Between Yeovilton/Duxford weekend and the beginning of RIAT arrivals day were two days free. We chose to go to RAF Mildenhall to hopefully catch both fighters and tanker/transports at the one station as the F-15s were boltholed there.
We arrived in John's field on Monday morning and the weather was gorgeous. There weren't any visitors on the deck apart from an RC-135 that was being temporarily operations there. There were about 21 F-15s sitting on the deck. But as I found out only about 14 of those (2 Cs, 1 D and 11 Es) were on the active flightline. Soon enough they started going up and we got a launch of about 12 aircraft but the light was pretty much down the tail unfortunately.
1. Spotted by the pilot.. :rock:
DSC_7678 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
2. Then we got this KC-135 from Fairchild AFB
DSC_7756 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
3. Not long after, Hawg 95, the RC-135 took off for a sortie..
DSC_7789 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
4.
DSC_7794 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
Then it was a few hours wait before the next wave of Eagles launched, this time it was about 8 aircraft.
5. Once again, the pilot had seen us..
DSC_7812 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
6. And gave us a nice low wing waggle
DSC_7814 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
7.
DSC_7826 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
8.
DSC_7863 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
9. Then a lovely C-17 came in..
DSC_7878 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
Then a frustrating situation arose. The F-15s needed the cable rigged. And the RC-135 who wanted to perform touch 'n' go circuits needed it de-rigged. And the Eagles were taking ages to come in so the RC-135 just decided to do one touch 'n' go circuit and then land.
10.
DSC_7892 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
11. RC-135 going into the stormy cloudscape..
DSC_7909 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
12. Whoops..
p
DSC_7932 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
13. The one touch and go we did get was lovely though!
DSC_7963 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
14. Threshold markings all over the aircraft!
DSC_7970 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
15. Cheeky chipmunk cheeks!
DSC_7993 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
16.
DSC_8023 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
And now onto Tuesday, the weather wasn't great. Unfortunately before we'd arrived there had been a Maxwell C-130H and an Illinois KC-135 with a lovely new tailband.
17. Last chance checks..
DSC_8117 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
18. The sun did briefly pop out!
DSC_8140 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
19. This based MC-130 landed, took off, did a couple of touch 'n' goes and then landed again.
DSC_8222 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
20. Then a lovely Tennessee KC-135 arrived!
DSC_8226 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
21. Then the C-17 from the day before departed just after they changed runways!
DSC_8268 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
22.
DSC_8273 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
23. One of few 100ARW KC-135s I saw!
DSC_8290 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
24. Eagles everywhere! The ones on the left are on the maintenance line. The ones in the middle are at last chance checks and the ones on the right are on the flightline.
DSC_8304 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
25. Got a five ship launch
DSC_8322 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
26. This guy went out as a Quid to help refuel something in the north.
DSC_8393 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
27. The last Eagle we saw before heading off Fairford bound!
DSC_8408 by Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
Hope you enjoy,
Chris