chinook and Merlins often go up and down the Thames, sometimes in formation. They are LOUD!

[DrDeAtH]

Apaches normally fly in pairs, quite slowly and have a unique growl to them.

[tuffer]

DrDeAtH said:

Apaches normally fly in pairs, quite slowly and have a unique growl to them.

Typically only when doing tactical stuff, very often see them on their own over London and around Salisbury Plain.

[speedtwelve]

Apache, Wildcat, Puma, Chinook, Merlin will often use the heli routes through the middle of London to get from Benson/Middle Wallop/Odiham in the west to Wattisham/Colchester in the east for 16 Air Assault Brigade etc stuff as it's much shorter/more fun than going the 'long' way round the city.

[bakerstreet]

essayer said:

Apache, Chinook and Merlins often go up and down the Thames, sometimes in formation. They are LOUD!

Yup, The Ospreys that were here last summer also make quite a unique noise too. Our meeting rooms are on the river and we usually stop for a few seconds to look at the Chinooks. Seen them several times.

Who knows exactly what they are doing. I'd like to hope they contain some of the finest from the 'regiment'.

[NM62]

bakerstreet said:

essayer said:

Apache, Chinook and Merlins often go up and down the Thames, sometimes in formation. They are LOUD!

Yup, The Ospreys that were here last summer also make quite a unique noise too.

The Ospreys are permanently based at Mildenhall and are out playing most days (and especially at night) usually using Knife Callsigns.

They all (usually) Show up on the tracking sites.

[theplayingmantis]

NM62 said:

bakerstreet said:

essayer said:

Apache, Chinook and Merlins often go up and down the Thames, sometimes in formation. They are LOUD!

Yup, The Ospreys that were here last summer also make quite a unique noise too.

The Ospreys are permanently based at Mildenhall and are out playing most days (and especially at night) usually using Knife Callsigns.

They all (usually) Show up on the tracking sites.

never seen an osprey over canary wharf, i only seen them flying once when in san fran during fleet week

[NM62]

theplayingmantis said:

never seen an osprey over canary wharf, i only seen them flying once when in san fran during fleet week

As stated above the UK based Ospreys do seem to get a lot of air time.

I haven’t worked in London for a few years now - last Role was In Euston Tower ( 32nd floor ) in 2011/2012 - got a pretty good view of the various aircraft preparing for the games.

Most evil looking were two very black (M)H-53s and two MH-60s ( not as up to date on my variants these days ) from one of the US air arms - that may have been for a visit of Obama.

[anonymous-user]

bakerstreet said:

Who knows exactly what they are doing.

I do. They're doing continuation training, or heading up the East coast for a bit of air to ground gunnery, or some inner city HLS practise, loads of possibilities, most of which are really rather mundane and nothing like the plot from an episode of Spooks.

bakerstreet said:

I'd like to hope they contain some of the finest from the 'regiment'.

Errr......why?