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                                Lakenheath  2 - 4th April 2025  Dave Anderson, Geoff Hyde & Eddie Douglas

Wednesday 2nd April 2025

When I got an invite from some great pals to do a few days mil spotting and the weather was looking good, we soon got planning the trip. Accomodation in Lakenheath was booked for a few nights and the route decided. Marham was hosting some Spanish Hornets so we headed down to Coningsby and onto Marham and then to Lakenheath. A quick call into Humberside where a NetJets Challenger (CS-CHK) was on the ramp along with a few based helicopters  we grabbed some photo's of the old stored Eastern Jetstreams, and the two mil jets on display. Sadly the 2Excel hangar was closed and nothing outside.

 

Onto Coningsby for lunch chasing ZK437 my last from here it was flying the previous day, but sadly not seen today. We didn't stay long needing to be at Marham before 3pm when the Spanish were due to launch.

Marham is a frustrating place to view, with the F35's not using the old Tornado hardened shelters but covered "barns", two of the four barns could be seen with 7 F35's parked inside them, but due to shadow's none could be read off. If you want to spend more time walking around fields, I'm sure some could be read off. The wind from the east meant 06 departures so we positioned ourselves at the end of runway 24, with the sun behind, luckily 6 RAF F35's departed and then 4 of the 6 Hornets left just after 3pm. We moved back up the road to a point where we could see the 06 arrivals, the 6 F35's arrived back after about and hour and a half.

C.15-44	12-02	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 M Hornet
C.15-48	12-06	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 M Hornet
C.15-53	12-11	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 M Hornet
C.15-62	12-20	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 M Hornet
CE.15-02	15-71	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 BM Hornet
CE.15-12	12-75	McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 BM Hornet
ZM137	003	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning
ZM140	006	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning
ZM143	009	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning
ZM146	012	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning
ZM155	021	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning
ZM169	035	Lockheed Martin F-35 B Lightning

Onto Lakenheath, again with easterly winds they were using 05, heading up to the Heath to see 130AW WV ANG C130J Hercules 19-5928 that departed soon after, it was then off to our accomodation and a very nice Italian meal in the village.

Thursday 3rd April 2025

Up early and off to Mildenhall for a quick visit to see a P-8 Poseidon (168856/RC of VP-46) that had arrived the previous day and then back to Lakenheath. Parking near the woods at the 23 end, we had that morning with the three perfect conditions - blue skies, winds from the east and unrestricted take-offs. This is a spectacle well worth seeing (normally Fridays but the base was closed this Friday) both F35's and F15's did what they wanted after lift off - afterburner climbs, low  over the fence and pulling up, banking over the spotters at low level, a superb morning with some excellent photo's. We stayed until the whole 30 aircraft had returned before heading over to Mildenhall for a relaxing afternoon.

Mildenhall is a shadow of itself with very few visiting aircraft, however the based KC135's and MC130's were active in the circuit so kept us entertained during the afternoon, again conditions were perfect, blue skies and easterly winds. The newish resident 10-3077 Dornier 146A Wolfhound (below) was parked up along with 6 Osprey's of which one departed.

Friday 4th April 2025

Needing to be home mid afternoon, soon after breakfast after another drive round Mildenhall we called into Cambridge for a quick look, nothing much of interest, still a dozen ex RAF C130's parked out around the airfield. The three of us hadn't visited the air museum at Newark in a while, with them having some nice outdoor exhibitions, the blue skies made them ideal to photograph. After a few hours here and a nice lunch in the cafe it was off home. A fantastic few days, great company with Geoff and Eddie and 51 new ones in the log for me and some brilliant photo's all made for a great trip.