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Salisbury Plain Training Area


Seamus

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Evening all,

Last Thursday, I made the trip up to Wiltshire for my first taste of helicopter hunting on Salisbury Plain. Despite the poor weather and relative lack of action, it was an interesting day learning the ins and outs of some of the regularly used training areas, and what we did catch is pretty rare on the plain, so all in all a day very well spent B)

First catch up the day was a Bell 212 in the confines, one of only five the Army operate and the only one that isn't currently in Kenya. Sadly, it was winch training and so didn't lower itself as far into the confines as we'd have liked, and the light was awful, but a fine start nevertheless.

22587052259_b8e301ab68_o.jpgBell 212 ZK067 Army Air Corps SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22791203280_10f3474986_o.jpgBell 212 ZK067 Army Air Corps SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22965818322_63b92d8711_o.jpgBell 212 ZK067 Army Air Corps SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Next, the real highlight, and a rare sight in the confines, a lovely Junglie!

22956414352_abcd49c503_o.jpgWestland Sea King HC4 ZG821/G Royal Navy SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22347075164_240f2b7328_o.jpgWestland Sea King HC4 ZG821/G Royal Navy SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22347072054_ca5d355bfb_o.jpgWestland Sea King HC4 ZG821/G Royal Navy SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22577641449_f937557c08_o.jpgWestland Sea King HC4 ZG821/G Royal Navy SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

As the Junglie departed, we relocated to catch a Chinook at play. The light was once again awful, but it was good to watch the crews having some fun and throwing the thing around like they had stolen it! Interestingly, this is one of the cabs that have recently moved to Benson with 28 Squadron and carries it's new markings on the tail.

22799757130_1253891a5f_o.jpgBoeing Chinook HC4 ZH777 Royal Air Force SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

22961760946_6bd20977d6_o.jpgBoeing Chinook HC4 ZH777 Royal Air Force SPTA 12/11/15 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr

Not a bad haul for a first timer, and a great experience. Thanks for looking, hopefully they were of interest :)

Cheers

Shaun :)

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Thanks all B)

How do you know where to go on the Plain?

I had a very good tour guide!

shame the weather didn't behave for you, but there is always the next time!

Quite right, and there is sure to be several next times, the place is addictive!

Cheers,

Shaun

Edited by Seamus
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Salisbury Plain,...addictive,.....I`ve heard it called a lot of things but not that!!! I won`t say what I`ve heard it called as this s a family forum!

I did my back in on a DZ there appropriately called `Breakheart Bottom',......nuff said!

Cheers

Tony

Edited by tonyot
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Shaun,

WOW !! Lovely shots of the Helos. I bet the colourful helicopter would be amazing to see coming down over you.

VERY clean perfect shots....

for the time of the year, AND sometimes given the inclement weather, I think they are Impressive photographs...

Thank you muchly for sharing them.. :yikes::Tasty::clap:

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Excellent. Living 15 miles from the main battle training area, I can often see (and hear) night manoeuvres eve this far away - everywhere you drive South from (say) Devizes you drive over so many tank crossings and the like but have no idea of the scale of the place.

Even with the wind in the right direction you can hear RA day shoots in Chippenham. When I lived in Devizes, your windows would rattle sometimes!

It's been even more intense recently with regular RA night shoots (including lots of star shells) and regularly low-flying C-17 which can not be seen (other than nav lights) but definitely heard (!) on low-level air drops.

Google view the area to the NW of Tidworth and that gives a really clear sense of the place as it criss-crossed with AFV tracks - all banned to the general public mostly.

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  • 1 month later...

Living as I do on the edge of the SPTA I know when the Apache course is coming to its end at Middle Wallop as the returning low level flights pass overhead my house. Its always midnight give or take a minute or two. I do wish the Apache sounded nicer or flew faster so it didn't wake me up.

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It's been even more intense recently with regular RA night shoots (including lots of star shells) and regularly low-flying C-17 which can not be seen (other than nav lights) but definitely heard (!) on low-level air drops.

I didn`t know that C-17`s were cleared for air dropping in RAF service but if they were definitely C-17`s then they could have been USAF ones? We did DZ medical cover for the Yanks in the 80`s who would fly over non stop from Fort Bragg in C-141`s and lob into a DZ on the plain,.....sometimes missing the place altogether! We had to call the fire bde once to rescue a lot of them from the trees in a wood and some were taken to RAF Wroughton with pretty bad injuries caused by large branches!

Cheers

Tony

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I work on those 212's so nice to see them outside of the hangar environment. One of them has been sold and is totally white, so you may see it out and about but not for long..........

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I didn`t know that C-17`s were cleared for air dropping in RAF service but if they were definitely C-17`s then they could have been USAF ones? We did DZ medical cover for the Yanks in the 80`s who would fly over non stop from Fort Bragg in C-141`s and lob into a DZ on the plain,.....sometimes missing the place altogether! We had to call the fire bde once to rescue a lot of them from the trees in a wood and some were taken to RAF Wroughton with pretty bad injuries caused by large branches!

Cheers

Tony

I was out walking the dog last night and there was definitely a C-17 over the Plain near Devizes at about 1-2000ft doing circuits - I have assumed it's dropping something? Otherwise why? Driving home tonight from Chippenham and what looks like right over Devizes there are a loads of what look like floating candles steadily and slowly descending in the distance so there is obviously some sort of prolonged night exercise on at the moment

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Thanks for the thread resurrection and additional comments B)

nice shots.

I really want to nail helicopter shots, and that seems like the place to do it. Do you know if it operational daily, or is it "luck of the draw"?

I think you'd be unlucky not to catch something as it is used most days, but there is a good amount of luck involved in being in the right place at the right time to catch the more interesting types in the more desirable spots.

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I was out walking the dog last night and there was definitely a C-17 over the Plain near Devizes at about 1-2000ft doing circuits - I have assumed it's dropping something? Otherwise why? Driving home tonight from Chippenham and what looks like right over Devizes there are a loads of what look like floating candles steadily and slowly descending in the distance so there is obviously some sort of prolonged night exercise on at the moment

A friend of mine who lives near Westbury reports the RAF C-17 using RAF Keevil a lot both day and night.

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A friend of mine who lives near Westbury reports the RAF C-17 using RAF Keevil a lot both day and night.

Maybe they are just developing the rough field capability of the C-17 for RAF use or training to use a rough airfield abroad? I`ve jumped onto Keevil a few times so it is a DZ too and know that the RAF Herk fleet also use Keevil for rough/austere field training.

The floating candles sound more like parachute flares used by the Army for night exercises, they do go quite high and are very bright. I used the parachute for one to get my Para Teddy qualified to wear a set of para wings,...I shouldn`t really have said that should I? In my defence the missus bought it for me as a laugh and I wouldn`t let him wear wings without doing the prescribed 8 jumps,...and one of them was at night too!

Cheers

Tony

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Maybe they are just developing the rough field capability of the C-17 for RAF use or training to use a rough airfield abroad? I`ve jumped onto Keevil a few times so it is a DZ too and know that the RAF Herk fleet also use Keevil for rough/austere field training.

The floating candles sound more like parachute flares used by the Army for night exercises, they do go quite high and are very bright. I used the parachute for one to get my Para Teddy qualified to wear a set of para wings,...I shouldn`t really have said that should I? In my defence the missus bought it for me as a laugh and I wouldn`t let him wear wings without doing the prescribed 8 jumps,...and one of them was at night too!

Cheers

Tony

:rofl: Well, if you have owned up, then I had better! I also used a flare parachute to qualify my stuffed, (soft toy not taxidermy), hedgehog which was also bought for me, by the ex. :giles:;)

Christian, exiled to the dark place and member 1457 of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society

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Seems a good explanation. Are those flares shot or dropped?

The flares that I was talking about are fired by a built in rocket from the ground. If you walk around on SPTA you`ll see the disposable plastic tubes on the ground,.....I think that they were brown with white writing?

Re my Para Ted mentioned earlier,......here he is during his 8th jump!;

IMG_20160122_0001_0001_zps9ej6i0qa.jpg

He seems to be stuck in twists at the moment and isn`t making much effort to get out of them either! He`s quite a big teddy too,..so it shows how large the cotton flare parachutes are.

We did this for my little nephew who was belly laughing with excitement at all of this,.......he`s now an old sweat in the Royal Marine Commando`s (traitor!) and I feel rather old!

Cheers

Tony

Edited by tonyot
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