Did you know that registration to Fighter Control is completely free and brings you lots of added features? Find out more....

F-35 to Europe...

Please post movements and activities to do with RAF Lakenheath here
Tally-ho
Posts: 692
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:12 am
Location: Nottinghamshire

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Tally-ho » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:29 pm

Usernamegoeshere wrote:my videos of the 6 usaf F-35A's landing at lakenheath today .... hope you like them

Dave
Well caught! They seem to have a distinctive whine emanating from that powerful P&W turbofan. :thumb:

Usernamegoeshere
Posts: 436
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:42 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Usernamegoeshere » Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:45 pm

cheers yes you really notice the whine if you play the videos at full volume on a tv : )
but the f35b is ear shattering when hovering , see my video from riat 2016 from 6mins40 into the video onwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfg_ei2 ... BmayPbuMpX
Tally-ho wrote:
Usernamegoeshere wrote:my videos of the 6 usaf F-35A's landing at lakenheath today .... hope you like them

Dave
Well caught! They seem to have a distinctive whine emanating from that powerful P&W turbofan. :thumb:

slogen51
Moderator
Posts: 48919
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:11 am
Location: Norfolk - Mundford - YG-BSM

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by slogen51 » Sun Apr 16, 2017 6:09 am

TonyO wrote:
apgphoto wrote:@TonyO stop it with the fake news :Wow:
Well known for it, how can I stop it now? :halo:
Your Crystal ball has been on good form this year.

Richard E
Posts: 298
Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 9:34 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Richard E » Sun Apr 16, 2017 9:33 pm

Thanks to everyone who shared their information and photographs and videos of the F-35s' arrival: I wonder if they will fly a similar set of profiles to the F-22s when they were deployed a couple of years ago and take a trip through LFA7 and the Mach Loop?

the concerned
Posts: 362
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:10 am

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by the concerned » Mon Apr 17, 2017 7:31 am

With the f -15e's expected to be in service for another 20yrs atleast should the USAF look to see if the f -35's engine could be fitted to f-15 it seems worth a look

User avatar
markranger
Posts: 3084
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:01 pm
Contact:

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by markranger » Mon Apr 17, 2017 8:09 am

Hi
Will keep this thread open to Discuss the Europe Deployment Article but please use below links in Lakenheath section for Complete daily logs
and the second link for any questions related to the F35s at Lakenheath.

Heads up section for real time posts.

For Completed Daily logs please add to this thread.(Lakenheath Section)
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=144844

For any Questions ,In Order to keep just one thread please add
to here, (Lakenheath Section)
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=144801

Hopefully this will keep the amount of new threads down to as little as possible.

Thanks
Nikon D850
Nikon D600
Nikon D500
Nikon 300 F2.8 VR1

page_verify
Posts: 1640
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:19 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by page_verify » Mon Apr 17, 2017 9:11 am

the concerned wrote:With the f -15e's expected to be in service for another 20yrs atleast should the USAF look to see if the f -35's engine could be fitted to f-15 it seems worth a look
Have you compared the physical size of the two engines?

User avatar
toom317
Posts: 1936
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:31 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by toom317 » Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:40 am

davidn wrote:I hear that they will be based at Lossie.
.
.
.

Well, why not eh?
Hah, don't hold your breath. I'm off to Leuchars on Wednesday, (on the QT), for some exclusive pics. :ninja:
No one gets out of life alive.



Equipment: Camera, Lens, Goretex Y fronts

panta615
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:30 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by panta615 » Mon Apr 17, 2017 12:26 pm

A video from YouTube of the arrivals. Think you can find this video on the DOD website.

https://youtu.be/kbNIs_kZ-Os

Dave

User avatar
Dan D'Air
Posts: 859
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:25 pm
Location: North Northampton UK.

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Dan D'Air » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:36 pm

Good video of arrivals from inside Lakenheath.
Dan
"Shakin the tree boss, shakin the tree"

Rockstar
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:47 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Rockstar » Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:14 pm

Don't think this link has been posted elsewhere. From RAF Lakenheath website. States that they will "conduct air training over the next several weeks with other Europe-based aircraft in support of the European Reassurance Initiative." and "As part of the training deployment, the aircraft will forward deploy to NATO nations to maximize training opportunities".

http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/News/Artic ... irst-time/

User avatar
Tiger 1
Posts: 3011
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:25 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Tiger 1 » Tue Apr 18, 2017 12:31 pm

Thanks Rockstar

Interesting reading and helpfull, thanks again for posting this up.

T1

User avatar
eagle driver
Posts: 13384
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:46 am
Location: knaphill Surrey
Contact:

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by eagle driver » Thu Apr 20, 2017 2:42 pm

Another Press release gives some more information about there deployment.



The F-35A is in England. What’s next?
By: Valerie Insinna
Defense News
April 19, 2017
WASHINGTON — Within a couple hours, eight U.S. Air Force F-35As will have arrived at RAF Lakenheath, England for a month of practising dogfighting and combat maneuvers with the United Kingdom and potentially other NATO allies.
Six F-35As from the active-duty 34th Fighter Squadron and reserve 466th Fighter Squadron, both located at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, landed at RAF Lakenheath on Saturday — marking the first time the Air Force version of the jet has been sent abroad for training.
Once the last two jets arrive on Wednesday, pilots will get ready to start training with U.S. F-15Cs and Es located at RAF Lakenheath, Eurofighter Typhoons owned by the U.K. Royal Air Force, and perhaps Dutch F-16s, with further exercises still in the works, said Lt. Col. George Watkins, commander of the 34th Fighter Squadron. Lessons learned will help inform the bed-down of U.S. Air Force F-35 squadrons that will be permanently based at Lakenheath in the early 2020s.
The deployment comes at a delicate time for the U.S.-Russian relationship, which was rocked by the U.S. military’s recent Tomahawk strike on Syria that was prompted by a deadly chemical weapons attack on civilians. As a result, the Air Force has walked a thin line on messaging, with statements noting that although it was partially bankrolled by the European Reassurance Initiative funds meant to boost NATO capability against a resurgent Russia, the deployment was long-planned and should not be understood as a response to heightened tensions in the region.
Watkins characterized the deployment to Europe as a “natural progression” that started with a proof-of-concept deployment last year to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, followed by the squadron’s recent trip to Nellis AFB, Nevada for Red Flag.
“All that was done locally [in the United States] and then this is our first overseas deployment with the F-35, so we’re just taking it step by step,” he said. “We came to a base where they are looking forward to hosting F-35s in the future as an organic squadron here, so we’re kind of taking ideas and learning from these guys and doing some local training and then we’ll return back to Hill.”
Over the first week, F-35 pilots will start off doing air-to-air exercises with U.S. Air Force F-15Cs and F-15Es permanently located at Lakenheath, as well as engagements against other F-35As acting as adversary air, Watkins said. Pilots will practice dogfighting one-on-one and doing combat maneuvers in two-on-two formations with simulated weapons, including the laser-guided GBU-12, 2,000-pound joint direct attack munition and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.
From there, activities will ramp up to small and large force exercises with U.K. Eurofighter Typhoons and potentially Dutch F-16s, he said. Other NATO aircraft could also join in for that training, but have not been confirmed yet.
“We’re not super firm if the Dutch are playing with us or not and it’s not out of the question to have other NATO fourth-gen players participate in our exercise as well,” he said.
All training exercises will take place over U.K. airspace — further minimizing the risk of miscalculation by Russia or other nations. However, F-35s will conduct “out and back” flights to other NATO countries to familiarize themselves with the region, although the locations of those sorties will not be announced until after the planes have safely landed back at Lakenheath.
The Air Force has sent 215 pilots, maintainers, support personnel, and security officers to England. That’s more manpower than is needed for an event of this size, but the service wanted as many airmen as possible to benefit from the deployment, Watkins explained.
For day-to-day maintenance, management, and mission planning, operators will rely on the F-35’s logistics hub, the Autonomic Logistics Information System.
“We’ve had pretty good luck with ALIS so far,” he said. “We sent a team to make sure that everything was set up and ALIS was running and they got it set up in record time. It went really smooth to get everything set up, hooked up, and talking across the IP addresses.”
Although the deployment so far has proceeded without any major problems, Watkins acknowledged that a small snag has led to the delay of two jets arriving in England.
During the initial flight to Lakenheath, a pilot noticed he had a fuel tank float valve that didn’t seem to be reading correctly and opted to have maintenance check it out as a “routine safety precaution,” he said. That aircraft and an additional F-35 acting as its wingman stayed behind at Bangor, Maine before flying to the United Kingdom today.
“It ended up not being an issue, but we wanted to make extra sure of that before crossing the Atlantic,” Watkins said.

mdobuk21
Posts: 670
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:12 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by mdobuk21 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:54 am

Hi

Does anyone know if the F35s are here all next week? I was thinking of coming down next Friday but have seen they may depart into mainland Europe sometime next week? Can anyone confirm this? I am travelling down from Leeds so its a long journey if they go!

Thanks for any info

Mark

User avatar
Thunder
Posts: 4989
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 10:24 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Thunder » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:23 am

Did you read the post above yours?

mdobuk21
Posts: 670
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:12 pm

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by mdobuk21 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:30 am

What a wally, first sentence too! i blame rushing around at work! Thanks Thunder

Mark

User avatar
albur99
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2013 8:43 am
Location: Scarborough

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by albur99 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 6:40 pm

I'm in a very similar situation - planning on coming down thursday and friday.... (27th/28th)

Fingers crossed they dont stray too far away and keep flying regular !

Thanks to all who keep the movements postings up to date its a great help for those of us some distance away .....

cheers
AL

powerslave
Posts: 1147
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:56 pm
Location: Lancs.

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by powerslave » Fri Apr 21, 2017 7:58 pm

Woudl'nt worry to much about them leaving,i reckon they will be doing what the f-22's did last April.
May get one or two going into europe for the day,but i should think they would come back to Lakenheath.
I don't think all eight aircraft are going to fly out of LN and deploy somewhere else,certainly not untill the end of next week even if they did.
I'm coming down to see them next week,so hopefully i'm right,then again!

Ian

HansvdW
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:26 am

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by HansvdW » Sat Apr 22, 2017 10:52 am

Gents,

I might have overlooked (in that case apologies upfront), but is it already known when the F-35's will depart back home? I have read something about a two weeks stay, which would mean departures in the weekend of 29/30 April, but so far no solid info seen.

Planning to come over by the end of next week; so any info on departures more than welcome!

Cheers, Hans

Amp
Posts: 334
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 5:42 pm
Location: Few miles SE of Wattisham

Re: F-35 to Europe...

Post by Amp » Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:11 pm

Per the long message from eagle driver, it seems that they are here for about a month.

Post Reply

Return to “RAF Lakenheath”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests