Lowfly.net hits the Big Screen
Some of the thumbnails open out to larger images if you click on them
On Thursday November 29th ITV spent the day on a mountain with members of the Lowfly.net forum. The purpose for this venture was to show the public that not everyone is against low flying in the UK. ITV producer Andy Collinson contacted the MOD and asked them how they go about filming the RAF at work in the mountains of Wales, the MOD passed him on to lowfly.net. He then had the idea of putting 2 stories together, after talking to the owner of the Buckley Pines, Gay and keith, he decided to present the story as helpful to the Welsh tourist industry. After speaking to Rob Shelley who would be the presenter for the day, the whole concept took a giant step forward thanks to his no holds barred enthusiasm. So from getting the all clear on the 21st we decided on the 29th, with a final decision to be taken 2 days before, after a final weather check. Over the next week, my telephones kept ringing and my email box was over flowing, but i could not tell everyone about the trip until after the weather was confirmed. They were all patient (mostly) and i thank them all for that.
Below .the guys from the Lowfly.net forurm outside the Buckley Pines
Rendezvous was scheduled for 06:45 at the Buckley Pines hotel for a full English breakfast and briefing of the days events, I was surprised when i arrived at 06:40 the find the car park almost full. As the guys were tucking into their bacon and eggs I quickly informed them of the plan for the day. Then we were informed that the Guys from ITV were filming outside the hotel and before we knew it Rob was inside introducing himself to the guys. Not one for being in front of a camera i must say the whole process was very daunting and fairly uncomfortable for me, firstly as i had not shaved for the best part of a week as i wanted the extra warmth and i was getting over a bad cold. So Rob sat down with us for breakfast and we almost forgot the camera was running as we chatted away, i was explaining to him the possibility of us not seeing any aircraft at all and how cold it would be. I did have to repeat myself more than once as i kept forgetting what i was trying to say. Before we knew what was really happening, breakfast seemed to have dissapeared and we were outside having our picture taken while presenting ITV with some images for their office.
So, off we headed to the hills, the RV point was the big car park that is often used for Cad west although some of the groups made for Corris corner at the bottom of the pass. As we were getting our winter kit on, there was a big whooshing sound as the black jet streaked over the top of us at 250 ft and within seconds it was turning the corner at the lake. You could almost hear what everyone was thinking !. It was decided that we car shared the journey to the top of the pass via the small minor track, this was to minimise the traffic and there is only a small car park. One group elected to take the path up from the main road, this was to provide the camera man with some footage, although this eventually ended up on the editing room floor ( sorry Max ). The footage of a group climbing up the hill for the feature was actually shot as they trekked across the hill top from the car park.
As soon as arriving at the location ( or any location ) the first priority always is, your camera, get it out and make sure its ready to fire. Remember that you are there to take pictures everything else can wait, then make yourself comfortable. In this case we erected 3 shelters of the type that fisherman use, these are ideal at blocking the wind and if the heavens open it will give you some shelter for you and your kit. We used 1 large and 2 small shelters, the smaller ones were less than a tenner from a local store and all shelters had built in ground sheets. Once the shelters were up, it was time to lay out the flag. In the film you will see the person in Blue ( my wife ) and Dave Hall, lay the banner on a small slope. The reason for this was to keep as discrete as possible from the main road to avoid distracting drivers. One incident comes to mind, in January 07 we were waving to someone on the opposite hillside while wearing our high visibility clothing and a passing driver took this as a distress wave and called the police. After more than an hour a policeman did turn up was relieved that we were not in distress, and we all saw the funny side the more serious side as well. So the banner was in position, all we needed was some aircraft.
So from 09:00 we were waiting our first aircraft, we waited in the strong wind, we chatted we tried to convince ourselves that this was not going to be another blank day. Above us were a pair of F15 Eagles, 23 people on a hillside praying for them to drop lower. Then we saw it come out of the Dinas valley about 4 miles in front of us, it banked hard, we could hear it now, it was a Tornado gr4, a big cheer went up, it then straightened up and headed over to the town of Dolgellau and away from us. We waited in silence to see if it had a wingman, it didn't, we all went about our business of eating and keeping warm while waiting for our first aircraft. we waited and waited, then about 15 minutes later. Aircraft was the call, there out of the Dinas valley was another tornado gr4, he banked he also turned and then he went the same way as the last one. We later found out it was the same aircraft.
Aircraft was the shout at 10:24 and out of the Dinas valley once more came this black object, a strange shape, it turned slowly and headed towards us keeping very low. It was a Dominie, which was a training aircraft, a converted business jet, which is used by the RAF as a navigation trainer. He continued and banked majestically below us giving us a nice series of shots as he then levelled out and flew straight down the middle of the valley and out to sea. At this time there were many smiles all around and my thoughts were of relief on not ending with a blank day. I actually said to Rob Shelley that in order to do the lowflying issue justice, the practical thing to happen would be to get a blank day, then it would emphasize that there is not as much lowflying going on as people say there is. On the other hand i said that it would be embarrassing if we ended the day with forty aircraft coming through.
Less than ten minutes later a small dark object appeared at the far side of Cader idris, it was a hawk, or that's what we thought until he turned into the valley from Dol, there was no headlight. Harrier was the next cry, no too small, it was an Alpha jet from the Boscombe Down test facility. He came in bottoms up and zoomed quickly away. Just under 4 minutes later he appeared out of Dinas and heading towards us. He was very low this time, a quick snap of his control stick and he was on his side, just as quickly he was in level flight and zooming past us. When looking at the screens on our cameras we noticed he was staring at us for his entire pass as he came past us. Seconds later a pair of hawks came at us from our immediate front, one was high the other was very low. The final hour before lunch saw another 4 hawks come past us, which gave the newer guys some practise. While we were having lunch Rob and Phil were practising their lead ins for the film, this was very interesting and i admit i would have found it very tedious to say the least. Credit to Rob, all through the day he kept his spirits up as he was clearly cold, despite his welly boots and over coat ( Dr Who style ). Then came the interviews, he already had some footage of me at breakfast, so he needed a sit rep of how it was going at half time, so to speak. I was not too interested i think i remember some of it. What i do remember was Dave Hall being interviewed and i do not believe he paused for breath for about 15 minutes, Then Rob and Phil made their way around some of the guys and most impressive interview i thought was given by Cliff, he works in Air Traffic control and that made an impression with everyone as he gave his interview.
A few more hawks came past and i made my way to the top of the hill to visit Jason who was up there all on his own in what seemed like a storm force gale. We tried having a chat but found it was very difficult . While up there we saw 4 harriers head towards us and pull up about 1.5 miles in front of us, then they amazed us all by having a free for all dog fight which lasted about 2 minutes before departing upwards. I had just got down again when a Tornado gr4 came out of Dinas and towards us, great. He flashed passed us then he was gone, 12 sqn markings, he later turned out to have been a borrowed aircraft and was in fact a 31 sqn crew.. The rest of the afternoon saw a steady trickle of hawks, some for us and some for the other valleys and then the highlight of the day was a hawk and a typhoon out of Dinas playing together and away they went up to Bala. It was almost at last light when the typhoon appeared out of Dinas again, this time he pointed his nose towards us and yes he was heading for us. Up he went doen he dropped and whoosh, he was 100ft below me as he levelled up. Great capture, even if the camera was on iso 400. A nice chat with Rob and the final interview from me saw the day out, except the last couple of hawks to visit us again. Before i knew it we were packing up in the fading light and we were down in the car park saying our fond farewells, all with smiling faces. A small meet up in the Little Chef with some tired but smiling faces, chatted over the war stories of the day.
I would like to thank firstly, Keith and Gay from the Buckley Pines hotel for getting us all off to a great start, all the members of the Lowfly.net forum especially those who did not attend and knew that something that was happening and kept this to themselves. This would have been a little tricky if 100 other enthusiasts had turned up on the day. So thank you for your help. The guys that did attend, you were great company and i look forward to seeing you all again at the next gathering in the spring. Andy Cunningham, Rob Shelley and Phil ( no gloves cameraman, hard as nails ) from ITV . Thank you all for your professionalism throughout the entire project, and i hope you smile everytime you look at the large prints we gave you for your office walls. And finally to Max Stevens for doing a pukka job on the clapperboard
You can view 2 different edits of this production . click the banners.
Welsh ITV version Yorkshire television edit
Martin Kessel is a forum member who kindly took many images on the day and placed them on his website, you can view them here Click to View
Trivia
The people marching up the hill only had a small 75 yrd walk across a small incline .
ITV got the names wrong on the interview credits, except Dave Hall will now be eternally known as an aircraft spotter
Rob Reffers to his Hull Vixen Hat. Hull vixens were my wifes Rugby team until they folded around 5 years ago, his head was cold in his baseball cap so i loaned him the hat. A parent of a former Hull vixen was amazed to hear them get a mention on Calendar ( local ITV newsprogramme). The vixens hat will return for the 2008 lowflying trips.
In one of the first scenes, a guy in yellow( me ) was seen to miss the aircraft as it comes through, in fact i was following the aircraft at the very bottom of the screen which can just be seen.
100k of camera gear. Wll that figure sounds a lot, but its actually not that for from the mark, i would estimate between 80-90k between 24 people.
You may see a guy in blue, that was Barry, he was out for a days entertainment and could not believe his luck that there were so many people to talk to. He is now a forum member .
At the very end of the film you can just see the solitary figure of Jason all by himself at the very top.
Business as Usual : this was found near to a low flying location in North Yorkshire, the rear side says, Sunday lunches served. If this is yours and you would like it back, i can arrange for it to be removed from the tree at a secret location in the lake district.
Last word
How much does Television advertising cost ?
We were lucky to get it for free, but the rewards were unbelievable. The website got a weeks worth of hits every day for over a week, thats 8 thousand hits each day, i gave interviews over the phone to many organisations/press etc
Some other images below courtesy of Graham Farish, Andy Dickenson.
There will be more images added shortly.