5
$\begingroup$

I live in the suburbs of London in Greenford (near RAF Northolt Base) and today I heard a droning sounds which, albeit from my limited experience, sounded like a propeller plane. I checked my generic flight radar application on my smart phone, no result. I then checked the ADS-B tracking website which identifies most military aircraft that aren't flying covertly but, again, no result.

I did manage to take a picture of the aircraft and it looks like a small passenger turboprop plane - so any ideas about what aircraft this is and why it wouldn't be showing up on any radars? It does not seem like a stealthy fighter jet by any means.

enter image description here enter image description here

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
10
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Was the bottom of the body bright red? (I assume your eyesight is better than mine in combination with the picture.) $\endgroup$
    – Řídící
    Aug 26, 2017 at 11:15
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Seems to be dark blue $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Aug 26, 2017 at 14:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The Let L-410 looks similar - possibly military personel transportation? I know the German airforce uses these $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Aug 26, 2017 at 14:12
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ My guess is that it is an "old timer". Things to work on: - the wing is elliptical - the vertical tail is rounded - the engines seem to be almost as large as the cockpit - the horizontal tail seems to have some kind of simmetrical feature - it has a low tail, not a T-tail $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Aug 26, 2017 at 19:58
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I uploaded another image. On this one it doesn't seem so elliptical and the vertical stabiliser seems to have some sort of circle icon. I thought for a moment it might be a Britten-Norman? I guess the jury is still out. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Aug 26, 2017 at 20:52

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
6
$\begingroup$

enter image description here

Spy planes!!! Looks like I found an answer after two years when I came across a blog called 'secret bases'.

"Keen MI5 spy plane spotters should continue to lurk around RAF Northolt. A company formed by former elite RAF pilots, 2 Excel Aviation, actually based at Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire, is now performing those spooky Northolt tasks, as part of its Scimitar special projects team.

They are using Piper PA31 Navajo aircraft "G-SCIR" (ModeS 40729C), "G-SCTR" (ModeS 40029D) and "G-SCMR" (ModeS 40729E) — all registered to 2 Excel in February / March 2017. They joined regular "sneaky-beaky" craft "G-UMMI" (ModeS 400C86) which is regularly spotted with special communications equipment attachments.

All three RAF Northolt Piper Navajo PA31 craft had been purchased by 2 Excel from Mike Jones Aircraft Sales Inc in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, America, who specialise in Colemill Panther conversions for performance and safety boosts. G-SCTR previously carried registration mark N331DB. G-SCIR had been supplied with tail number N522AW and G-SCMR had previously carried N27773.

Military aviation enthusiast Alan Warnes blogged on the subject in August 2017 on his Warnesy's World website, but strangely he only noted two out of the three Piper Navajos and missed G-SCIR. Curious, as the three registrations all took place at the same time – February / March 2017.

The London Evening Standard's Business Pages reported on my findings in an article headlined "Lift Off: Home Office privatises MI5 spy plane operations"."enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The belly paint job looks the same. I think you nailed it! $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Nov 30, 2019 at 13:05
  • $\begingroup$ 2200hrs, 7/3/20, G-SCIR is currently doing approx 20mile leg circuits centering on Hull. i.stack.imgur.com/0XmmK.png $\endgroup$
    – user34016
    Mar 7, 2020 at 22:13
  • $\begingroup$ @bradshaw Scooping up mobile communications for analysis I wonder? Interesting :) $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Mar 9, 2020 at 0:26
5
$\begingroup$

A long shot, but perhaps it's an Avro Anson, a true "old timer" from WWII and used by the RAF no less.


(source: wikimedia.org)

Image credits all from Wikipedia

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry to bring up an old thread but what about an Embraer EMB 121 Xingu? I saw one flying today in the same area from the French Air Force. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Sep 19, 2018 at 9:00
  • $\begingroup$ I think i found an answer. Have a look at the bottom $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Nov 30, 2019 at 3:16
  • $\begingroup$ @quiet-flyer I think I answered the question :) it’s a Piper PA31 Navajo aircraft $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Mar 9, 2020 at 0:28
2
$\begingroup$

I'm going to hazard a guess here, but that's likely the best you will get unless someone tracks down a photo of a plane with a matching paint scheme.

Here's my thought process:

  • tapered, low wings
  • engine nacelles are almost as long as the nose, which narrows things down a bit
  • engine nacelles are relatively large in size, so it's...
    1. probably piston engined
    2. probably fairly small, maybe 6 passengers?
  • vertical tail looks swept
  • horizontal tail is placed low, and is at least as wide as the engine nacelles
  • fuselage tapers from the trailing wing root to the tail

As far as I can tell, it looks an awful lot like a Beechcraft Baron.


Image credit: AOPA

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
10
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The wingtips look more tapered and the nose more boxy than the Baron to my eye, but I could well be wrong. $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J ♦
    Aug 27, 2017 at 3:43
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, could be. Without a higher quality photo, this is really just an exercise in futility. My other guess was a smaller Cessna twin, but not much lined up. $\endgroup$
    – egid
    Aug 27, 2017 at 4:12
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Better match than the King Air, but still: The trailing edge of the rudder looks rounded, not straight like in the Baron. I'm not convinced. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Aug 27, 2017 at 5:13
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @egid: Yes, I thought for a moment it could be a Cessna T-50, but the fuselage nose is much longer. Still, the round wingtips and vertical suggest an older design, from the 40s or 50s. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Aug 27, 2017 at 8:32
  • $\begingroup$ @PeterKämpf I think the round tail is just blurred overexposure; note the apparent 'dent' in the left tailplane. $\endgroup$
    – Sanchises
    Aug 27, 2017 at 8:36
1
$\begingroup$

Given its proportions and size, as well as the shape of the wing platform, I might guess a Beech King Air C90.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ to me it does not have the right shape of wings/tail $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Aug 27, 2017 at 8:29
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ And the engine nacelles look too slender. $\endgroup$
    – David Richerby
    Oct 26, 2017 at 10:47
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry to bring up an old thread but what about an Embraer EMB 121 Xingu? I saw one flying today in the same area from the French Air Force. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel K
    Sep 19, 2018 at 9:01
-1
$\begingroup$

This a piper pa-31 navajo cdg 23b, g-scir. It flies from doncaster everynight to patrol over the english channel. On the look out for migrants coming from calais. Ive been tracking it for the last 2 days. There is also a fixed wing drone patrol which takes off and lands back at llyd airport. Nothing top secrect im happy to say. The circle people are saying they see underneath is camera with infared and nightvision just like they have on the police helicopter.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .