Spottingtrip UK, Mildenhall

The annual spotters trip from Low Approach went to the UK this year. It was foreseen to visit Duxford, Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Marham. Unfortunately, Marham was removed from the list because the F-35B’s were deployed to Cyprus during our time in the UK.

On Sunday we stopped at Duxford and also spent the night nearby. On Monday morning we drove further to Lakenheath and Mildenhall. This article will cover our visits to Mildenhall.

Runway 29 was in use all week, so John's Field aka The Nook Campsite was the place to be. Nice place to spot there at the campsite. Outside the daily flights of the KC-135R’s from the 100th ARW, the MC-130J’s from the 67th SOS and the Ospreys from the 7th SOS and an RC -135V of the 95th RS, there were also a number of visiting planes to see, some of which made a night stop. On the 29th of May there was a Sentinel R1 from the RAF that unfortunately flew high over the runway, and there were a few visiting C-12’s from Wiesbaden AB from Germany.

On Wednesday 22/05/2019 the C-12’s from Wiesbaden were also very active. Later that day two more KC-10A’s landed with the registrations 84-0192 and the 86-0032 from the 305th AMW of McGuire AFB from New Jersey for a night stop. There were also night flights from the MC-130’s and the Ospreys on this day.

On the morning of the 23rd we saw the KC-10’s from New Jersey taking off, furthermore there was a KC-135R with the registration 63-8871 of the 92th ARW based at Fairchild AFB from Washington, with two air refueling pods under the wings!

The crew of the 07-7188, a C-17A from Charleston AFB, also landed for a night's rest. During breakfast on the morning of the 24th, we saw on our smart phones an AWACS from the USAF flying into English airspace and decent very quickly towards Prestwick, but luckily for us he flew past Prestwick towards Mildenhall and it was the E-3G 77-0351 / OK from the 964th ACCS, coming from Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. Together with the locals who flew their missions every day it was a satisfying week for us commuting between Lakenheath and the Hall.

Text: Alain Meykens

Photography: Alain Meykens, Andy Patzelt, Dirk Geuns