FighterControl

One of the regular Priory exercises. Those of us old enough will remember what it was like but to the younger generations, this wasn't half of it. To save film I didn't photograph much of the "home team" and the attacking KLu F-5s were just too fast to catch.
1.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY 3552 RF-4E AKG52 WGAF 146 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY 3710 F-4F JG71 WGAF 150 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

3.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY 3701 F-4F JBG36 WGAF 147 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

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1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY 3777 F-4F JBG36 WGAF 149 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

5.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY BA27 MIRAGE VBA BELGIAN AF 140 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

6.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY J-625 F-16A 311 SQD RNethAF 142 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

7.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY J-626 F-16A 311 SQD RNethAF 143 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

8.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY J-646 F-16A RNethAF 141 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

9.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY J-871 F-16A 312 SQD RNethAF 144 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

10.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY J-876 F-16A 312 SQD RNethAF 145 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

11.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XT900 PHANTOM FGR2 64 SQD RAF 163 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

12.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV393 PHANTOM FGR2 64 SQD RAF 162 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

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1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV409 PHANTOM FGR2 29 SQD RAF 161 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

14.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV422 PHANTOM FGR2 19 SQD RAF 160 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

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1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV424 PHANTOM FGR2 92 SQD RAF 156 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

16.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV435 PHANTOM FGR2 92 SQD RAF 157 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

17.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XV424 XV435 PHANTOM FGR2 92 SQD RAF 159 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

18.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XX248 HAWK T1A 63 SQD RAF 152 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

19.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XX254 HAWK T1A 63 SQD RAF 151 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

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1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XX278 HAWK T1A 63 SQD RAF 153 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

21.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XX287 HAWK T1A 63 SQD RAF 154 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

22.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY XX287 HAWK T1A 63 SQD RAF 154 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

23.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY ZE350 F-4J(UK) 74 SQD RAF 167 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

24.
1985-10-21 RAF CONINGSBY ZE364 F4-J(UK) 74 SQD RAF 165 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Awesome. Just missed the Priory exercises unfortunately.

What an awesome set of shots

Phantastic, in phact

Thanks for posting, BD

Paddyboy

Those were the days, absolutely wonderful to see these. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Sadly, the regular exercises in the UK will never be repeated. Never again will we see the variety and quantity of machines that graced our skies for Elder Forest, Priory, Mallet Blow et al. And squadron exchanges plus US deployments to the UK are a thing of the past too. To paraphrase Harold Macmillan - "we never had it so good!"

Love these posts of the good old days of the 1980's, so much variety and on a regular basis. Attended many of these exercises but not on this date for some reason, needed J-625 and J-626 which were both written off 1988 and 1986 respectively. Really appreciate you sharing these memories with us.

Absolutely brilliant! Almost forget how good these exercises were in the 80s and what variety we had visiting the bases back then. Makes you want to go

Great set. Those RAFG Tooms were the icing on a very sweet cake. The Priory exercises were always good value - and there were 3 or 4 per annum!

Great set Blue Diamond
I spent the 22nd at my local Binbrook for the Norwegian and Dutch participants, then onto Coningsby the following day 23rd... in the same position as you.
That taxi way was (and still is) just awesome particularly with all the exercise visitors.

Thanks for posting and very much for the happy reminder

3Greens

Just to add my thanks for some lovely nostalgic images to remind us how good the Priory and Elder Forest exercises were.

Like 3Greens I was at Coningsby on the 23rd. Having just looked back in my log for that day, the following visitors were recorded;
7 Chivenor Hawk T1As (63sqn/2TWU)
3 Binbrook Lightning F6s (2 5sqn, 1 11sqn)
3 Wattisham F-4J(UK)s (74sqn)
4 Wildenrath Phantom FGR2s (2 19sqn, 2 92sqn)
5 Volkel F-16As (3 311sqn, 2 312sqn)
2 Wittmund F-4Fs (JG-71)
4 Hopsten F-4Fs (JBG-36)

Additional airfield attacks were conducted by;
2 Honington Tornado GR1s (9sqn)
9 Laarbruch Tornado GR1s (4 16sqn, 5 20sqn)
2 Leeuwarden F-16As (322sqn)

Those were the days! Thanks for the memories.

Fantastic set...