Tonight – Blackpool’s sky was abuzz with the sound of 2 very special helicopters.

If you want to join our BPL ALERT channel for Blackpool on what’s app – read to the bottom for the link.

Earlier today one of the choppers was spotted landing at BAE SYSTEMS in Warton. Posts on our social media page revealed more about the overflight which took off from Warton and then headed into Blackpool Airport. Other comments on our page reveal the helicopters have been spotted over most of Lancashire and Cumbria at some point – and yesterday they were spotted in Manchester too.

Blackpool news was sent this image of the helicopter close up as it flew over the town – clearly visible you can see 2 platforms – one either side of the helicopter – which can be used for troops mounted for rapid deployment onto rooftops – which is a likely scenario for the flights today and this evening. Experience for our local officers – deploying and re-attaching to these fast moving helicopters known as “Blue Thunder” operated by 658 Sqn AAC.

As part of Exercise Accord – Lancashire police will be training in co-ordination with the Armed Forces. We asked the police for comment on the matter earlier this afternoon in anticipation of a situation later tonight around the town. They confirmed that indeed Lancs police and the Armed Forces are engaged in an exercise.

Winter Gardens

A video on facebook in the Blackpool Airport Supporters Group shows one of the helicopters hovering precariously close to the roof of the winter gardens – whilst another comment claims to have seen multiple blacked out cars with blue emergency lights racing in convoy up whitegate drive – this was the same behaviour we saw during EX goshawk which you should be able to find reference to on our website or facebook page

BPL ALERT

In order to keep our readers informed in these uncertain times – we’ve decided to undertake 2 new measures to help keep you informed of any important local alerts that you might miss on facebook.
BPL ALERT is our What’s app alert channel on What’s App. This is one of the ways we can keep in touch or get URGENT messages out to people on the fylde coast
Join our – one way – BPL ALERT Channel using THIS link https://chat.whatsapp.com/CzK9sfvhJLEKJ2Lv5h1Pxh

We’ve also started a Discord Server which you can join using the following link https://discord.gg/EDUzYDYZ

Blackpool LIVE Dashboard

Check out our live dashboard page – it’s one of the ways we can tell what’s going on at a glance on our website.