I have never seen or heard a military jet fighter fly over central London before. One just flew over Doughty Street at very low level indeed. Hmmm...
UPDATE: From the MoD... Veteran's Minister Derek Twigg presents 500,000th Armed Forces Veteran's Badge to Sonia Hartford from Birmingham, who served in the Royal Logistics Corps & also served in Germany, Cyprus and Northern Ireland during her 10 years in the Army. Event marked by flypast of a Lancaster and Eurofighter Typhoon as well as a gun salute from HMS Belfast.
37 comments:
It's just flown over Euston Road!
Was it one of ours?
Maybe it was Tom Cruise filimg "Top Gun 2"?
Hmm.. indeed. They don't normally because there is other air traffic around and more importantly no need.
I wonder if we will ever find out?
Reminds me of the day the Olympic bid was announced.
I work in City, and no one had informed anybody that jets would be making a flypast if the bid were succesful.
Cue a street full of people hurling themselves to the ground in terror......
steve fossett??
The Russians are coming!!
So it's a jet figher and it took 4 minutes (judging from the original post and the 'anonymous' post) to get from Doughty Street to Euston Road?
Seems unlikely.
Which worries you most Iain?
Germany foils 'massive' bomb plot
or
All UK 'must be on DNA database'
Quite frankly, the latter and the reaction i've seen so far today in the media scares me far more than any potential terrorism threat.
Ok, a bit off topic but lets face it, all the security services are probably a bit on edge at present (9/11 anniversary coming up, lots of rumours about Iran, alleged plot in Germany, etc). The big problem with this is that they use this institutional paranoia in an attempt to justify their draconian measures.
Enough is enough!
Perhaps they are using PFI mapping which is telling them the Thames is the Tigris.
Come to where I live we have them all the time, but as its LondOn it blog worthy.
Nah, it's probably a bloody RAF pilot thinking he's 'Maverick' from 'Top Gun'. Used to live near an RAF base, and some git of a pilot would fly intentionally low to make the populace shi*e themselves with the following sonic boom.
let's just hope it's not an american pilot
It was a eurofighter, sorry Typhoon flying with the one remaining airworthy Lancaster - possibly some press thingy organised to promote the official handover of the highly expensive and very late project and its importance in the RAF?
All of which beggars the question - should the MoD be wasting taxpayers money burning airfuel like that (not green) when the damn machine should be out where it is needed????
Probably from Patrick Mercer in his new role - heading for a direct hit on Ancram!
ATC at London Terminal Control (who control all air traffic over London before handing it over to the airports for landing) are very reticent to allow military jets over central London, as it means holding back in-bound flights for Heathrow in one of the four 'stacks' they use.
This puts up delay times which then figure in NATS monthly results, and then result in possible fines by the regulator.
Therefore, unless it is a special occassion, such as when three concordes landed one after the other (I was there, in the ATC tower at Heathrow - amazing sight), or a military fly-past (all of which are known about in advance) I would start panicking!
OK, I joke on the last bit, but it is unusual activity.
Benedict White - phone NATS press office in SOuthampton and ask them. They will know (whether they tell is a different matter though)!
maybe somone spotted michael ancram afterall
You lot! Not the Russians are coming. This is more "remember Al Jazeera", "remember Radio Free Belgrade" - particularly as the whole thing was clearly focused on 18 Doughty Street.
Not the long-awaited military coup then?
Simon 12:28
At the risk of sounding nerdy, low flying aircraft cannot travel supersonically. Sonic Booms come off aircraft flying at a reasonably high altitude - which nowadays almost never happens over populated areas.
You don't actually need a sonic boom to scare the sh*t out of someone. Just fly low and fast and the engine noise will do the trick.
I am pleased to note that HMS Belfast's 6" guns still function: our very own Battleship Potemkin for when the time comes?....
ForesightNews gave a lead on this from a couple of days ago
Wednesday 05 September 2007
Armed Forces Veteran's Badge - Defence Minister presents 500,000th badge
HMS Belfast, London, SE1, 10.30am
hide story
Derek Twigg presents award to Sonia Hartford, a veteran of the Royal Logistics Corps. Event is marked by flypast from a Lancaster and Eurofighter Typhoon as well as a gun salute from HMS Belfast. Embargoed until September 5.
Huntsman, wasn't it the Aurora?
Bit jumpy are you Iain? Not frit I hope, Mrs T wouldn't like that...
Hmmm, so someone who has been in logistics in Cyprus and Germany warrants a flypast, but those who are dying in Iraq employed by the MoD as interpreters are told they don't have strong enough ties to the UK to come here.
Sounds about right for this bunch.
Err it regularly Iain; you never stick around after Trooping the Colour to watch the fly-past at Buckingham Palace?
hatfield girl said...
"Huntsman, wasn't it the Aurora?"
That was another event.
Aurora was indeed another ship at another but similar time and would do as well as an allusion.
Sadly our last battleship HMS Vanguard was broken up in 1959 (I can just remember this being on the TV, I am afraid!) rather than saved as a museum piece: it sported 8 x 15" guns which would have been more than adequate for what I have in mind!
Still, Belfast is a handy bit of kit.
Iain Dale
".....as well as a gun salute from HMS Belfast."
HMS Belfast's guns are permanently trained on the first service area on the M1 (London Gateway services).
Huntsman, Do excuse me, I imputed a bolshevik position when a menshavik stance was implied clearly by Potemkin; no wonder I kept not making the grade as a cadre.
Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring!
There are lots of airfields in East Anglia so, until Anon helpfully gave us the facts at 1.35pm, I assumed it was someone from Cambridgeshire with an urgent message for Iain Dale that a juicy seat has come up.
Unfortunately his obvious panic at a not all that rare event meant that the jet went home again and the seat is now safe for a more "local" candidate (i.e. one of the 300 stuck in a jam on the M11 rushing up there to find their local roots).
Seriously, it could be you.
With regard to someone's recollection above of the day they announced the Olympics were coming to London - I also threw myself to the ground with fear and trepidation but in my case it was to protect my wallet from the flying Council Tax bills to pay for it.
...is it safe to come out yet?
What? You mean Iain Dale isn't Orson Wells and that wasn't War of the Worlds?
And when is Derek Twigg going to get off his arse and pay his respects at a funeral for any of those currently dying on his government's behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq.
When are any of these scumbags going to look the grieving relatives in the eyes, rather than spouting platitudes to the media?
wsxAs a proud recipient of one of these appalling cheapjack "Veterans' Badges", I cannot imagine any circumstances under which I'd ever wear it.
They'd have been better off spending the money funding the occasional Ministerial visit to Selly Oak.
Don't be afraid of a ceremonial flypast Iain, be VERY afraid of the USAF which 'mistakenly' loaded and temporarily 'lost' nuclear warheads on a B52 which flew the length of the US last week. The aircraft in question was routed into the main staging airbase for Middle East bombing operations. Was the release of this news 'whistleblowing', or sending a warning? Cockup or conspiracy?
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