My own private flyby

[mel wilson]

The perks of living near 3 airbases, Lakenheath, Mildenhall & Wattisham all really close to where I live now in Suffolk.

Taken from my back garden today.












Mel.

[skipperdan]

Great Shots!

How well do you sleep at night?

[harkgoddammit]

Yeah, thanks Mel, I would have loved to see, hear and feel those babies - holeee.
Might fly a few sorties out of those airbases too now that you've I.D.'ed them.

[mel wilson]

Glad you like the pics guys, no military night flights, so always a peaceful nights sleep Skip, unless of course there is something big going down in the world.

These babies come out of Lakenheath & Mildenhall both are joint RAF/USAF bases. both of them are really close together, a tad nearer me is Wattisham where the Apaches are based, along with our Apache Pilot Prince William. And those babies come over us a rooftop level sometimes, I'll try and be quick and get a couple of shots of them too.

The county of Suffolk is renowned for its Air Bases simply because it pretty much flat all over.

Eye Airfield is now closed, and it's where we fly our RC Aircraft from, about 15mins drive from my house. You should be able to locate all of these in Google Earth........

EXERCISE:..... Use Google Earth to locate all of the above bases, then look for a small village north of the town of "Stowmarket" called "Old Newton", thats where live.

Mel.

[rd]

Nice shots Mel. There's an everlasting love for us, that live near to a military airbase.

Caught this on my cell phone a couple weeks ago, while at work. Not sure why he is flying here, but he was here, and no airshow.

RD

[mel wilson]

Caught this little bute as they flew right over me while I was in my back garden.... Awesome sight.

Mel.

UPDATE: This Apache is out of Wattisham Army Airbase, about 3 miles from me.

[harkgoddammit]

Holee. Very nice Mel, that's a treat, eh? You guys that live near air bases like that are lucky - enjoy, and thanks for the shot!

[rd]

*beep*, that's almost upright and personal right there. If mine are that low, they better be landing, or crashing. lmao.

RD

[mel wilson]

We are lucky because we are in a very small village, they tend to fly low and slow at treetop level sometimes, if we were a larger town, they would tend to fly round i'm sure....... but i'm lovin it

As for the earlier shots, I heard they were practicing for the Queen's 60th jubilee celebrations, did you guys get to see the TV coverage over there?


Mel.

[harkgoddammit]

They were talking about it across the pond here. A bit on the radio & T.V. about her close association & history with the armed forces from way back when she was an aircraft mechanic in the war or something like that. I had no idea, it was pretty cool to hear about her younger years.

BTW, Google-mapped your little patchwork paradise the other day Mel. Wow, that must be some nice.

[harkgoddammit]

Prince Charles and Camilla (does she have a title?) have been wiggling further into peoples hearts as they tour Canada, and apparently The Queen had invited the RCMP to display their stuff back at Buckingham palace. She peered out a window to watch the proceedings. I remember Googling the last Jubilee celebrations years back so I could show my daughter that amazing golden carriage.

[mel wilson]

the carrage is something else, only comes out at very special occasions, cant remember the tonnage but it's bloody heavy... Camilla being married to Prince Charles, who is Duke of Cornwall, she automatically takes the title "Duchess of Cornwall" Cornwall is a county South West of England ... Lands End and all that......

Here endeth the lesson.

Mel.

[mel wilson]

Can anyone identify this a/c please, spotted in the sky over Suffolk a few days ago.

Mel.

[johnman]

Hey Mel,

Your Mystery Aircraft sure looks like a KC135 Tanker - of one sort or another - Have no idea of what model - but I'm bettin KC135 . - Just looks BUFF to Me.

Are You using anything special to take these pictures .

Johnman

[mel wilson]

Hi Johnman,

Thanks for the info, shot was taken two days ago, I am assuming it was out of Lakenheath or Mildenhall, both US Air Bases..... Shot was taken way out, using my Canon 600D with a 55-250mm lens, pushed to the max, shame I didn't have my 100-400mm would have been a better pic.

Mel.

[rd]

Actually, it is a RC-135 "Rivet Join". It is a classified intelligence/reconnaissance plane. I see them everyday flying over my work to land at Offutt AFB. You can tell by the square bulges under the pilots, and in front of wing.

http://www.af.mil/information/factsheet ... p?id=19540

A KC-135 looks identical except for the bulges. As well, you can't miss the refueling boom.

RD

[mel wilson]

Thanks guys, now I can add it to my library.

Mel.

[rd]

I posted up a link to it while editing it.

RD

[mel wilson]

Thats great RD, thanks bud

First time I have seen this bird in the two years since moving here.

Mel.

[rd]

Then you might be interested in this short clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iXoD1qvl60

As said, I see them all day long, like 6-10 times a day, every day. They have alot of planes here, and they do a lot of touch and goes at Offutt. I'll take a pic tomorrow, to show you. (yeah, it is guaranteed, I'll see a couple of them) lol

They also have another RC-135, with an "X" (RC-135X). It is very noticeable when you see it. The right side engines are painted black, as well as the top of the wing. This was to control the reflection of light to the camera's on that side of the plane.

http://community-2.webtv.net/ImageBank/CobraBall/

History by Boeing, on the 135.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_RC-135

RD

[johnman]

Hey Mel,

Fantastic - I knew We could count on Ardie to Nail it down for Us !! Good Job !!

You wouldn"t happen to have a Serial Number would You ??

Johnman

[mel wilson]

Had to go back to my camera in order to read what I could from the tail fin, I can see "OF" which I assume is the abbreviation for "Offut" and just below that I think the last two digits read 43 but I cant be certain, cant read the other, if it appears again, which it could as we are close to both bases, I'll get another pic and post the details here.

Mel.

[rd]

Tail Number:
OF
64-14843

hehehe

RD

[mel wilson]

Tail Number:
OF
64-14843

hehehe

RD

Neat, how did you do that?

Mel.

[rd]

I'm an Air Force brat, and a Marine.

You figure it out. lol

Seriously, there are not very many planes. So it was a deduction of running the last 2 numbers, and what is on the fleet. ALL, RC-135's are stationed here, at Offutt AFB. Wing 55 is their designation.

RD

[mel wilson]

Ah... Should have guessed, thanks again RD for the info..

Mel.

[mel wilson]

Our friend the RC-135 "Rivet Join" was back in the sky today, this time I had my new canon EF100-400mm lens on.

Mel.

[rd]

lmao... still no tail number.

Nice shot. I've got some that I took of several flying over my shop, but they are not that "awesome". You can tell what they are, but yeah, no tail numbers. haha

RD

[mel wilson]

Lol.......... I'll get you your tail number RD, next time he flies over I'll get him to level off over my house.

Mel.