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General Queries and Questions thread

Please post movements and activities to do with RAF Fairford here
Seanyb1
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Seanyb1 » Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:25 am

Has anybody got any idea if it’s just 1 inbound at the minute or possibly more?

MRTT
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by MRTT » Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:00 am

Two, DRYER91/92.

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TREBAX_RAVEN
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by TREBAX_RAVEN » Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:23 am

Why are they all coming in wifh different callsigns? For example i think i recall last year they we're all MYTEE but this time we've got STRAY and DRYER, is it because tgey come from different squadrons? Sory if its a dumb question.
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graham luxton
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by graham luxton » Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:47 am

Not a dumb question - possibly security related, not to have the same c/s repeated time and time again. Before the days of the Internet, Flight Tracking and other aids available to the modern enthusiast changing c/s on a daily basis was an effective effective security measure - no chance these days though.

Campbell89
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Campbell89 » Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:59 am

Any idea how long they’re here for? Guessing more info will be available following th press conference on the 19th?

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TREBAX_RAVEN
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by TREBAX_RAVEN » Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:02 pm

its been said that the NATO exercise is 2 weeks long so there be here for at least that length of time but due to the amount of support thats come they will probably be here for a fair bit longer than that.
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GVLCN
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by GVLCN » Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:42 pm

Can anyone tell me how long has it been since fairford has seen six B-52’s on the ground in one deployment?

MRTT
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by MRTT » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:00 pm

A while, the most since Iraqi Freedom, I believe.

graham luxton
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by graham luxton » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:42 pm

GVLCN wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:42 pm
Can anyone tell me how long has it been since fairford has seen six B-52’s on the ground in one deployment?
MRTT wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:00 pm
A while, the most since Iraqi Freedom, I believe.
MRTT is right. The maximum number of Buffs seen on a single day was on 4th April 2003 when I saw 17. One departed for the US and 2 arrived after it had gone, making 16 gathered on the ground together. This number was maintained until the 9th April when another departed for home.

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Mike
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Mike » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:18 pm

That's interesting info Graham, the most I've ever seen on the deck at Fairford at the same time was 7 during the morning of 18/02/91 during the 1st Gulf War.
There should have been 8 but one of them was diverted on it's way back from Iraq, do you know if 8 was the total amount during GW1?
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graham luxton
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by graham luxton » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:58 pm

Mike wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:18 pm
That's interesting info Graham, the most I've ever seen on the deck at Fairford at the same time was 7 during the morning of 18/02/91 during the 1st Gulf War.
There should have been 8 but one of them was diverted on it's way back from Iraq, do you know if 8 was the total amount during GW1?
Yes Mike, the 806BW(Provisional) at Fairford had 8 B-52G's attached to it for GW1. However there was a little toing and froing with Moron (which had 24 G's) and a total of 10 were seen at Fairford during the conflict. The missing one on the18/2 was 58-0204, which diverted to Palermo - that returned to Fairford on the 19th. The maximum number seen on the ground at the same time was 9 - that occurred on 24/25 and 27/28 Feb.

cheers,
Graham

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Mike
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Mike » Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:13 pm

Many thanks for that Graham, Fairford had a really strange feel about it when I was there, I remember talking to other spotters and we couldn't really believe that we were witnessing several aircraft being re-armed with huge amounts of ordnance that were being used in real anger.
One side of the fence was at war, the other side (our side) were at peace - I'll never forget that feeling.
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TREBAX_RAVEN
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by TREBAX_RAVEN » Sat Mar 16, 2019 7:20 pm

Mike wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:13 pm
Many thanks for that Graham, Fairford had a really strange feel about it when I was there, I remember talking to other spotters and we couldn't really believe that we were witnessing several aircraft being re-armed with huge amounts of ordnance that were being used in real anger.
One side of the fence was at war, the other side (our side) were at peace - I'll never forget that feeling.
Something that will probably never happen again
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Thunder
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Thunder » Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:42 pm

Really, I think there is very good chance it’ll happen again after all it’s happened at least three times since Mike witnessed it in 1991. 1995,1999 and 2003.


On another note, if if anything is due tomorrow it’ll have to be airborne out of Barksdale by 2200hrs our time, as that is when it’s NOTAM’d to close, reopening tomorrow 1300hrs our time.

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tim_3216
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by tim_3216 » Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:56 pm

Thanks to Graham for the historical bits. Fighter Control's resident expert on these matters! :thumb:
Very interesting to see that there were 17 Buffs present in 2003. That got me thinking as to the maximum number present in 1999. Surprised to see my own article http://www.sharpshooter-maj.com/html/profil05.htm has an answer, 14 apparently! That information would have come from Mil-Spotters-Forum and Scramble at the time. Can't believe that was 20 years ago :O
For a stand-by base, Fairford certainly has plenty of stories to tell. Let's see what the latest chapter brings.
RIAT Volunteer 2001 --->

graham luxton
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by graham luxton » Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:51 pm

tim_3216 wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 9:56 pm
Thanks to Graham for the historical bits. Fighter Control's resident expert on these matters! :thumb:
Very interesting to see that there were 17 Buffs present in 2003. That got me thinking as to the maximum number present in 1999. Surprised to see my own article http://www.sharpshooter-maj.com/html/profil05.htm has an answer, 14 apparently! That information would have come from Mil-Spotters-Forum and Scramble at the time. Can't believe that was 20 years ago :O
For a stand-by base, Fairford certainly has plenty of stories to tell. Let's see what the latest chapter brings.
That's a great article Tim - the magic 14 was achieved on a 8/9 May swap over (1 in from Barksdale on the 8th, 1 out to Barksdale on the 9th). Certainly been some memorable operations over the years.

MRTT
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by MRTT » Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:55 pm

Slightly unrelated but,

Don't suppose anybody happens to know where the KC-135 is parked?

graham luxton
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by graham luxton » Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:05 am

MRTT wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 11:55 pm
Slightly unrelated but,

Don't suppose anybody happens to know where the KC-135 is parked?
In front of the B-2 hangars.

MRTT
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by MRTT » Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:20 pm

Many thanks, Graham.

Marston Meysey end packed this morning. :thumb:

Punkrunner62
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Re: General Queries and Questions thread

Post by Punkrunner62 » Sun Mar 17, 2019 5:19 pm

Mr Luxton, thanks so much for the historical input on the various deployments, always makes the reading that bit more interesting, especially for us so far from the action.
Cheers.

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