Mach Loop - Red Arrows

[Al.Grant]

Finally managed to get a holiday to the Mach Loop (RAF low flying training area) in Wales.  Been trying to get there for ages.

Wasn't disappointed! 21 aircraft passes on Wednesday. Hawks, Tornados, F-15 and the Red Arrows turned up for a run. 

 

These aircraft come in really low and noisy (especially the Tornado and F15) and at around 500mph they take some tracking to keep in the camera viewfinder.  

 

I used a 70mm-300mm lens on the camera but it was set at 70mm for the full 3 days ..... no crop, just close!

 

Al

[Bottletopburly]

We went to wales last year though i wanted to visit the loop didnt in the end ,it was quiet so to go and drop in on the action superb action

 

[Tweedledee]

Exciting stuff with them coming in that fast and low. ?

 

Got any more pics? 

[Al.Grant]

44 minutes ago, Tweedledee said:

Exciting stuff with them coming in that fast and low. ?

 

Got any more pics? 

Yeah, but most are still on the SD card so will need to be dragged off once we get home tomorrow,

This is one of the Tornados that went through on Tuesday.  Again ...70mm no crop .... VERY noisy!

 

The main problem I had was the position of the Sun caused a few washed out backgrounds, especially when they came directly overhead and the camera was almost vertical.

There are some better, higher positions that give a good 'hill side' background.  The climb is a bit more of a leg burner.

The good news is we're back here again next week for another 4 days, so we'll be trying a different position.

Of course, this assumes something will come through ..... you can spend all day up there and see nothing. Other days it's really busy.

It seems that they had 42 passes on Monday .....  Tuesday there were 2.  Wednesday we had +20 and Thursday was more like 8. 

So it's pot luck - turn up and see what you get but be prepared to be disappointed! ( nothing new to those who do astronomy! ?  )

 

Al

[+Bino-viewer]

Great images Alastair.

I'd love a trip up there .

 

Maybe soon the new F35s will be out and about......?

[Smithysteve]

Excellent pics and narrative on sensational passes. You did well to get some in frame! They must have seemed really fast at that range ?

[Al.Grant]

44 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

Great images Alastair.

I'd love a trip up there .

 

Maybe soon the new F35s will be out and about......?

I've been wanting to get up there for the past couple of years.  We found a really nice cottage to rent and it was available when we wanted to go - so just couldn't resist.

It was my wife that booked it.  We're back there next week.  She enjoyed it so much she's already talking about booking for next year.

 

There are a few people who go up there who seem to have an inside track on when things might be coming through.  One told us exactly when the Reds would be through.

He seems to think that the F-35's won't be through until about Aug or Sept.  Who knows!

 

10 minutes ago, Smithysteve said:

Excellent pics and narrative on sensational passes. You did well to get some in frame! They must have seemed really fast at that range ?

They can be difficult to track and if they drop out of frame then the autofocus / AI Servo struggle to get them back before they're way down the valley.

Next week we're going to try a spot higher up the hillside where we will get more of a top-down view.

 

Video of one of the Tornado passes:

 

 

Al

 

[Al.Grant]

Well, we're back after our second week at the Mach Loop and had a great break.

There are no guarantees that you will see anything but we got really lucky and saw multiple passes on each day we were up there - in excess of 60 passes in total!

We got great, low level, close up views of Hawk T2, Red Arrows (Hawk T1), Tornado, Tuccano, C-130 (RAF & USAF), Jet Provost, A400M and F-15's (C and E variants).

 

A great time was made even better by the fact that my wife loves it there, so much to do and it's looking likely that we'll have a caravan permanently sited within the Mach Loop area within the next couple of weeks.     I could try to talk her out of this but she is very keen so it would be really selfish to try ............

 

Oh and I suppose it is worth mentioning that being situated in Snowdonia (International Dark Sky Reserve ) it has some of the darkest skies in the UK  ???

..... so that might come in handy  ?

 

This F-15E came in really close!

[Tweedledee]

Sounds like day time and night time heaven there. ?

 

I bet you were ducking your heads at times with the jets getting that close. That's an exciting pic. ?

[Al.Grant]

49 minutes ago, Tweedledee said:

Sounds like day time and night time heaven there. ?

 

I bet you were ducking your heads at times with the jets getting that close. That's an exciting pic. ?

 

The skies should be great.  From the campsite there will be some restricted horizon views to the West and East due to the mountains but up above should be really good and there are other areas within 5 miles that give good all round views.

 

As for ducking ....... it's hard not to when the first few come over.  However when trying to get some pictures and tracking them at around 500mph then you kind of forget until the noise hits you, by which time it's too late as they've already gone past.

 

In some of the other pics, you can clearly see the co-pilot of a Hercules giving a wave and a ? through the cockpit window.

Those things just look like they shouldn't be able to bank over as far as they do and remain airborne!

 

This Twitter hashtag (  #MachLoop ) has some stunning images from the guys and girls who know the best spots and have the big lenses.

We stayed at some of the lower levels, but aim to get higher next time.

 

https://twitter.com/hashtag/machloop?lang=en

 

Al