"Down and forward".... that's what the wash does. Standing on line with the runway centerline at Palmdale, after a 747 passes over when landing about 400 feet up, when the plane is on the runway accelerating to another takeoff, you can hear the wake approaching from the direction the airplane was. It's a relatively intense vortex, which can raise quite a dust cloud as it hits the ground.
There's some dramatic photos and paintings of the downwash behind B-1s and F-14s...
this one's been "enhanced" but it shows the basic effect....
I saw a photo of a C-172 that crossed flight paths with a 737 landing at Burbank... the C-172 was downwind in the pattern at Van Nuys, and the jet crossed above and in front some time before the Cessna got to the point where it flew thru the downwash... the downwash broke the wing spar on the Cessna!
At the FAI Control Line Internats in Budapest, in 1960, the stunt circle had some trees close to one side. I could see the downwash from the planes move the leaves and branches on these trees, although they were probably 20-40 feet off the closest approach of the model.
A LOT of air gets moved by flight.