Constant Plane movements.

Sun 30 May 2021, 04:49

On the issue of B52 bombers… We spotted one some weeks back flying very low and slow just a couple of hundred yards north of where we were with the Canid collection on Hundley Way. It just .. looked.. out of the ordinary, and I remarked to my SO that it looked not quite, well, “right” in altitude or angle to be making what we’ve observed to be a “normal” approach to Brize from this part of north Charlbury. At the time I mentioned to my companion that-  could there be something wrong and was it aiming to get to wots-it’s-name airfield out west in Gloucestershire? Which ISTR handles combat aircraft. Whilst still keeping Brize conveniently on the port and reachable with a turn? The wind was from east ‘nor east so a turn in, and then back eastwards from a bit further on from Charlbury, might have been possible. But I am not a pilot (ianap … new acronym to add to ianal?).

So I thought about that unusual bearing and altitude and that a poorly plane could be on a flight path keeping Brize close and approachable. Just in case.

Then, a short while later, and disturbingly as B52s can carry lots of Very Dangerous Things, I stumbled across an item reporting a B52 with a flight emergency had to make a landing at first convenience, or whatever the terminology is, vectored for an emergency landing.

It didn’t in the end land at Brize but at…drat the name still escapes me, the big RAF base just west of us in Gloucestershire. The details were sparse as the military weren’t prepared to say much. The bearing that B52 was on would bring it straight onto that airfield west of here.

I’m more than a little suspicious that the B52 that we saw that day was indeed the one from the incident reported.

What’s a bit spooky is that a) we just happened to be in the perfect place to notice and track it flying in from the north east, over, and beyond, and to see a moderate course change that, although ianap again, would have put it onto the more local runway on a turn with the then wind direction being favourable for an upwind landing.

And b) what was it about the aircraft- its bearing, altitude, speed… what was it that made me immediately notice it and think “sick plane, hope its un-bombed” thoughts.

Indeed, all a bit spooky.