What was it and where was it going?

[Bill Carr]

I hope you knowledgeable types can help me.

I was travelling home in the car today, around 9.45 in the morning, when all of a sudden I heard a massive sound very quickly building, and <5 seconds later a very large helicopter flew overhead. It was very low - no more than a couple of hundred feet up - looked like a big 'un and possibly military as it was painted dark green. Pretty sure it was a single rotor.

What's curious to me is why it would be flying so low and also where it could be going? There are no airfields nearby, civilian or otherwise, and it seemed strange that such an aircraft was in the area and flying so low (between 2 villages) in an otherwise aircraft-free area.

It was roughly here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&a...

and was heading roughly NNE.

This is probably a really dull and odd post for you guys but I was intrigued and thought someone on here could possibly shed some light on what I saw.

Ta.

[perdu]

air force one (whatever!) taking CMD to Scotland?

or simply a military flight travelling cross country along a line feature (motorway or railway) but flying a distance to the side of the line to avoid crashing into another aircraft travelling the same line feature the other way

not to worry, there'll be somebody along soon who knows exactly what its about

[Eric Mc]

There aren't that many large single rotor choppers in the UK these days - especially since the USAF retired the CH53s that used to be beased at Woodbridge.

Perhaps it was an RAF Merlin.

[Bill Carr]

Eric Mc said:

Perhaps it was an RAF Merlin.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafoperationalupdate/gallery/opsgallery10may09.cfm?viewmedia=5

That's the puppy! Or something very similar anyway. Thank you Eric.

I suppose it could have been CMD travelling to Scotland, but would a helicopter have the range? (I have no idea)

The theory about following the road/rail lines for guidance is interesting, because the spot where I saw the helicopter is almost equidistant between the M1 and west-coast mainline, although it was flying nearly perpendicular to them.

It still strikes me as unusual that it would be flying so low - only a couple of hundred feet at most above ground, in an area which gets little/none air traffic.

[perdu]

I seriously doubt that Dave would have flown all that way in a military chopper

there are more enjoyable ways of traversing territory (wanna see my tee shirt?), although a US Army Chinook was fun back in 77...

The "following line features" thing is SOP

Saves time when navigating, I don't mean that modern military aircraft don't have state of the art (and better!) nav systems but crews have to be capable of using basics too

I'm intrigued though

[tog]

Bill Carr said:

There are no airfields nearby, civilian or otherwise

Merlins are based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, so not more than a few minutes flying time really. They seem to fly low wherever they go I think - keeps them ready for Helmand province!