Post 28: RAF Lossiemouth

Stephanie mentioned that we spent a day on the beach at Lossiemouth and were able to watch the jets land at the RAF base. But she left out some important details that I thought some of you would appreciate. The pilots were practicing touch and go's. There were some training jets involved but also half a dozen of the big Tornado IDS (interditor/strike) aircraft. The Tornado is a sophisticated long range attack aircraft and one of the most important in Western Europe. The landing lights for the runway extended right out to the beach so we were able to stand at the end of the runway and watch the Tornado's come in. The air shook when they prepared for take off. When they came in to practice their touch and go's there was a strong crosswind. Occassionally they would come in with landing gear down, but the cross wind would cause them to miss the runway. That is when they would retract the landing gear, give full throttle, and launch skyward. Standing right beneath them, close enough to see the face of each pilot, the raw power was incredible to witness. It was a great show, courtesy of Her Majesty,s Royal Air Force.