hilldweller Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I 've just been watching three large identical piston-engined aircraft flying on a north/south bearing to the west of Lodge Moor. They had long grey coloured fuselages and were flying in close formation. The only thing I could think of was Shackletons but three identical ones seem unlikely. Any Ideas ? HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayleaf Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Hercules? You occasionally get them doing low-level flights over Chatsworth, low enough to have to climb to get over Baslow Edge. They're painted grey, and I think the RAF have some of the variant with an extended fuselage. Maybe Chatsworth are arranging a flypast for the jubilee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilldweller Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Hercules? You occasionally get them doing low-level flights over Chatsworth, low enough to have to climb to get over Baslow Edge. They're painted grey, and I think the RAF have some of the variant with an extended fuselage. Maybe Chatsworth are arranging a flypast for the jubilee? Certainly not Hercules which incidently used to regularly fly at 50 feet over the caravan site we used to look after at Calver Bridge. The wash from the propellors once moved a ride on mower, left on level ground without the handbrake on, by several feet. The problem was that a line of trees down the end of the field meant that they would suddenly appear just a few feet above the trees and thunder down the valley towards Baslow. Curiously you didn't hear them until they were over you. The effect on the nerves of silence suddenly turning to 130 dB noise at the same time as the sun went out was frightening. These aircraft had long thin fuselages rather like a WW2 Dornier ( flying pencils ) and were a sort of lighter grey/off white colour rather than the RAF battleship grey Hercules. Whatever they were they were flying in very close formation. HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart0742 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Were the Douglas DC3 (Dakota's), Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilldweller Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Were the Douglas DC3 (Dakota's), The fuselages were long and thin and the only aircraft I can find with a similar configuration is the Dornier Do 17 but I think 3 of those flying about nowadays is unlikely. Perhaps they were running a bit late for 12th December 1940 ! HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart0742 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 The fuselages were long and thin and the only aircraft I can find with a similar configuration is the Dornier Do 17 but I think 3 of those flying about nowadays is unlikely. Perhaps they were running a bit late for 12th December 1940 ! HD There is a company based in Coventry who have 3 DC3's amongst other vintage aircraft http://www.classicflight.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart0742 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 There is a company based in Coventry who have 3 DC3's amongst other vintage aircraft http://www.classicflight.com/ According to Wikipedia there are no flying DO17's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_17#Survivors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayleaf Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 According to Wikipedia there are no flying DO17's http://en.wikipedia....Do_17#Survivors Of course, there are reports from the Peak District of 'ghost aircraft', Lancasters over Derwent etc ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilldweller Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Of course, there are reports from the Peak District of 'ghost aircraft', Lancasters over Derwent etc ... I wish you hadn't said that. I was in the garden at the time together with the wife. I looked up when I heard the noise of piston engined aircraft and saw the 3 aircraft fly right across the sky. " Look at them" I said to the wife, "I can't see anything", my wife said, although she has very good distance vision. Come to think of it they did look very pale. And they looked to be flying over the Derwent Valley ! I hadn't been on the pop. Ooooer ! HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I wish you hadn't said that. I was in the garden at the time together with the wife. I looked up when I heard the noise of piston engined aircraft and saw the 3 aircraft fly right across the sky. " Look at them" I said to the wife, "I can't see anything", my wife said, although she has very good distance vision. Come to think of it they did look very pale. And they looked to be flying over the Derwent Valley ! I hadn't been on the pop. Ooooer ! HD Yippie yi Ohhhhh Yippie yi yaaaaay Ghost Riders in the sky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayleaf Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I wish you hadn't said that. I was in the garden at the time together with the wife. I looked up when I heard the noise of piston engined aircraft and saw the 3 aircraft fly right across the sky. " Look at them" I said to the wife, "I can't see anything", my wife said, although she has very good distance vision. Come to think of it they did look very pale. And they looked to be flying over the Derwent Valley ! I hadn't been on the pop. Ooooer ! HD I've had an experience of the kind once, a few years ago. One saturday morning the wife and I set off from Fox House to walk the old road to Ringinglow. As we walked up near to Parsons House a 1950's era USAF trainer flew over very low, enough to see the 2 pilots heads. I assumed it was on its way to some air show, though I didn't know of one locally. It was only on thinking back later I don't remember any engine noise, and a jet of that period would have been very noisy. I also tried to watch it out of sight but couldn't follow it. In this case my wife saw it too. It may be over-active imagination, but since then I've kept an open mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayleaf Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Yippie yi Ohhhhh Yippie yi yaaaaay Ghost Riders in the sky Careful Dave, your age is showing! On the other hand, I took this last year, looking over towards HD's neck of the woods... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THYLACINE Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I 've just been watching three large identical piston-engined aircraft flying on a north/south bearing to the west of Lodge Moor. They had long grey coloured fuselages and were flying in close formation. The only thing I could think of was Shackletons but three identical ones seem unlikely. Any Ideas ? HD Sorry, missed the fly-past, not visible from my bedroom window but do you have any more on this? Twenty Mk X1V Spitfires hidden underground in Burma since the Second World War could soon be flying to the rescue of dozens of workers at an under-threat Yorkshire aircraft factory. David Cameron secured a deal allowing the iconic fighters to be returned to the UK. They are brand new Spitfires and have never been flown before apart from test flights. The BAE factory in Brough, East Yorkshire has a heritage team that recently restored Swordfish and Firefly aircraft. W/E. [Courtesy The Yorkshire Post 16/04/12] It caused quite a stir here when I mentioned it to an old friend from Derby who used to work on Rolls Royce engines just after the war. Are there any other reports or photographs that you know about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayleaf Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Somewhat worrying version here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I've had an experience of the kind once, a few years ago. One saturday morning the wife and I set off from Fox House to walk the old road to Ringinglow. As we walked up near to Parsons House a 1950's era USAF trainer flew over very low, enough to see the 2 pilots heads. I assumed it was on its way to some air show, though I didn't know of one locally. It was only on thinking back later I don't remember any engine noise, and a jet of that period would have been very noisy. I also tried to watch it out of sight but couldn't follow it. In this case my wife saw it too. It may be over-active imagination, but since then I've kept an open mind. Late one Friday night in September 1986 my wife and I were driving back from Chesterfield along the A61 Dronfield bypass. We say some strange lights in the sky which travelled at speed but at one point seemed to slow and hover close to us and then speed on again. Being "normal" my wife assumed it must be some extra terrestrial spacecraft that was eyeing us up, - possibly for abduction back to Mars where they would analyse us and deduce that there is no intelligent life on Earth! Being more rational I observed the direction the lights were moving and deduced that they were probably aircraft heading towards RAF Finningley (as it was then) for the annual air show which was due to take place that weekend. To my wife the "hovering" of the lights could only come from a Martian flying saucer, to me it was probably a Harrier jump jet which could hover like this with ease. They would not however normally perform this at night while otherwise travelling at speed to a preset destination. Harriers did fly at Finningley the next day. As it was night the lights were aircraft lights in appearance but were never actually visible. So, as to what it actually was that we saw, who knows? We still discuss the possibilities occasionally even now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveH Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Careful Dave, your age is showing! On the other hand, I took this last year, looking over towards HD's neck of the woods... Very impressive, but I was expecting it to look more like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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