Post by Jeff on Sept 26, 2023 17:03:50 GMT
A quickly arranged trip to Lakenheath on Sunday night after seeing the weather forecast for the Monday saw us book the Travel Lodge at Barton Mills for the princely sum of £43, I asked for a room at the front (Room 114) as this had possibilities of viewing landing aircraft on 28, in the event nothing arrived anyway but one KC135 did depart the other way at 21:00 and the aircraft or lights anyway were very visible.
Monday morning dawned bright and Dewey just as a late September should, the tempt of 17c at 7:30am was def not September temps though. After a quick drive through Brekkie at McDonalds we made for the LN viewing area which wasn't that crowded as we arrived at just after 8am. 4 F35s were already making their way to 26 for departure and all went quiet once they had gone. It remained quiet until their return which was a straight in approach and land, a handful of F15s appeared and departed. All then went quiet but the car park was slowly filling as was the forest entrance and the verge leading to it, the Sun was getting hotter by the minute and the day was turning into one of those balmy hot summer days I thought we had left behind this year. Haze was now becoming as issue as was the low sun which from that side you are shooting into. We had some lunch just as 12 F35s and about 8 F15s made their way to the runway, all departed very quickly in waves of 4.
At that point we decided that after their return we would leave for home to avoid the M25 carnage, so we sat back down and waited. We then heard rumour of a C17 (08-8197) inbound LN and currently over Frankfurt Just as more engines starting and soon 3 more F15 and 3 F35s were parked up either side of the runway doing pre flights then to top off what had been a busy day already an Alpha jet and 2 A4s taxied out for their prefight's just as the previously mention C17 was on finals, all departed after C17 arrived. The 12 F35s and accompanying F15s returned and did numerous missed approaches and we had now decided to wait for the A4s to return and take =our chances with the M25 lol. a C130 HKY731 then popped up on finals (15-5822). We departed just after the A4s arrived and made good time, getting home just after 17:00
Monday morning dawned bright and Dewey just as a late September should, the tempt of 17c at 7:30am was def not September temps though. After a quick drive through Brekkie at McDonalds we made for the LN viewing area which wasn't that crowded as we arrived at just after 8am. 4 F35s were already making their way to 26 for departure and all went quiet once they had gone. It remained quiet until their return which was a straight in approach and land, a handful of F15s appeared and departed. All then went quiet but the car park was slowly filling as was the forest entrance and the verge leading to it, the Sun was getting hotter by the minute and the day was turning into one of those balmy hot summer days I thought we had left behind this year. Haze was now becoming as issue as was the low sun which from that side you are shooting into. We had some lunch just as 12 F35s and about 8 F15s made their way to the runway, all departed very quickly in waves of 4.
At that point we decided that after their return we would leave for home to avoid the M25 carnage, so we sat back down and waited. We then heard rumour of a C17 (08-8197) inbound LN and currently over Frankfurt Just as more engines starting and soon 3 more F15 and 3 F35s were parked up either side of the runway doing pre flights then to top off what had been a busy day already an Alpha jet and 2 A4s taxied out for their prefight's just as the previously mention C17 was on finals, all departed after C17 arrived. The 12 F35s and accompanying F15s returned and did numerous missed approaches and we had now decided to wait for the A4s to return and take =our chances with the M25 lol. a C130 HKY731 then popped up on finals (15-5822). We departed just after the A4s arrived and made good time, getting home just after 17:00
