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| F15 E at LN |
Friday 11 November 2011
LN visit 18th October 2011
Well, I was impressed enough on my initiation to venture back up to Suffolk on my next free rest day...my Mentor was working mwahahahaha! and had a pleasant surprise too.
I was still to purchase a scanner so went up to Lakenheath kinda blind, but the guys seem a friendly lot in this new hobby of mine and soon up went the shout that 3 French Alpha Jets were inbound to LN...in they came and I bagged my first Armee de l'air kites. Into my note book went tail numbers E-45, E-112 and E-51. We had 8 F15's too a bit later in the morning, all were needed and noted accordingly. 91-0303, 91-0331, 91-0312, 97-0220, 97-0221, 98-0131, 00-3003 and 01-2002. I have learned that each US aircraft has a FY number or Fiscal Year of manufacture.
LN went quiet, so I popped over to the Hall and bagged another 6 needed aircraft, an MC-130H 80195 (FY88), 73-0991 (222 FILO) a Turkish stars C-130E, and 4 new KC135 stratotankers, 38024, 71456, 71488 and 00342.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Well, making progress, I purchased the book recommended by my “Meercat Mentor”. Titled “Military Aircraft Markings” and compiled by Howard J. Curtis. As most of you number crunchers out there will no doubt be aware its a comprehensive list of military serial numbers, laid out perfectly for me to underline once I've spotted them! I would thoroughly recommend this book.
Wednesday 2 November 2011
...the Facebook message contained an invite from my pal Graham. It looked innocent enough at first glance, apparently there was a strong rumour that no less than 6 Boeing C17 Globemasters were due to land at RAF Lakenheath the following Sunday. I jumped at the chance of a road trip to Suffolk and was ready with me flask of coffee, cheese and onion sandwiches and a fully charged battery in me DSLR.
I learned much that cold Sunday in September. What books to buy, how and what numbers to take, the best viewing places at Lakenheath and Mildenhall, what forums and websites would be useful and best of all...not to believe a pal who tells you that 6 C17's are gonna land at a remote base in Suffolk. Oh and met some friendly like-minded chaps as well.
We had one C17...at Mildenhall, not Lakenheath and it took off and didn't land but just when we thought the day was slipping away, we got a shout that a C5 Galaxy was on finals into Lakenheath. As luck would have it we'd travelled back to LN from Mildenhall and were in the viewing gallery. We galloped over to the forestry track and readied our cameras.
Sure enough over the trees he soared and...broke left, just like the eagles do. Wow! We all though he would simply land but we enjoyed seeing this huge airframe bank left and complete a faultless turn and then land.
Right, thats it we thought. But no, out came the cameras again and we were treated to 11 F15C's and one F15D landing right in front of us. Happy days!!
I'd bagged 16 serials in total for my first trip. Enjoyed every minute and was initiated into the Meercat Club. A happy bunny indeed...
In the beginning
I blame Graham Bright...
As this is my first post on the blog, I thought I would lay the blame...sorry pay tribute...to a friend of mine who introduced me to the hidden mysteries of aircraft spotting in general and military aircraft spotting in particular.
There I was, relaxing at home after a long shift driving the great unwashed of Romford around in my 248, when my iPhone bleeped the bleep that notifies me of a new private message on my facebook account. My wife says I should've ignored it. But instead I ignored her...and checked out the message. Oh dear!
...and so it began...
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