Chinooks circling in West Sussex
Discussion
Living in West Sussex there seems to be a fair amount of Chinook activity,but just about 5.30 today we had two of them slowly circling around the area between Arundel and Chichester.
Bearing in mind the shortage of them in theatres of war, I was wondering what they were up to. Festival of Speed is over and I don't think the army had any heavyweight equipment to pick up from there.
Just wondering.....
Bearing in mind the shortage of them in theatres of war, I was wondering what they were up to. Festival of Speed is over and I don't think the army had any heavyweight equipment to pick up from there.
Just wondering.....
9.3 said:
Living in West Sussex there seems to be a fair amount of Chinook activity,but just about 5.30 today we had two of them slowly circling around the area between Arundel and Chichester.
Bearing in mind the shortage of them in theatres of war, I was wondering what they were up to. Festival of Speed is over and I don't think the army had any heavyweight equipment to pick up from there.
Just wondering.....
What shortage is that then? The one the press reports all the time? Every rotary asset in the MOD inventory could be sent to "theatres of war" and the media would still say there's a shortage. There isn't. The Merlin fleet is home, and the Chinny fleet is winding down with tasking days apparently being half what they were in the heady days of 2006/7/8.Bearing in mind the shortage of them in theatres of war, I was wondering what they were up to. Festival of Speed is over and I don't think the army had any heavyweight equipment to pick up from there.
Just wondering.....
There are a couple of training fields in W Sussex. Probably that.
As Crossflow Kid says, training, and you're not far from Odiham either. Military a/c, whether helicopters or Typhoons, will go a surprising distance on training sorties in a given day.
Back in the Cold War, RAF Germany fast-jets would get airborne out of Bruggen or wherever, transit to the UK, hit the ranges, land, lunch, refuel, then back in Germany in time for tea and medals. All in a day's work.
Back in the Cold War, RAF Germany fast-jets would get airborne out of Bruggen or wherever, transit to the UK, hit the ranges, land, lunch, refuel, then back in Germany in time for tea and medals. All in a day's work.
We camped just outside Chichester from last Wednesday evening to Sunday morning for the FoS, and we'd not long got the tent up on the Wednesday when two WokkaWokkas appeared from the direction of Goodwood heading west along the coast toward Portsmouth. It looked (and sounded) to me like they had just got airborne.
As others have said, it'll likely be a training exercise. All crews need to keep their log-books topped up, and they need to practice the art of operating in/out of less familiar LZs. Often the RAF are criticized for their "Jollies" but to be fair, if you are on a training flight anyway, what the hell is the harm in dropping the CO/some colleagues off at an event on the way? Or, maybe they were so inundated by potential recruits at their PR stand at the festival, that the helicopters were replenishing the printed matter/DVDs they give out to all and sundry.
As others have said, it'll likely be a training exercise. All crews need to keep their log-books topped up, and they need to practice the art of operating in/out of less familiar LZs. Often the RAF are criticized for their "Jollies" but to be fair, if you are on a training flight anyway, what the hell is the harm in dropping the CO/some colleagues off at an event on the way? Or, maybe they were so inundated by potential recruits at their PR stand at the festival, that the helicopters were replenishing the printed matter/DVDs they give out to all and sundry.
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