A day at RAF Marham/Lakenheath

[nev]

Spent a very enjoyable day today in the company of Ian "The Hunter-Gatherer" Jackson.

In the morning we were at RAF Marham - was very quiet when we got there......nothing doing? we fretted.  But we need not.  Just before 1100 a 4-ship of Tornados launched, but bizarrely for the  , all without drop tanks.  Not surprisingly they were back 30 minutes later!









Another 4-ship launched around 12, but they were carrying 3 tanks each (again an unusual load with one under the fuselage), and not expecting them back anytime soon we headed off for Lakenheath, with a stop along the way at the memorial for the 352nd FG at Bodney

[nev]

We arrived at Lakenheath just in time to see a C-17 taxi down the runway, turn round and take off   Ian thought I was rather sad for getting excited about a big, grey trash-hauler, but he's wrong







When does the Revell kit come out?


There was also a KC-135 in the circuit doing touch-and goes all afternoon.  13 minutes for a circuit, had my camera ready in time for him after about an hour

[nev]

By now it was 2pm and we were beginning to fear that we wouldn't see any F-15s that day   But then we began to hear a rather strange noise that I now know is an F-15 engine start-up!  Still took the blighters half an hour to get themselves into the air, but we were treated to a nice 6-ship take-off












After their departure, to my delight, the C-17 at the far end of the airfield decided to taxi-down and take-off as well





Note the partially-open cargo doors as it waits to take-off.  Anyone know what that is all about?



In the top-right you can see a C-130, two of them plus a some 135s could be visible in the distance all afternoon doing circuits at Mildenhall.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Great pics!  So was this a date for you two?

I notice some pillock has misspelled "Royal" on the side of that C-17.

[nev]

The Eagles were gone for 2 hours when they returned suddenly without warning - catching us with unprepared and out of position - hence the landing photos are quite poor (even by my standards)









Really enjoyed the day - especially the F-15s, my first "live" up-close Eagles since the 1980s (no, really!).  And don't they make a weird nose when they lower their undercarriage/move anything in general?

Sorry my pics aren't as good as those The Masters post on here, my photography skills aren't great, and my "good all-rounder" camera was operating at the limit of its abilities.  And it was *really* blustery today.  But I've saved the best for last.  Not Airliners.net quality, but it'll do for me.

[Captain Canada]

Wow ! Great shots, nev ! Feels like I was there ! Glad to hear you and Ian had a nice day together...after viewing the pics, I almost feel like I was there ! Sure looks like you had awesome weather as well.

What's up with the tail markings on that -135 ? Almost looks like an RAF crest. Love the retro D in the black square. To cool.

I'd say my fave of the lot is the fourship of eagles on the ramp. Hard to tell how many you are looking at with all those tails !

Also love the landing shots, especially the one with smoky coming in behind....wicked stuff !

[nev]

Thanks mate b)  The RAF crest, so I was told, is the badge for RAF Mildenhall.  But yeah, between that and the old school bomber markings, pretty neat 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

And the best part about it..... I got showf, Choff, Shaufer, driven around all day...... Thanks, bud . As a confirmed luddite, I stilluse 35mm film and a steam driven box-Brownie, so my pics wont be around for a wee while yet. Might use the film up on some white tops at Manchester next week, or maybe a quick run up to Warton if Dork fancies an afternoon, out.

Ian

[nev]

As a confirmed luddite, I stilluse 35mm film and a steam driven box-Brownie,

Yeah, but yours is longer than mine!