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UK trip 2013

During mid June rumors started about an exercise in the UK that involved Saudi fighters (Typhoon and Tornado’s) in the month September.
 In the month July no news at all about it so it was just waiting until august more and more came out and plans were made.
The exercise was called Green Flag and will be from September 2 till 13 at RAF Coningsby.

On September 9th we went on our way to Schiphol airport for our easyjet flight to Londen Stansted.
When we finally arrived at the easyjet desk one big line for al flight with easyjet didn't make us happy..
Take-off was at 09.40 so our arrival time would be 09.40 LT. During the landing we noticed our fist military /semi military planes.
Picking up the rental car in typical English weather and off we went needed to find a good spot to read the first 2 serials.

Stansted 9 September

After those 2 numbers went down in the logbook we went off north to the next stop Cambridge.
The drive up there was very smooth and we arrived without any trafficjams , but not much special was seen.
The Danish C-130J was the same as at Volkel airshow.

The next stop was Mildenhall and from Cambridge thatsreal close.
On the way to the Hall we saw an E-3A doing touch and goes.
When arriving at the Hall we noticed a lot local KC-135’s so for the numbers it was pretty good.
Also the highlights were seen the 4 new arrivals like the 2 VC-22 and 2 MC-130J’s.

Mildenhall 9-9-2013

At Mildenhall we also noticed we weren’t the only Dutchy’s on trip in the UK.
Round 14.00 LT we heard and saw some Lakenheath F-15’s in take-off so we decided to go there to catch the recovery.
Not long after that we went back to Mildenhall to see the state-side C-130 arrive and a MC-130 depart.
With the arrival of the Keesler C-130J the 1st day spotting came to an end and all that was left was finding our hotel in Mundford.
On our way to the hotel we passed Lakenheath again and we had a bonus an HH-60G was doing some night flying
The hotel room was very small but diner was good.
On the wifi we’ve seen that more planes arrived at Mildenhall so we decided to start the next day there too.

The 1st plan for Tuesday was Marham and the Holbeach range, but with what we seen on the internet the decision was made to visit Mildenhall 1st.

MILDENHALL 10-9-2013

After the short Mildenhall D-tour we followed our old plan and went to Marham.
Shortly after us also the other Dutchy’s who we have meet at the Hall arrived.

RAF MARHAM 10-9-2013

Flying was very poor and weather was bad we decided to try our luck at Waddington.
On our way down there we passed Hunter F1 WT680 along the A17.
While trying to find the right bank on the scanner for Waddington we heard FAF64.. on the scanner leaving Waddington. Later we found out that we missed some Alpha Jets. Temporarily stationed at Waddington was 29 Sqn with 10 Typhoons.
All below was seen during various stays at Waddington.

WADDINGTON 10 till 12-10-2013

T=Tuesday
W=Wednesday
TH=Thursday

Tuesday evening we stayed at Waddo till 19.00Lt in the pouring rain only in hope to catch a Sentinel flying. But this was all for nothing so we went to our hotel for the next 3 night in Lincoln. During the day we seen 9 out of 10 Typhoons. When arrived in the hotel it was time for a shower and diner, diner was pretty easy to find cause nearby there was a Frankie & Benny's.
Wednesday was “The day" for Coningsby. So after breakfast it was time to buy some drinks and food before we went to the base.
When we arrived it was already full with spotters and also the ramp was pretty full with the 8 Saudi’s on the line.

CONINGSBY 11-9-2013

During the morning mission all 8 Saudi’s flew, so in one day we had them all on picture. The Afternoon mission on 2 Typhoons and 2 Tornado’s.
Funny this is that the morning mission departed from the 25 with the fact we didn’t had stairs with us (not easy on a plane) we decided to go to the 07 side in the hope they would stay low, and the Tornado’s did.
Not long after that last take-off we saw people working on the barrier, what happened was that the direction changed into 07 for landing.
Round 16:00 Lt flying was over and it was time for our daily visit to Waddo, lucky for us we seen Typhoon number 10 today and also 3 Sentinels on the ramp but still none flying.
Locals told us that that last week every day a Sentinal took off at 09.00LT so on Thursday we once again tried to catch one flying…..but once again no luck. Round noon we went for a short visit to Cranwell to see some Beeches and Tutors.

CRANWELL 12-9-2013

When we arrived back @Waddo locals showed us that we missed a C-130 and Pa-31 from the RAF.
For Friday we didn’t had any official plans yet and we would make that on Thursday, with in mind that we had mostly what we wanted in this region we planned to go down south with Benson and Brize  Norton.
So on Friday morning early we left the hotel down south the 1st part went pretty smooth but after a while the main road was blocked after a traffic accident (lorry lost his load) so we had to take a d-tour. This took us almost 90 minutes extra.

BENSON 13-9-2013

Without any further movements on the ramps we continued our way to Brize Norton

BRIZE NORTON 13-9-2013

First we did was checking various spots to read as many as possible serials before heading to the landing. Strangely not a single person was in the aprouch but it didn't took long for some other spotters to arrive and they told us that an Saudie A330 would come in a bit. So that would be a nice bonus, while waiting on the Saudie there was a Rch flight on the scanner inbound Fairford and saw an C-17 overhead. Shortly after the Saudie a Tristar and an RAF A330 arrived.
With the arrival of the last 333 we went on to Fairford to catch the C- 17 there.

FAIRFORD 13-9-2013

Not completely sure why it was at Fairford but my guess is that it had something to do with a U-2 departing earlier in the week. Pretty strange arriving from another side than with the RIAT, so it took us a little longer to get there.
From here we went to our Hotel in Wellingborough also an IBIS. It almost went wrong with checking in cause we mixed up the arrival date here but luckily this wasn’t any problem and was even cheaper.

On Saturday it was time again for Mildenhall, we started with reading of the visiting planes and TDY Lakenheath F-15’s.
The F-15’s (12) arrived during the week cause Lakenheath would be closed for runway works.
During the morning we seen the departure of 2 KC-135’s and 1 C-130 and also the arrival of a C-17.

MILDENHALL 14-9-2013

At  11am it was time to leave and head back to Stansted. Here everything went very fast no lines nothing. During take-off we noticed some VIP’s again.

STANSTED 14-9-2013

The time between landing at Schiphol and getting to P4 at Schiphol was maximum 30 minutes.
All that was left was the drive back home and well that didn’t go as planned.
Big road constructions round Rotterdam was the reason for allot jams and very much delay.
It even took longer to get home from Schiphol than the whole flight and getting to the parking together.