markrkingston1
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2007
- Messages
- 410
- Location
- London, England
This is a report of a missile escorted by two chase planes that I observed in a somewhat unusual location many years ago.
Background, location, and when:-
I was out on a trip with my parents and two family friends. I was aged somewhere around 10-13 so this event would have occurred somewhere around 1981 to 1984 (maybe a little before or a little after, but not much either way).
The five of us had gone to a picnic spot in southern England, probably somewhere in Hampshire. I do not now recall the exact location (although I may be able to identify it again if I study a map for long enough). The location was on an A or B class road with a layby/parking space. As I recall, the road ran roughly north-south. The parking area was on the eastern side of the road. A fairly steep, grassy hill ran up from the parking space to a forested ridge.
Details:-
My parents, family friends and I were walking around the grassy hill, looking for somewhere suitable to set up our picnic. I remember hearing the sound of an approaching low altitude jet aircraft and looked up.
To my surprise, what I saw was a missile being very closely followed/observed by a fighter. A short distance behind was another fighter. The entire ensemble shot across my field of view and disappeared from sight quickly (i.e. within a few seconds).
Sorry, no pictures. There wouldn't have been time to take a photo even if I'd had a camera in my hand.
The ensemble was flying from east to west, a few hundred yards to my north. This meant that I was able to clearly see the missile and both chase planes from their left hand sides. Their altitude was low, a few hundred feet above the top of the nearby ridge. Speed was very difficult to tell but definitely subsonic.
As I recall, the missile looked like it was of an anti-shipping type. Something very much like a Sea Eagle in configuration and size[1], but even at the time I could not be sure.
The first chase plane was flying to the right of the missile (i.e. was further away from me than the missile) and was slightly trailing the missile but overall was very close to it (probably around 30 feet away from the missile). As I recall, in terms of my line of sight, the cockpit of the first chase plane appeared slightly above the missile. Frustratingly I cannot now remember what type of aircraft the first chase plane was: It was either a Sea Harrier or a Phantom I think, but I cannot now recall which.
The second chase plane was a second or two behind and I recall was also a Sea Harrier or Phantom. I recall that the two chase planes were definitely different types, so it could have been "Sea Harrier then Phantom" or "Phantom then Sea Harrier".
And that was it. I saw it and then they were gone.
The other four people with me heard and vaguely saw the aircraft but were not quick enough to properly observe what they saw.
A bit about me:-
I was then (and still am) rather interested in military technology. There was no doubt about what I saw. The missile was not, for example, on a pylon on the nearest aircraft; it was definitely in free flight in a location where you would definitely not expect to see a missile in free flight.
Why was this odd?:-
This area of southern England is rural but is nonetheless populated with towns and villages. It's just not the kind of place you'd want to intentionally launch a missile (not even with, say, a dummy warhead or a telemetry package).
I was left considering two possibilities: (1) It was an intentional missile test (despite the potentially dangerous choice of location), or (2) it was an accidental launch. Neither of these possibilities seemed likely to me but I nevertheless saw what I saw and I could not (and still cannot) think of other plausible explanations.
(Just for the avoidance of doubt, I only saw the missile in free flight. I did not see it being launched.)
It should be noted that Salisbury Plain is about 40 miles (roughly) to the west of the area where I think this sighting took place, i.e. the missile and two aircraft were heading in roughly that direction. If what I saw was an intentional test (unlikely though I think this is due to safety reasons) then it is possible that the target area was on Salisbury Plain.[2]
And so that's it. It's only taken me 30+ years to write this down. What do you make of it?
Footnotes:-
1: Sea Eagle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Eagle_(missile). Length about 13 feet, wingspan about 4 feet.
2: Salisbury Plain is a large area of central southern England used as an exercise area, primarily by the British Army. Live firing occurs in this area. However, to the best of my knowledge it was not and is not normal for long range missile tests to occur on or terminate on Salisbury Plain. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_plain
Background, location, and when:-
I was out on a trip with my parents and two family friends. I was aged somewhere around 10-13 so this event would have occurred somewhere around 1981 to 1984 (maybe a little before or a little after, but not much either way).
The five of us had gone to a picnic spot in southern England, probably somewhere in Hampshire. I do not now recall the exact location (although I may be able to identify it again if I study a map for long enough). The location was on an A or B class road with a layby/parking space. As I recall, the road ran roughly north-south. The parking area was on the eastern side of the road. A fairly steep, grassy hill ran up from the parking space to a forested ridge.
Details:-
My parents, family friends and I were walking around the grassy hill, looking for somewhere suitable to set up our picnic. I remember hearing the sound of an approaching low altitude jet aircraft and looked up.
To my surprise, what I saw was a missile being very closely followed/observed by a fighter. A short distance behind was another fighter. The entire ensemble shot across my field of view and disappeared from sight quickly (i.e. within a few seconds).
Sorry, no pictures. There wouldn't have been time to take a photo even if I'd had a camera in my hand.
The ensemble was flying from east to west, a few hundred yards to my north. This meant that I was able to clearly see the missile and both chase planes from their left hand sides. Their altitude was low, a few hundred feet above the top of the nearby ridge. Speed was very difficult to tell but definitely subsonic.
As I recall, the missile looked like it was of an anti-shipping type. Something very much like a Sea Eagle in configuration and size[1], but even at the time I could not be sure.
The first chase plane was flying to the right of the missile (i.e. was further away from me than the missile) and was slightly trailing the missile but overall was very close to it (probably around 30 feet away from the missile). As I recall, in terms of my line of sight, the cockpit of the first chase plane appeared slightly above the missile. Frustratingly I cannot now remember what type of aircraft the first chase plane was: It was either a Sea Harrier or a Phantom I think, but I cannot now recall which.
The second chase plane was a second or two behind and I recall was also a Sea Harrier or Phantom. I recall that the two chase planes were definitely different types, so it could have been "Sea Harrier then Phantom" or "Phantom then Sea Harrier".
And that was it. I saw it and then they were gone.
The other four people with me heard and vaguely saw the aircraft but were not quick enough to properly observe what they saw.
A bit about me:-
I was then (and still am) rather interested in military technology. There was no doubt about what I saw. The missile was not, for example, on a pylon on the nearest aircraft; it was definitely in free flight in a location where you would definitely not expect to see a missile in free flight.
Why was this odd?:-
This area of southern England is rural but is nonetheless populated with towns and villages. It's just not the kind of place you'd want to intentionally launch a missile (not even with, say, a dummy warhead or a telemetry package).
I was left considering two possibilities: (1) It was an intentional missile test (despite the potentially dangerous choice of location), or (2) it was an accidental launch. Neither of these possibilities seemed likely to me but I nevertheless saw what I saw and I could not (and still cannot) think of other plausible explanations.
(Just for the avoidance of doubt, I only saw the missile in free flight. I did not see it being launched.)
It should be noted that Salisbury Plain is about 40 miles (roughly) to the west of the area where I think this sighting took place, i.e. the missile and two aircraft were heading in roughly that direction. If what I saw was an intentional test (unlikely though I think this is due to safety reasons) then it is possible that the target area was on Salisbury Plain.[2]
And so that's it. It's only taken me 30+ years to write this down. What do you make of it?
Footnotes:-
1: Sea Eagle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Eagle_(missile). Length about 13 feet, wingspan about 4 feet.
2: Salisbury Plain is a large area of central southern England used as an exercise area, primarily by the British Army. Live firing occurs in this area. However, to the best of my knowledge it was not and is not normal for long range missile tests to occur on or terminate on Salisbury Plain. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_plain
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