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U-2 Fairford Deployment Paths

For beginners to the hobby to have all those "newbie" questions answered...
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JaiAviation
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2022 4:52 pm
Location: NW England

U-2 Fairford Deployment Paths

Post by JaiAviation » Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pm

I've always wanted to spot the U-2, and looking through recent Heads Up notices, I've see mentions lf em heading over Manchester and North Wales at high altitude from RAF Fairford. Is this a frequent occurence, and is there any typical route the Dragon Ladies take over the area? :thumbs:
New(ish) to the forums, any tips welcome!

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UKADGE
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Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:36 am
Location: CHELTENHAM

Re: U-2 Fairford Deployment Paths

Post by UKADGE » Fri Apr 21, 2023 10:23 am

If you have a Scanner listen out for the Dragon Callsigns, pray for clear skies.. and best of luck.. Black Callsigns take a different routing so will avoid the Manchester North Wales areas.
I FEAR NOTHING 'NIL TIME' 501 SQUADRON MOTO.

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zero_gravity
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Re: U-2 Fairford Deployment Paths

Post by zero_gravity » Fri Apr 21, 2023 10:56 am

JaiAviation wrote:
Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pm
I've always wanted to spot the U-2, and looking through recent Heads Up notices, I've see mentions lf em heading over Manchester and North Wales at high altitude from RAF Fairford. Is this a frequent occurence, and is there any typical route the Dragon Ladies take over the area? :thumbs:
Hi

If you check my posts over the last three years regarding the U2 flights you'll see many images of the tracks.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war I have reeled back more pertinent info , but still give basic tracking data whilst inside UK airspace.
Listening alone will not reveal the exact route taken and often can be misleading as U2 pilots , in the main , are rather brief with their transmissions.

There are four main mission tracks , three for Baltic flights and one for the NOROPS ones.
There used to be a fifth route out to the Black Sea area but we have not seen that one used for some time.

ZG

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