Salisbury Plain - 07/03/2008

An OK forecast and the need to get out prompted a first visit for myself in 2008 to Salisbury Plain. My companion, as always at this location, was Paul Dunn.

We arrived to find crystal clear blue skies - a far cry from the weather we'd both driven through on the way to our destination!

Things were rather quiet for the first hour or so, but it wasn't too long before that quickly changed. 'Ragtag formation' were first up. A very brief bit of general handling, before they departed.

An old friend and an item on our 'most wanted' list arrived next. The former being the ETPS 'ripple' Lynx. and the latter the red and white (705 NAS style) Gazelle, belonging to QinetiQ at Boscombe Down. Dunny elected to chase the Gazelle, while I stayed put and simply hoped it'd come my way! Dunny seemed to be winning the battle hands down while I was getting treated to some very photogenic opportunities by the Lynx, but eventually I got a taste of the Gazelle too.

It then went very quiet until the ETPS's own 'ripple' Gazelle arrived for a very quick spin around.

All of a sudden the radio was alive again. This Squrrel announced his intentions to pay us a visit, and shortly before he arrived we heard and saw a Chinook get airborne from Boscombe. Not wanting to get our hopes up (this was another of our 'most wanteds') we simply prayed that it'd come to see us.

With the Squirrel 'complete', that unmistakeable thudding could be heard in the distance, and sure enough, there she was! Not just your average Chinook either. This was ZH898, one of the infamous (sadly for the wrong reasons) Chinook HC3s! It was undergoing handling trials with QinetiQ crews at the controls.

What a beast! Those side fuel tanks are absolutely huge and really add to the menacing 'look' of the HC3.

We were treated to an amazing display of tight turns right over our heads, with the crewman dangling out the side door waving at us. I think it's fair to say that we were like kids in a sweetshop! Absolutely awesome, and massive thanks go to the crew of Gauntlet 66 for playing ball with us!

Not a huge number of movements, but some real quality in what we did get, with the obvious highlight being that Chinook!