A huge quad-engine military transport plane was spotted flying low before landing on a Welsh beach on Thursday [February 18].
People in Llanelli heard the drone of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules on Thursday afternoon and into the evening as it circled before landing at Pembrey Sands.
The massive turboprop plane from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire then crossed the Bristol Channel before returning to base via Exeter and Swindow.
The unusual flight path of the aircraft had people wondering what it was doing as it flew low and circled above Carmarthen Bay.
Dramatic pictures and video captured at Pembrey Sands show the transport landing and taking off from the beach to the road of its four engines around sunset on Thursday evening.
An RAF spokesman confirmed that the transport, operated by No.47 Squadron, was conducting essential, routine training at Pembrey Sands.
Used extensively by the United States Air Force and Marine Corps in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Super Hercules was also used as a support aircraft by NATO during the Libyan Civil War in 2011.
It is also utilised for civilian purposes and can be used as an air tanker to fight wildfires from above.
The Super Hercules has a crew of three and can hold 64 airborne troops, 74 patients with five medical personnel or two or three Humvees.
With a wingspan of 132 ft it weighs 34 tonnes and is powered by four Rolls-Royce AE2100D3 turboprop engines which can propel the massive craft to a maximum speed of 417 miles per hour.
Thursday's flight was a four-hour round flight for the crew from RAF Brize Norton, where it departed at 4:44pm and landed safely at 8:27pm.
