Monday 26th May 2008

There was another large turn out at the RAF Waddington Aircraft Viewing Enclosure (WAVE) as today hosted the RAF Tactical Demonstation practice. This consisted of one based Sentry, Two Hawk T.1A's, an Apache, a Chinook, Two Tornado F3's and Two Tornado GR4s. This years Demonstration was alot more aggressive in terms of the highspeed low flying and the manouvres that took place. With the addition of the Apache in this years show, there will be alot more pyrotechnic explosions which will entertain alot of the youngsters..

And so does another one in it's new scheme

As part of the New Zealand contingent for exercise Joint Warrior. This P-3K NZ4202/02 from 5 Squadron RNZAF arrived at RAF Kinloss. Fighter Control member Scott Stichell was there to see it arrive.

Thanks to all those involved with 19 Sqn to allow us to use the published information for this news item.

Arriving at RAF Lossiemouth were five French Navy Rafales from 12 Flottille based at Landivisiau. 15,16,17,18 and 19 arrived followed by 5140/61-PD a C-130H from ET 02.061 at Orleans-Bricy. Also arriving from France were four Mirage F1's and four Mirage 2000's and a Transal. Fighter Control member Les Goodison was there to capture the arrivals.

Thanks to Chris Branston and Andy Carney of Harrierlist UK for the photos

Some what an added bonus for Lee James who had a rare day out spotting at RAF Cottesmore. Lee attended with Chris Branston and Andy Carney to watch the flypast and were treated to the arrival of a Royal Navy AEW Sea King XV707/84 from 849 Sqn RAF Culdrose and later on a C-12C Huron, 76-0168 last known as being based in Budapest. This arrived as 'Jalop 95'.

It seems that March has been a busy month for BAe Brough. Whereby now two Hawk Mk.132's have departed to BAe Warton within the first half of the month. At around dinner time HT023/ZK143 which is designated as A3502 for the Indian Air Force took off for BAe Warton of where it landed later on that afternoon.

Noted by Garf Smith on the VAS of RAF Coningsby was Three KLU Cougars from the Dutch Royal Air Force. Serials noted were S-419, S-438 and S-453. They departed RAF Coningbsy and arrived later on at Carlisle Airport.

As reported in Suffok newspaper Evening Star, A MC-130H Hercules of the 350th 2nd Special Operations Group (SOG), dropped a chaff module on its flight over the greater part of the UK coast. RAF Mildenhall released a statement saying that the anyone finding objects with government markings to please report the find to their local constabulary.

“For safety reasons do not handle the chaff module or attempt to move it. Do not use any electrical transmitting devices, such as mobile phones, within 35ft or 10metres of the item "

Photographed by Ian Marlow arriving at RAF Brize Norton at 08:26L was Royal Danish Air Force C-130J Hercules B-537 of ESK 721.

With much anticipated delay, The RAF Coningbsy Spotterwatch Scheme has been reported on the MOD website. Spotterwatch is a scheme setup by Corporal Steve Cambers of the RAF Police and PC Peter Smith of the MOD Police also at RAF Coningsby. To aid with the security of Air bases in terms of suspicious activity. With the help of Fighter Control, spotters can register with the scheme via the Fighter Control Website using this link and are then asked to enter their details. Whereby they will be sent a form to fill in and send back to RAF Coningsby in return for the Spotterwatch Card. The card contains important contract details along with do's and don'ts.

More than Two Hundred Airmen and Eight C-17 Globemaster III aircraft will call RAF Mildenhall home for the next two months while the runway at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, undergoes renovation. The first wave of about Seventy Airmen touched down at RAF Mildenhall on 26th February from their home station of Travis Air Force Base, Californa.

Normally, crews and jets from Travis deploy to Incirlik to perform heavy airlift in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron - part of the 385th Expeditionary Airlift Group. However, the 10,000 foot runway there is scheduled for comprehensive repairs to both
its concrete slabs and sealant between them, according to Lt. Col. Ann Stefanek, 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs officer.

The repairs will be completed in two separate phases, tentatively scheduled from March 7th to April 22nd. Meanwhile, the 385th EAG deployed airlift mission will continue from the local tarmac.

"It's been great - everyone has welcomed us nicely," said Lt. Col. Rick Williamson, 817th EAS director of operations. "Kudos to the 727th (Air Mobility Squadron) - They have been in daily contact since we hit the ground, making sure we have everything we need. I'm thrilled with the reception we received, especially after a 13-hour flight."

Servicing the additional aircraft and providing for more than Two Hundred additional Airmen is no small task. Ramp and cargo storage space will be a commodity during the C-17 stay. Also, every aspect of daily living, like housing, food, and transportation, must be taken into consideration.

"We will provide maintenance and aerial port support," Maj. Leonel Gonzalez, 727th AMS director of operations said. "Our maintainers will launch and recover the C-17 missions and will keep the planes in full mission capable status. Our aerial port will download 747s and transfer the cargo onto the C-17s. The aerial port process includes planning the C-17 loads based on the available cargo and loading the planes. We will use the cargo yard to store the cargo that cannot be immediately loaded. It will change our cargo flow significantly."

Support personnel are also being flown in from Incirlik's 728th Air Mobility Squadron to augment the force, but the majority of support services will be shouldered by Airmen at Mildenhall.

Although eight of the C-17s will be operating from Mildenhall, only three or four will be on the ground at any given time. Transiting 747s should only be on the ground for the amount of time it takes to transfer cargo - a few hours at most. That increase in aircraft traffic is in addition to Mildenhall's normal transient operations, significantly increasing the need for material like fuel.

"Our average amount of fuel delivered to each C-17 that landed at Mildenhall this year has been just over 16,000 gallons," said Senior Master Sgt. Herbert Welday III, 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron Fuels Management Flight operations section chief. "You can multiply 16,000 times the number of flights a day, times seven days a week as an estimate of how much extra fuel we'll need."

The most important customers - U.S. Forces in Southwest Asia dependent on supplies airlifted by the 817th EAS - should not be impacted by the temporary relocation.

Despite the challenges of adding a heavy airlift capability to Mildenhall'salready impressive air refueling, aerial port, special operations, and intelligence missions, the similarities between the two bases makes Mildenhall a natural choice for the temporary bed down.

"RAF Mildenhall has an important transient aircraft support mission already, which is highlighted by our ability to temporarily support the 385 AEG's airlift mission," said Col. Eden Murrie, 100th ARW commander. "In fact, there are many parallels between our mission and Incirlik's - both bases have a critical aerial port mission supported by aircraft from all over the world. Mildenhall is perfect for this kind of operation." Source: RAF Mildenhall Website.

Wednesday 5th March 2008

Harrier suffers damage during Air Refuelling

Tuesday 4th March 2008

Second Brough Hawk makes First Flight

Saturday 1st March 2008

Another B1-B diverts to Mildenhall

Visiting RAF Lossiemouth was a Socata TBM700 from the French Air Force. Marked as XM with 111 on the tailfin, it arrived using the callsign CTM3882. This was due the previous day but highwinds delayed its arrival. It was also present on the 28th of where Alan MacNeish was present to take these shots.

Thanks to Kevin Martin for the photos.

Making its first visit to RAF Mildenhall under it's new unit markings of the 517th Air Wing was a Boeing C-17A, serial 00-0172. Supporting its new tail code of AK and name of its new home in Elmdorf. This was formally of the 446th Air Wing at McChord AFB.

Arriving at RAF Mildenhall on Monday, was a KC-135R. 63-8888/ZZ is from 18th Wing (PACAF) / 909th ARS and is based at Kadena Airforce Base in Japan. Thanks to Matthew Clements for the photo.

It was during dinner when two visitors were welcomed at Manchester, these being the BAe 146 The Royal Flight and an Irish Air Corps Gulfstream serial 251.

Thanks to Stuart Martindale for the photos.

Italian Tornados stop off at Marham on way home from TLP

Many thanks to Mike Hall for the photos.

Seen arriving at RAF Mildenhall for a quick gas and go was USMC UC-35D 166500/6500,it was nice to see such rare bird visit the UK and in full sunsine as well.
Thanks to Mark Forest for the information and photo.

UAE Herc arrives at Lyneham

Noted arriving at RAF Lyneham after dinner was UAE Air Force C-130H Hercules serial 1213, this stayed for a few days before departing.

Thanks to Duncan Monk for the photos

U2-S departs Fairford

Departing as Dragon 33, U2-S 80-8081/BB departed RAF Fairford at 11:40L.

Two Italian HH-3's visit RAF Lakenheath

Information relating to these two aircraft, were posted on the FC forum. Although the information was limited the serials were noted as being MM80975 and MM81346.

A busy day at RAF Coningsby with the arrival of two Danish F-16AM's. These were E-199 with the callsign Falcon 1 which wore special tail markings, and E-602 callsign Falcon 2. Next to arrive were the Germans. Bringing with them their Typhoon variants. The EF2000T. 30+17 with the callsign GAF3017 and 30+38 with the callsign GAF3035. And last to arrive were the Spanish with their variant of the Typhoon, EF2000T. CE16.04/11.73 callsign AME 1101Aand CE16.05/11.74callsign AME 1101B. Followed by a Piaggio P180AM MM62199 callsign I2199.

Thanks to Andy Marden for the headsup and thanks to Garf Smith for the confirmations. And thanks to Terry Senior for the photos.

Historic days for British Aircraft companies are few and far between now, but today was one of those days. BAe Systems as we know have been recently producing the Nimrod MRA4, Typhoon and the new Hawk AJT. Some what a common sight for those around the BAe Warton.

But for one small town in East Yorkshire, the sight of a Hawk taking off in to the skies of Yorkshire will soon become a regular occurance. As today at Brough, the first Hawk took off from BAe Brough. ZJ951 or production code HNDA successfully completed its first flight from Brough, and after flight and engine systems testing over the North Sea, landed at BAe Warton thirty one minutes after take-off! The whole flight operation was a resounding success proving both the quality of the product and the commitment of the staff has put Brough back on the aviation map. Notams have now been issued whereby two aircraft will be departing BAe Brough a month.

Thanks to Pat Hamlet for this information along with the photos of the Hawk departing Brough and thanks to Mickey for the photos of the Hawk arriving at Warton.

Thanks to Craig D for the photos.

Thanks to Ray Brooks for this information.

Thanks to Andy Thomson and Phil Duckett for the information and Andrew Walker for the photos .

Prince William started a Four month attachment with the RAF today. After completing pre-training tests at RAF Henlow in November 2007, Flying Officer Wales who is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle with flying training and able to fly, will be with Eleven other students to learn how to fly. Starting off with the Grob Tutor 115E he will then proceed on to the Tucano T1 at RAF Linton-on-Ouse. And then onto RAF Shawbury for training in the Squirrel HT.1 .

RAF Cosford Museum will be holding a conservation centre open week. This Michael Beetham Conservation Centre (MBCC) will hold open days in 2008 for members of the public to view. The first open week will run from Monday 28th January to Friday 1st February and the second will be 24th to the 28th November. The Centre will be open from 11:00 to 15:00 each day. The public will have the opportunity to see at first hand the restoration projects that are taking place at Cosford. Including a Handley Page Hampden Bomber.

Thanks to Andy Thomson for the photos

Last night RAF top brass insisted Dean would not be disciplined over his antics. A senior officer said: “The video has become cult viewing and shows great enterprise and sense of humour. “There was no danger at all to any RAF personnel.” Dean, a member of the RAF’s elite 12 bomber squadron, was taking part in a Nato tactical leadership exercise at Florennes Air Base, Belgium.

The squadron, which is based at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, was being taught how to operate with other Nato airforces as a “mixed attack package”.The video starts by showing how other nations’ ground crews marshal jets. After the more traditional Americans, Spanish, Germans, Italians and Dutch. Dean hits the tarmac. He kicks off with his Everett-style hands and brings his Tornado out while dancing to the song YMCA, doing all the actions — and fitting in the correct marshal signals at the same time.

Dean has since appeared on GMTV, has been saluted by 118 118 in their daily comic strip in the Metro Newspaper and was also interviewed by his hometown radio station - BBC Radio Nottingham

Heathrow Airport is no stranger to foreign visitors, and one visitor was an Iraqi Government Airbus A300B4-203 YI-APX. this was noted as being parked near the British Midland maintenance hanger.

Thanks to [Pontius] & Nick Challoner for the information