Small UK Trip 15-8 / 18-8

[Arjan]

Hi all,

Spent a nice week in Engeland for a short spotting trip. Flying and weather was generally very good!! If some one is able to fill in the gaps;

15-8 Leuchars
Typhoon FGR-4 ZK307/EE, XK310/EL, ZK300/EJ, ZK317/ES, ZK304/EB, ZK314/EO, ZK316/ER 6 SQN
Typhoon T-3 ZK379/EX 6 Sqn

Only 4 flew, the rest was out on the flightline or being towed across the field. Missions lasted well up to 2,5 hours!

16-8 Lossiemouth
Sea King HAR-3 XZ588/D, XZ589/E D Flight / 202 Squadron
Alpha Jet A ZJ645, ZJ647 Qinetic
Hawk T-1A XX189/CR, XX203/CC 100 Sqn
Hawk T-1 XX321 19 Sqn

Tornado GR-4 ZA549/041 15 Sqn
Tornado GR-4 ZD890/113 2 Sqn
Tornado GR-4 ZA405/014 14 Sqn
Tornado GR-4 ZG756/131,ZA552/044, ZD849/110 617 Sqn
Tornado GR-4 ZA395/009 31 Sqn
Tornado GR-4 ?? Special Tail

Tornado GR-4 Lossiemouth Wing
ZG714/124, ZD712/080, ZA406/015, ZA492/033, ZD743/091, ZA550/042, ZD720/086, ZD714/082, ZA613/075, ZD707/077, ZD812/104, ZA370/004, ZA559/049, ZG712/122

I noted only the markings of the Tornado's!! As I arrived here late on monday evening allready the Tornado's were flying up to 23:00h doing some night time. I was afraid that this might affect the missions on teusday with probably no flying in the morning. How wrong could I have been, first Tornado's were taking off before 10:00h. The Alpha's arrived in the morning and the Hawks in the afternoon.
The Tornado's were flying very active in the afternoon making multiple passes on approach making the skies filled with aircraft! Not much dull moments. Only thing is that they kept changing runways!

17-08 Leeming
Sea King HC-4 ??
Hawk T-1A XX318/CN, XX189/CR, XX202/CF, XX285/CB, XX346/CH 100 Sqn
Also the CJ was noted but the serial could not be read due to heatwaves..looked like XX301 though! Made only a quick stop here.

17-08 Linton on Ouse
Hawk T-2 ZK010, ZK028 19 Sqn
Tucano T-1 ZF338, ZF348, ZF295, ZF406, ZF243, ZF291, ZF339, ZF489, ZF143, ZF239, ZF170, ZF210, ZF379, ZF142, ZF240
Only stopped by to read the well stuffed flightline. Multiple Tucano's were flying and shooting approaches.

17-08-Waddington
E-3D ZH102, ZH103, ZH105, ZH107 8 Sqn
Lightning Preserved on ramp?
Tornado Overshoot at about 13:30h?
AW-139 ZR283 DFHS

17-08 Coningsby
Chipmunk WG486 BoBMF
Typhoon FGR-4 ZJ921/QO-J, ZJ941/QO-J, ZJ920/QO-A 3 Sqn
Typhoon T-3 ZJ802/QO-B 3 Sqn
Typhoon T-1A ZJ814/QO-Z 3 Sqn
Typhoon FGR-4 ZJ910/BV 29 Sqn
Typhoon T-3 ZJ801/BJ, ZJ809/BH, ZJ815/BN 29 Sqn
Typhoon F-2 ZJ932/DB 11 Sqn
Typhoon FGR-4 ZJ914/AF, ZJ930/AA 17 Sqn
Typhoon FGR-4 ZJ946/EH, ZJ947/EI 6 Sqn
Also two AAC AH-64D were parked on the ramp but as always they were almost impossible to read. Anyone for the serials?? Flying was good but stopped just 30 minutes after I arrived. Having been able to identify almost all of the Typhoons in flight or on the flightlines I decided to push on to the south and see if I would be able to get more.

17-8 Fleet Hargate
Hunter F-1 WT680/J
This Hunter is preserved with lots of other military equipment near an roadhouse and well visible from the road.

17-8 Marham
Tornado GR-4 ZA458/024 Marham Wing

17-8 Lakenheath
F-15C 86-0165/LN 492 FS / 48 Wing

I have more notes from Marham and the Heath but I have to check with my pictures first but as it allready was about 18:00 when I arrived on Lakenheath I figured that there was not much more being expected allthough the spotterscorner was still very much occupied. However bad weather set in and I decided to check on Mildenhall and then leave to my hotel for a good nights rest.

17-8 Mildenhall
KC-135R 62-3565/D, 62-3551/D, 63-7979/D 351 ARS / 100 ARW
MC-130P 66-0220, 64-14854, 65-0992 67 SOS / 352 SOG
MC-130H 87-0024 7 SOS / 352 SOG
Two KC's were prepping for take off and one actually took off, the other going back to the ramp. The first one came back almost immediately and did a number of T&G's. Not much on the Hall this evening with the ramps looking very empty.

18-8 Shawbury
Griffin ZJ242/E, ZJ236/X, ZJ707/O, ZJ238/Y 60 Sqn / DHFS
Squirrel ZJ273/73 660 Sqn / DHFS
There were more choppers on the ramp but heatwaves made it difficult to read. Great airfield by the way, wonder why this isn't visited more often?

18-8 Cosford
C-130C-3 XV202
Is this Herc now part of the Brize Norton Transport Wing since the stuff moved from Lyneham??? Or how is it called these days?
Spend a lot of time in the RAF Museum which is very interesting allthoug it is a real pain to take decent (for as fas as you can take decent pictures within a museum at all) pictures in the Cold War hall. Very well worth a visit though!
Also a Jaguar (coded EG) was out on the ramps and had his engines being run up!

I have also visited the aircraft collections at Dumfries, Carlisle, Winthorpe and Coventry. Will post these later as this takes much more work.