
A couple's casual hill walk near Mount Snowdon in Wales took an exciting turn when they were given a free air show by a passing RAF Tornado.

Instead of a swooping bird of prey, Craig Sluman and his wife Paula saw the 'awesome' power of the craft used by the British military in bombing raids.

And nature enthusiast Craig captured the scene in a brilliant series of images from just 500 feet away. In one of the pictures it appears the navigator in the plane even glances at the hikers as they zoom by.

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Craig Sluman's incredible view of an RAF Tornado, as seen during what was supposed to be a quiet walk in the country in Wales

The Tornado GR4 seen from Mount Snowdon is believed to have be on a training flight from RAF Marham, Norfolk

Mr Sluman, 47, and Paula were enjoying a peaceful and scenic walk on a mountain called Cadair Idris in North Wales, just south of Mount Snowdon, when they saw as a speck the aircraft approaching.

It shot over them, about 300 feet above the ground on a low-flying training mission.

As it did so the sheer power and air pressure created a vapour cloud as high and low pressure air mixed, a phenomena called 'fluffing.'

Mr Sluman, from Doncaster, Yorks, who was on holiday in North Wales, said: 'It was amazing to watch. We saw the aircraft approaching from some distance away and I had my camera and lens with me as we like taking pictures of landscapes.

'There was a lot of noise as it came past of course but my shutter speed froze the action.

'I'd say the aircraft was flying about 300 feet above the ground at 500mph and about 500 feet away from us. The sight of one of our RAF Bombers on a low level flying mission was just awesome to watch.

'The bomber came past us and disappeared down the valley over the lake Tal Y Llyn just amazing to watch and capture as a picture.'

The fighter jet flew only 300 feet above Craig Sluman and his wife Paula on the Cadair Idris mountain in North Wales

Craig Sluman said: 'The sight of sight of one of our RAF Bombers on a low level flying mission was just awesome to watch'

An aviation source said the aircraft was a Tornado GR4, probably from RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is probably on the low-level route known as the MACH Loop covering areas in north-west England and Wales.

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat, all-weather, day or night attack and reconnaissance aircraft. It has been in service with the RAF for more than 30 years, but a combination of major upgrade programmes and numerous continual enhancements has kept the aircraft amongst the forefront of all attack aircraft.