Hello up there... just a flying visit!

ROARING past at hundreds of miles an hour, this US airman glanced up at just the right moment to stare down the barrel of a photographer’s camera.

The stunning picture of the banking F-15 fighter and its two-man crew was captured by Rob Maclennan, 50, after he had climbed a 700ft mountain.

The jets were carrying out low-flying drills in the valleys of Powys, Wales. With a top speed of 1,875mph, the F-15 Strike Eagle has been a mainstay of the United States Air Force for decades and has been used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya.

Mr Maclennan said: ‘I climbed up the mountain, and waited – the jet came by at 500ft below me during a fly-by. The guy you can see looking up in the back [inset picture, left] is known as a Weapon Systems Officer.

‘They have to contact air traffic control before to let them know what they’re going to do. They’ve been doing it since the Sixties.’

He added that the area near Machynlleth was a ‘series of valleys, all you can see below is the odd road’.