Military plane? [Image]

I live in a fairly rural area (Romsey/Southampton area) and have just had a low-flying plane do around 8 circles. It looks military but I may be wrong. It's low as the image shows and there have also been a load of helicopters flying really low. I can hear other activity but the clouds are very think (and its raining)...

Any ideas what this plane is:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6e2f76f45bc1.jpg[/atsimg]

The only other time planes have circled overhead was a LONG time ago and it was a prop plane (and during the night).

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bbdc043b4cd0.jpg[/atsimg]

It just seems strange to have one so close and so low along with helicopters....is that normal?

There is an airport around 10 miles away (but in the opposite direction to where the plane is circling).

I don't know what type of plane it is, but we had one here in Tallahassee, FL, last week doing touch and goes at the airport for almost 3 hours! It was a cloudy, misty rain day, so I assumed they were getting training time in real IFR conditions. The plane here was all white, no markings, and it appears the one in your photo is unmarked as well, although it looks a little more gray?

The original pic (3.5 mb) I can zoom in and it looks practically unmarked.... there appears to be a french flag underneath at the rear along with some other 'object'....? There's still stuff going on up/around there.... weird.

reply to post by AlwaysQuestion


The one that was here looked very similar, although I am not certain it had the 'twin' engines on each side. I know it was a very powerful jet, it made a lot more noise and vibration than the normal 737's that take off!

It also looks like you were having similar cloudy/rainy conditions in the area. That is very interesting, I wonder if this is a new aircraft that is logging time in these conditions, or if it is just some new class of pilots that needs to log the time?

Looks like a Vickers VC-10.
en.wikipedia.org...

Google Images

edit to add Google image link.

[edit on 9/15/2009 by abecedarian]

Holy #, I saw this flying low (I live near a major airport) in Australia! I distinctively remember that wing at the back. Have never seen an aircraft like it before.
This was about a month ago. It also had black smoke coming out of it for some reason.

Originally posted by Nventual
Holy #, I saw this flying low (I live near a major airport) in Australia! I distinctively remember that wing at the back. Have never seen an aircraft like it before.
This was about a month ago. It also had black smoke coming out of it for some reason.

The one here was leaving a black smoke trail also! I figured it was a combination of the humid/cloudy weather, and a "rich" setting for the touch and goes!

It definitely had a black trail though!

Interesting - i also saw one like this avbout two weeks ago, early on a fri eve flying that height but along side a dual carriageway in the uk.
The road is a major, long straight road (an old roman road) and is not any normal flightpath.

I wondered if it could be doing some form of visual navigational training seeing as it was following a major roadway?

Well I've never heard of airliners like that leaving black trails. Usually only old aircraft do it?

Why has the same aircraft been in UK, USA, and Australia in the last month? It was also overcast at the time but it has been on and off for a while now.

Looks like a VC-10 Tanker to me.

RAF VC10

They fly out of Brize Norton.

Possibly on exercise?

reply to post by Nventual


Well, I am adding a Star and Flag now, because something is certainly up if this craft is doing IFR maneuvers all over the world, "Ded" reckoning is flying by landmarks or Visual references, and it seems to favor obscure airports and cloudy weather, and it doesn't seem to have any markings!

I'm not saying this is anything nefarious, but it definitely seems to be an organized, concerted maneuver for some reason or another?! I hope we get more witnesses on here!

As for the black smoke, it is unusual to see this from a 'jet' but it isn't unheard of, especially at low altitude and high power settings. They typically enrich the fuel/air mixture to achieve more power for take off, and this leaves some fuel unburned in the exhaust.

Yep must have been a VC10 for sure then, at least in the UK..
groups.google.com...
This guy says he saw it fly over on September 8th.

Wonder what they're doing with them showing up at different parts of the world around the same time. There couldn't be that many still running so it could have been the same ones?

the 4 things I see ... 1) its a vc-10... 2) w/ refueling boom .... painted 3) navy gray ( like e-3 sub chasers ) , and it has winglets ( for secondary flight controls )

I would suggest it is a war ready , helicopter in-air refueling air craft . likely navy , but definitly military .

the markings ( or lack of markings ) tell me that it is active military , coming out of a war ready /combat mission ...



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I should add... my guess is as good as any one else ...
I don't know what it is for sure ..

I'm not sure if this is connected or not but around the same time my friend told me that he was driving down the freeway that leads to the airport and he noticed that no cars were coming from the opposite direction. About 5 minutes later he sees 2 police motorbikes go by, then nothing. 2 minutes later he sees 2 police cars, then nothing. A minute later he sees two unmarked sedans, and behind that he saw 2 black tinted vans and behind that was more police bikes.

There was nothing on the news and at the time I tried finding information but couldn't find anything.
Whoever it was they are more important than the prime minister, because not even his motorcade is as seriously protected as that. There were no flags on any of the vehicles either.

[edit on 15/9/09 by Nventual]

Don't mean to derail the thread with that though. Probably not connected.


This is from wikipedia:

. The surviving airworthy VC-10 C1Ks, K3s and K4s serve as tanker/transports with No. 101 Squadron at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire and No. 1312 Flight at RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, making the RAF the VC10's final operator

So there's only a small handful left? What are they doing flying around the world?

Doesn't the UN use those to drop off troops?

Had one exactly like that come in low and land here in montana last thursday afternoon, i though it was odd because it didnt have any real markings that could be made out, either military, or civilian.

Very unusual they are showing up at so many diffrent locations all within a shot amount of time.
We get big planes in all the time, but they are commercial, and its obvious, this is the first one i have seen over the town in the 3 years that i have lived here.. not like i could miss it, as loud as it was going over.. l

Well then I'll be the first to say it, just because it is inevitable that it will come up sooner or later and I'd like my 15 minutes of fame:

Taking into account what has been said in this thread and the alleged military warning about getting their families out of major cities by October, these aircraft are being used to drop off troops at major cities in western countries in anticipation of a major event.
*takes tin-foil hat off*

Interesting, about 4 months ago I was in Avebury and saw this plane fly over.
It looked to be preparing to land. I later found out that there is a RAF base not too far in the direction of where the plane was headed.







It is not the same model jet but looks to be the same color

reply to post by Nventual


As far as I know, the one here never made a "full-stop" landing, so it couldn't have dropped off any troops. Plus, I know a lot of people at the airport, and I think I would have heard something!

Nevertheless, it could have been training runs for a future event! It certainly seems odd that aircraft based in the UK would be seen in non-military airports in Florida, Montana, and Australia within a short amount of time!