We’re now cruising at an altitude of … just above your head

IT CERTAINLY takes the breath away. Just 250ft from the ground, two Top Gun pilots tear through the valleys of Snowdonia at incredible speed in their F-15 Strike Eagle.

With a roar and a flash of afterburner, the two-seater US Air Force jet treated plane spotters watching from the hillsides to a thrilling display of acceleration and agility. At one point the jet – which can reach speeds of more than twice the speed of sound – appeared to streak just above their heads.

The airmen were putting the fighter through the twists and turns of a lowaltitude training mission in the mountain valleys of North Wales yesterday.

The area, near the town of Machynlleth, is known as the ‘Mach Loop’ – and is also used by RAF fighter crews to practise terrain-hugging manoeuvres.

A fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-15s is based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, which has been used by US forces since the Second World War.