Unusual plane at Birmingham Airport

[Marc W]

Hi, I saw an unusal plane while staying in a hotel next to Birmingham airport over the weekend and thought someone on here is bound to know what it was.

It looked a bit like a military Hercules but was all in (relatively) Dark blue with a red stripe down the side. It also seeemd to have a dodgy engine one side as it smoked heavily on take off and was still smoking as it flew off over Birmingham leaving a long brown trail. It didn't turn back though so I'm assuming it was normal?

[BE57 TOY]

Marc W said:

Hi, I saw an unusal plane while staying in a hotel next to Birmingham airport over the weekend and thought someone on here is bound to know what it was.

It looked a bit like a military Hercules but was all in (relatively) Dark blue with a red stripe down the side. It also seeemd to have a dodgy engine one side as it smoked heavily on take off and was still smoking as it flew off over Birmingham leaving a long brown trail. It didn't turn back though so I'm assuming it was normal?

It's Russian

[Eric Mc]

How many engines?

Propellor driven?

An Antonov 12 or perhaps even a 22?

[Marc W]

More like the first picture as it wasn't particularly big. I don't think it was the plane in the first picture though as the nose wasn't as long. My memory is playing up but I think it had the two engines per wing like that one. I'm trying to find a photo on the internet of the exact plane but it doesn't seem to be around anywhere.


Looking at photos I think it may have been a C27 Spartan or maybe a C160 whatever the civillian equivalent is. The thing that made me notice it most was the huge amount of smoke it was making!

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 18th January 12:59

[Eric Mc]

The C-27 is twin engined - i.e. one engine on each wing - so it can't have been one of those. The C-27 is also a fairly modern western design and does not emit much in the way of exhaust smoke.

As far as I know, there are no civilian operators of the G222/C-27 family anyway.

[motomk]

Meridian? Antonov?

Edited by motomk on Wednesday 18th January 13:13

[RedLeicester]

BE57 TOY said:

Marc W said:

it smoked heavily on take off and was still smoking as it flew off

It's Russian

Only too true.

[Eric Mc]

Except it's Uktranian .

[RedLeicester]

Eric Mc said:

Except it's Uktranian .

Picky picky picky!

[Semi hemi]

RedLeicester said:

BE57 TOY said:

Marc W said:

it smoked heavily on take off and was still smoking as it flew off

It's Russian

Only too true.

To be fair, not just the Russians/Ukrainians that smoke heavily

[Le TVR]

Semi hemi said:

To be fair, not just the Russians/Ukrainians that smoke heavily

True. I remember CV880s operating out of Gatwick. I expect the RVR went out of limits when one left.

[Semi hemi]

Eric Mc said:

Except it's Uktranian .

Is Uktrania a nice place to visit?

[Eric Mc]

It's a bit yucktie I've heard.

[Marc W]

Motomk has it, that's the exact plane, it's even still smoking in the photo! And my memory is not as good as i thought it was these days!

Edited by Marc W on Wednesday 18th January 18:21

[Eric Mc]

They all smoke.

[smack]

Semi hemi said:

To be fair, not just the Russians/Ukrainians that smoke heavily

I remember seeing a line of B52-G's land in California in the 80's by a motel we where staying at - they tried to shake the place off it's foundations!

[RedLeicester]

Semi hemi said:

To be fair, not just the Russians/Ukrainians that smoke heavily

A good point, though I'd be mildly surprised waiting at the terminal at BHX to see one of those taking off...

[Eric Mc]

They pop into Fairford from time to time.

[RedLeicester]

Eric Mc said:

They pop into Fairford from time to time.

Certainly. Though oddly I don't fly off to work from there...

[captainflynn23]

Must of been one of these An12's.. or the An26 behind them.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fz9GWjNFhL8/TxU80uKd86I/...

The An26 behind them looks like this..

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EaYW_tgjsqU/Tc7aU__lLMI/...

Edited by captainflynn23 on Thursday 19th January 03:00