What was flying over my house?
Discussion
Can any help assuage my curiosity on this?
This evening, I think around 6pm, a small jet plane did a few circuits above the village I live in, just east of Colchester.
To my inexpert eye it looked like a jet fighter plane, possibly yellow. It had large pods under each wing (my 7yr old thought ‘missiles’, I thought fuel tanks?), I looked roughly like a Jaguar, based on the first photo here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEPECAT_Jaguar#Unite...
It approached from the South/Southwest and after two or three anti-clockwise loops went back that way.
I have Googled and found some flight tracking websites showing what looks like all sorts of commercial and recreational flights, but nothing that seems to be the plane I saw.
Any ideas what it was?
This evening, I think around 6pm, a small jet plane did a few circuits above the village I live in, just east of Colchester.
To my inexpert eye it looked like a jet fighter plane, possibly yellow. It had large pods under each wing (my 7yr old thought ‘missiles’, I thought fuel tanks?), I looked roughly like a Jaguar, based on the first photo here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEPECAT_Jaguar#Unite...
It approached from the South/Southwest and after two or three anti-clockwise loops went back that way.
I have Googled and found some flight tracking websites showing what looks like all sorts of commercial and recreational flights, but nothing that seems to be the plane I saw.
Any ideas what it was?
towser44 said:
Thanks very much, yes looks like that’s it. I’m amazed to see something like that can be privately owned, must cost a fortune to run!
OpulentBob said:
Yes! I saw that - I thought it was going bloody fast for its altitude. I think it was to the east/northeast of Colchester when I saw it, maybe over Ardleigh??
Having checked your profile I don't suppose you could fix the potholes in Colchester next time you're round could you? The place is falling apart. Ta 
johnpsanderson said:
towser44 said:
Thanks very much, yes looks like that’s it. I’m amazed to see something like that can be privately owned, must cost a fortune to run!towser44 said:
What do you need for playback? Out cycling yesterday at 5pm-ish just too far away from Tollerton airfield to tell whether it really was a Spit doing some loops over the field. Couldn't find anything remotely like it 10 minutes later on FR24.Tollerton airfield laughingly called Nottingham City, til it gets bulldozed for houses in the next few years.
OpulentBob said:
Yes! I saw that - I thought it was going bloody fast for its altitude. I think it was to the east/northeast of Colchester when I saw it, maybe over Ardleigh??
I don’t know anything about what planes are/aren’t allowed to do, but it was definitely faster and lower than much else we see. A bit different from the usual Chinook with a Land Rover dangling underneath it!. From where I am it could looked to be on pretty much the right bearing to have gone over Ardleigh although it must have turned not long after…
Simpo Two said:
OpulentBob said:
Yes! I saw that - I thought it was going bloody fast for its altitude. I think it was to the east/northeast of Colchester when I saw it, maybe over Ardleigh??
Having checked your profile I don't suppose you could fix the potholes in Colchester next time you're round could you? The place is falling apart. Ta Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff