RAF Lakenheath 3rd October 2014
I hadn't been to RAF Lakenheath for a couple of years & I'd heard on the grapevine of a number of USMC Boeing F-18A Hornets coming in from Sigonella AFB in Italy for an overnight stop. This seemed too good an opportunity to miss as the weather was also looking good so I decided to go, US Carrier aircraft being as rare as hen's teeth in this country!
I'd heard that Fridays were generally pretty quiet so I wasn't expecting a great deal of flying, I was pleasantly surprised though as it seemed the entire base went up that morning! There must have been over 20 departures with both F-15C's & F-15E Strike Eagles getting airborne. I'd forgotten how much fun it was shooting the Eagles, they really are fabulous aeroplanes, nice and noisy too. The E versions especially as they use reheat on take-off.
Unfortunately the first wave of F-18's didn't arrive until around 8pm & I was long gone by then but having the Eagles arriving & departing over the morning period was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and with so many people waiting for the arrival of the Hornets the conversation was great.
As an added bonus, an RAF Mildenhall based Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker 63-8021, landed mid-afternoon, very nice!
I also photographed Boeing F-15D Eagle 86-0182 during my visit which sadly was to crash a week later, the pilot ejected from the aircraft. Happily he survived the incident pretty much unscathed.
Arrivals/departures were via Runway 24. This section contains 72 images taken during the day:
All images copyright İRoger Whitcomb 2014 - www.milairpix.com
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