Our thanks to Andrew N for sharing photos of this very large, perhaps RAF, plane spotted flying very low over the Sandown/Lake area this morning.
We put a call out on Twitter and Facebook trying to identify what the mammoth plane was. We were inundated with responses as to what the plane was.
The mystery solved?
From the reaction that we’ve had (Thanks to all who responded), point strongly towards it being a Lockheed C-130 Hercules (Wikipedia). There is a little discussion as to whether if might be the later C-130J Super Hercules model (Wikipedia). (The subtlety of the difference between can be found here.)
Happily, Paul Varcoe, a man who knows a thing or two about military aircraft, as you can see from his Speed Birds Website. Via Twitter he told OnTheWight, “All RAF C-130’s are now J. The engines have 6 prop blades, used to be 4. You can work out from pic it’s 6.”
More photos
Happily we were also sent other photos of the plane, this time by Eric Lawson, as it banked over Sandown Bay, which we’ve added to the gallery below.
He described its flight, “It came in from Culver, over Dino Isle at about 50m & did two figures 8’s over Sandown & the Bay.”
‘Doing an angel’
One thing is for sure, we’re glad that they didn’t rain an ‘Angel’ down while they were flying over the Island, not matter how spectacular it looks!
Photo gallery
Click on images to see larger versions
Update 13:23: Changed the headline away from it asking what the plane was. Added extra details and photos.
