SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Around 1030 this morning (Thursday 14th April) a pretty large plane flew over, presumably heading for LBA, and must I think have been military. It had four large and delightfully loud piston engines, fairly widely spaced on the wings, and was an impressive sight Due to its unusual approach route I could only see the darkish underside so have no idea what livery it wore.
Any clues anyone please

Hercules?

Not with piston engines.

Have we had this before.http://www.secretleeds.com/viewtopic.php?t=5213

tomq wrote:Not with piston engines.

The most common type of engine on large aircraft is a turbojet, which do not have propellers.
Turboprops have propellers and are often confused with piston engines because the prop blades cutting through the air can make a similar sound to a piston engine. The Lockheed C130 Hercules, has four turboprop engines.

I only had a view of the underside of the plane for a few seconds as it passed over the flats, and I'm not an expert in aircraft recognition at all. I suppose it could have been a turboprop machine although I thought it sounded "heavy piston like", and I just feel pretty sure that its wings were underneath (Lancaster style) but I could also be wrong altogether about that.

A good place for tracking flight movements is http://www.flightradar24.com which has historic as well as live flights. There's a few possibilities but I think it's likely to be flight AF1058 from CDG to Newcastle which passed over north Leeds at around 10.30 and went near LBA but didn't land there. It's a BAe Avro RJ70. More details and photos at http://www.jetphotos.net/aircraft/BAE146RJ-E2345

Thanks a lot mhoulden - yes I'm sure you're spot on there - the third picture (sunset) in the series of photos is exactly how I saw the plane, hence my impression that it was in a dark livery, just a trick of the light on a dullish morning. A most impressive aircraft, and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen, or noticed, one ever before. Now a confession - as one too petrified of planes to even think of going in one again (RAF last time in 1955 or so without the option) I do like to see them and, living only a couple of miles from LBA, I very often park on the nearby hillsides to watch the comings and goings. A friend once quite seriously accused me of being a ghoul just waiting to see a crash - I was actually very annoyed indeed, and said so, as nothing could be further from the truth !!

Just my tuppence worth but I thought the RJ70 was quiet and small. It doesn't sound like a piston or turboprop, just a sort of subdued howl. I'm right under the flight path.