Low flying Hercs

[lew]

I see Hercules aircraft flying over the house several times a week, presumably on a milk run from Trenton and every now and then their very low and it's always an impressive sight.

 

Got this picture a couple days back while he was circling low over Clear Lake in the Kawarthas several times and then headed down towards Peterboro. I'm guessing it was something to do with Simcoe Day but who knows.

 

 

Here's a couple pictures I took 2 years ago of another Herc over my house again.

 

 

 

Maybe nobody else finds this stuff interesting, but I sure do

 

 

[lookinforwalleye]

Very cool...I saw a Lancaster do a fly by a couple of years ago it was a awesome sight, I can only imagine what it might have been like to hear a squadron of those beasts fired up!

[Old Ironmaker]

I just love seeing low flying military aircraft fly by. Being on the Lakeshore of Erie the shoreline provides natural highway for aircraft. The Snowbirds flew over so close a few years back I swear I could touch them. The Canadian Warplane Heritage museum is 40 minutes or so by car from us. We see the historic aircraft, like the Lancaster fly by regularly. A entire squad of bombers would pop every drywall nail in this place.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Old Ironmaker

[lew]

Those Lancasters are absolutely impressive to see flying low overhead. When I lived in Toronto we'd see them circling the city every year for the Airshow.

 

I may be wrong but I think I read there's only 2 left in the world still able to fly.

 

My Mom's brother was a bomber pilot during the war and was killed along with his whole crew when they went down.

 

When I was in the Navy a lifetime ago we used to work with the Bonaventure a lot and I could spend all day watching the planes take off and land from her deck.

 

Edited August 5, 2015 by lew

[lookinforwalleye]

Yes only 2 that are airworthy....this the one I saw...impressive indeed!

 

 

 

 

 

[manitoubass2]

Awesome pics lew!!!!

 

There is a base around near my place on the amercan side and once or twice a year fighter jets pass over and shake the houses lol. Its so cool to see!

 

OI, snowbirds were just here about 3 weeks ago and did runs almost over our house. Talk about skill! The show was 40km east in fort frances but I guess they were pra ticing near us. Insane to watch them! They were a real treat to watch when i was a kid too!

[dave524]

I live a stones throw from the south shore of Lake Ontario, lots of activity in the sky. Constant helicopter traffic as I believe they are not allowed over water, Recently the Lancaster and B25 Mitchell out of Hamilton. Whenever a Herc is doing a low pass along the shore , you check the news and almost always there is a boating mishap on the lake.

[lew]

Recently the Lancaster and B25 Mitchell out of Hamilton.

 

I got out of the Navy in '67 and while waiting to go on the Fire Dept I had a few months to kill and got a job working for a private hanger at Toronto Airport.

 

We had a B-25 stored in our hanger that was sold to an outfit in Texas called the Confederate Air Force. They'd buy up old military planes and refurbish them to original condition.

 

I often sat in the cockpit of that old plane and wonder what it was like to be in something like that while being attacked from all sides by enemy planes.

[paul_614]

We live in the flight path of the Buffalo air base and we get jets and all sorts of military aircraft flying overhead

[DRIFTER_016]

We get them here too.

But even better is when the CF18's are up here doing sorties!!!!

[Cast-Away]

Very cool Lew. There is a colonel out of Trenton who has a cottage in the 30,000 islands and he often flies over it with the crew as part of their flight training.

 

The Lanc flew over downtown TO on Sunday. My uncle was a gunner in one during WWII and made it through his tour although my dad said his brother was never the same after that.

[Joey]

I think it's cool Lew. I usually get a few shots of them when we fish BOQ. They fly low there too. A neat sight to see for sure!

[Headhunter]

Same here Joey... no uncommon to see them while fishing the Q. I'd stand up and give them a wave and they would sometimes give us the ole wing dip. Pretty darn cool and great pic Lew!

HH

[Gerritt]

We get to see tons of planes here in Brighton of all different sorts and usually all flying very low. Most of the flights are training exercises for the pilots to earn their hours. Being so close to the Trenton airbase has its advantages! The nighttime flare excersizes are amazing to witness the entire sky looks like it is on fire

 

G

[skeeter99]

I see Hercules aircraft flying over the house several times a week, presumably on a milk run from Trenton and every now and then their very low and it's always an impressive sight.

 

Got this picture a couple days back while he was circling low over Clear Lake in the Kawarthas several times and then headed down towards Peterboro. I'm guessing it was something to do with Simcoe Day but who knows.

 

 

Here's a couple pictures I took 2 years ago of another Herc over my house again.

 

 

 

Maybe nobody else finds this stuff interesting, but I sure do

 

 

 

 

they are putting in their training time up and down all day long

 

every 45 to 1 hr 10 mins an electra circles just over Oshawa and back to Trenton then touch the runway and back up for the loop

[craigdritchie]

I live in Oakville. Canadian Warplane Heritage takes people up on sightseeing flights most Saturdays, and sometimes on Sundays too. They usually fly up and down the lake shore, so every weekend is an air show around here. You often see their Lancaster, B-25, Harvards and C-47 out doing rides. Sometimes you see visiting planes, including a Mosquito, B-17 and B-24.

 

Wife arranged a flight in the Lancaster for me when I turned 50. I can't even begin to describe it. There is zero space inside that plane, all the available space goes to fuel tanks, bombs and machine gun ammo. The plane isn't pressurized, and there are gaping openings to the outside everywhere, so the wind whistles right through it while you're airborne. It's fine in the summer at low altitudes, but climb to 20,000 feet and then it would be 50 below with a 250 mph wind chill. Moving around inside the plane is difficult in even shorts and a t-shirt ... I can't even imagine what it would be like to be cramped into that thing for seven or eight hours in the pitch dark, while it's -50 degrees inside and you're getting shot at the whole way. The people who did this night after night are a whole lot braver than me.

 

Lancaster:

 

 

 

 

View from the dorsal turret while flying over Bronte. To sit here you assume the fetal position, sitting on your tail bone. On bombing missions during the war you would be there for about eight hours. I began to cramp after about 15 minutes:

 

 

 

Cockpit view while buzzing the Skyway bridge. Cockpit window is open a little ways, as it was a very hot day:

 

 

 

Heading back to land. You can't hear anything over the four big Merlins:

 

 

 

We're so lucky to have the opportunity to see planes like this. You see the Lancaster, or a Herc, or a CF-18 and it makes you appreciate everything we have today.

[lew]

Great pictures Craig, must have been quite a ride in that old girl.

 

Curious about the shark faces on the engines though, was that a standard thing for a certain Lancaster squadron or is it just for show now.

 

I know the Flying Tigers had that design on their planes in China.

Edited August 5, 2015 by lew

[craigdritchie]

The shark teeth were painted on for a short time while they were celebrating one particular Lanc that flew with RCAF 419 squadron. You can read a bit more about it here. Apart from the shark teeth, they also painted on different registration numbers, and applied the name "Ropey" to the nose.

 

It wasn't like that for long, maybe a week or two? The plane has since been repainted to its normal VR-A scheme.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Craig_Ritchie

[lew]

Thanks Craig, that's interesting.

[Walleye72]

So, a few years back my guys 8 man fishing trip was in Benoir Lake which is part of the Elephant Lake / Baptiste Lake group of lakes. We were all outside on the deck overlooking the lake having a coffee and shaking off the cobwebs of the night that was when a noise started from the front of the cottage and began getting louder. It sounded like a lawnmower at first and progressed to sounding like a dump truck when suddenly what I assume was a hercules water bomber for fire fighting flew directly over the cottage at what felt like 10 feet but was probably 50 feet. Massive majestic thing had 8 men standing their with their mouths wide open. It felt like I could have reached up and grabbed it.

 

I don't know enough about the area to know if they train for that on that lake system why exactly it was there but it was awesome!

[dave524]

Walleye72, it was probably a CL-215, Canadian design although Hercs have been used for water bombing.

 

Lew, the Confederate Air Force is still around but political correctness caught up with them and are known now as the Commemorative Air Force, this was long before the whole recent Confederate flag flap though

Edited August 5, 2015 by dave524

[lew]

 

Lew, the Confederate Air Force is still around but political correctness caught up with them and are known now as the Commemorative Air Force, this was long before the whole recent Confederate flag flap though

 

After I made my post Dave I went to CAF website to see if I could find the B25 I was talking about and saw where they'd changed their name.

 

Sad thing if it indeed was Political Correctness.

[Tom McCutcheon]

Just another possibility other than training missions Lew. They could actually be checking farms and bush lots for Grow Ops. I have seen them low over the fields and bush around Pigeon Lake in the past with the doors open and scanning equipment aimed towards the ground.

 

Neat just the same.