Planes over Ely Cathedral

[markmullen]

A long shot this one, my dad is near Ely Cathedral and has seen 4 engined planes, airliner sized, passing low over the Cathedral from East to West with what he describes as an L shaped aerial or similar attached to the tailplane.

I know its a rubbish description but has anyone any guesses what they might be?

[xiphias]

Piston or Jet?

[markmullen]

Jet

[Shar2]

C-17?

Edited by Shar2 on Wednesday 17th September 15:17

[dougc]

E3 Sentry (AWACS)

[MK4 Slowride]

AWAX ?

[rhinochopig]

Nimrod?

[Shar2]

rhinochopig said:

Nimrod?

?

[Eric Mc]

Was it on fire?

(Sorry, I couldn't resist).

[HRG]

[markmullen]

Thanks chaps, from his description I reckon the ECM Nimrod is on the money, thanks a lot.

[OJ]

I live in Ely, They are F**KING loud. Flying over the flat in the middle of the night. Assumed they were from Mildenhall and thus American...

Would fit in with being large and loud

[dougc]

Sentry = No louder than an airliner
Nimrod = F**king loud.

[rhinochopig]

Totally off topic, but we're obviously in another exercise phase this week up here as Yesterday I had a Herc, several Tornadoes, Harrier, and several Chinooks over. The bloody Chinook was a real PITA as they were obviously practising some low-level NVG flying as all you could hear from between about 8 and 9pm was their very loud whoppity whop noise echoing around the dales.

[OJ]

dougc said:

Sentry = No louder than an airliner
Nimrod = F**king loud.

I dunno, it might have just been low. It had that high pitched whiny airliner overtones. I spent some time at Kinloss, it was quite a while ago, but I remember them being a nice solid deep rumble/roar

[Shar2]

rhinochopig said:

Totally off topic, but we're obviously in another exercise phase this week up here as Yesterday I had a Herc, several Tornadoes, Harrier, and several Chinooks over. The bloody Chinook was a real PITA as they were obviously practising some low-level NVG flying as all you could hear from between about 8 and 9pm was their very loud whoppity whop noise echoing around the dales.

Certainly something going on as we've had a shed load of Chinooks overflying us in West London.

[Hereward]

I went to school there in the 80's/90's and it was a great place to watch planes from Lakenheath/Mildenhall - SR-71 Blackbirds and F1-11's.

[rhinochopig]

Hereward said:

I went to school there in the 80's/90's and it was a great place to watch planes from Lakenheath/Mildenhall - SR-71 Blackbirds and F1-11's.

Ooh, thanks for reminding me, my copy of Sled Driver should be in at the Library by now. Must go and check.

[JVaughan]

Weve had a few C-17 over Andover reciently too.
Not seen a Nimrod over for a while though

[Tom_C76]

OJ said:

I live in Ely, They are F**KING loud. Flying over the flat in the middle of the night. Assumed they were from Mildenhall and thus American...

Would fit in with being large and loud

I'm in Ely too, and was shocked by the noise on Monday evening. Can't be the yanks though, as they promised they never fly over the cathedral...

TC