Aviation enthusiasts were on cloud nine at the end of the RAF Lossiemouth runway yesterday to catch a glimpse of a massive war games exercise.
The Moray base is one of the pivotal points for the fortnight-long Operation Joint Warrior, which involves 5,700 military personnel.
International forces were the star attraction for plane-spotters with the arrival of five Portuguese F16 fighter jets causing the biggest stir.
Keen photographers snapped the arrival and departures of the aircraft movements and their delight was palpable.
One devotee said: “The Portuguese are what most people are excited about. They have never been here before, or certainly not for a long time.
“Anything new is enough to cause a bit of excitement. There might be the odd Typhoon too, but it’s the foreign planes that people come to see.”
Personnel from RAF Lossiemouth have joined colleagues from Canada, France, the USA and Portugal to make up the complement of 67 aircraft and 31 warships and submarines.
The war games exercise began on Saturday and is expected to ramp up in activity today, with more plane-spotters expected to arrive during the week.
Most of the action is due to take place off the Scottish coast. Yesterday, aficionados took pictures as a sleek black Canadian CP-140 Aurora touched down from a drill, less than an hour after a French transport plane departed once it had dropped off personnel.
Poseidon P-8 marine patrol aircraft from the US Navy have been lined up on the apron of the base, ready to play their part. The spy planes are now regular visitors for the exercise, in advance of them taking up permanent residence in Moray by 2020.
Another familiar sight returning to the sky will be two Sea King helicopters – but with an additional component from the Navy search and rescue operations.
One former RAF engineer, eager to take a look at the aircraft, said: “It’s probably going to be one of the last times that we see them.
“They are early warning aircraft, so they have a big radar dome hanging underneath. It looks quite unusual and it’s very distinctive.
“One of the biggest disappointments is that there are no Turkish planes. They were due to come, but have had to pull out.”
The exercise concludes on Thursday, October 20.
