Coningsby visit.

[gary1701]

Gents,

 

Not Mildenhall for a change, but a trip up to catch a subject that you would usually expect to see more at Mildenhall rather than RAF Coningsby, where a USAF C-17 was making a first visit earlier this week. The Globemaster came in on Monday but I could only make the trip up on Tuesday to hopefully catch the departure, and a days Typhoon watching as well! I had a ulterior motive as one of the senior guys on board from Charleston is a friend of mine, and I had sent some detailed maps and photos showing where I intended to be to photograph, although obviously we were in the hands of Coningsby ATC, and things went a bit wrong!

 

Early morning saw a practise session by the RAF Typhoon display pilot. If I'd have known before I arrived I would have moved a little more central which would have been better for photography but I had to shoot from where I was, at the South Western corner of the airfield which limited me too a few opportunities.

 

 

 

...and landing after the display. This is believed to be the back up jet allocated to displays this year and carries standard 29 Sqn markings.

 

 

When the base is working out of the West, you're limited to what angles you can take pics from, so there's going to be a few similar. These two are 41(R) Sqn jets, the RAF's Typhoon trials and evaluation unit. Unlike the rest of the fleet, 41 appear to have retained their sqn markings for now, probably because their jets won't go on the fleet rotation for the detachment deployed in Cyprus for Syria. They've still changed their old WWII style 'EB' codes to the fleet standard last three on the fin.

 

 

 

The primary display aircraft this year, although on this day flying a regular training sortie with 29 Sqn. Like the rest of the RAF types, one airframe of each fleet has gained the RAF 100 years corporate style 'logo'. A real shame when you consider what other air arms are still capable of producing (look at the recent Belgian and Canadian efforts) and the significance of the milestone, the worlds first independent air arm on it's 100 years anniversary.

 

 

 

 

A few more regular line jets. The new tranche three jets (like ZK373) have a small 'bump' on the rear upper fuselage which aids in their identification. This is a attachment point for CFTs, although the RAF have apparently shown no interest in acquiring them at the moment. As the Typhoon will take over carriage of the Storm Shadow stand off missile from the Tornado within the year, it may be wise for them to consider this as the only position a Typhoon can carry Storm Shadow is the station where the wing tanks are fitted!

 

 

 

Opposite extreme, two older and looking rather worn tranche one airframes.

 

 

 

ZK427 is one of the newest tranche three airframes on the fleet, it's still fairly clean.

 

 

Most of the early tranche one twin sticks are now gone, broken up for parts, I only saw one operating on this day, this is one of the small number of tranche two twin sticks. There are no dual aircraft in tranche three.

 

 

Shooting across to the runway and the main runway with the ASP and the big guy behind.

 

 

Besides the anniversary logo jet, only one other specially marked Typhoon remains on the fleet, 41's anniversary jet from a couple of years ago, so probably won't be around like this for much longer. Turning onto runway 07 and pulling into the vertical with a 'performance' departure.

 

 

 

I then moved down to the taxiway as the sun went around and the C-17s ETD approached, this Typhoon coming out of the shelters has a exchange pilots name on - 'MAJ D DOCTER'.

 

 

The C-17 was filed for a quick hop of only a few minutes over to RAF Lakenheath, staying for a few hours before heading home to Charleston. Unfortunately for him, when time to depart came, Lakenheath refused to take him! The 48th FW at Lakenheath was undergoing a 'surge' exercise for a few days this week and was unwilling to close the runway and change the cable configuration for a heavy. Over a hour of urgent comms between the C-17, Coningsby ATC and Lakenheath saw the C-17 go to Mildenhall instead, 90 minutes late. He was expected to come down the taxiway directly in front of me, which can accommodate a C-17 as the Indian example came down here during their detachment a few years ago. Unfortunately, he turned and went up the old cross runway to the mid point instead, ruining that photo chance! Fortunately, rather than just going straight off, he turned and back tracked a little which gave the photo opportunity. When I contacted the guy on the crew I knew the reason was Coningsby didn't want them taxiing over their cables!

 

'Reach 539' on the back taxi and departure.

 

 

 

 

 

That was it for Coningsby. Unlike the old days, unless something unusual is going on, it doesn't really have the appeal it used to from a photography point of view, as endless grey Typhoons don't really appeal.

 

I knew the C-17 was departing Mildenhall the following evening and as that's a lot closer, I popped over for the departure, despite the return to more normal grey UK weather. 'Reach 539' heading back to Charleston.

 

 

 

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen]

Great pics Gary, thanks for sharing.

[torchf4]

Are all the RAF fast jets becoming badgeless? Jeez that would be a real downer! Really love the RAF badges for the history and traditions and of course the colors! Really classy

[Alternative 4]

Great pics.

 

Are all the Tornado's now gone from Coningsby?

[gary1701]

Hi Gents,

 

Thanks for the kind comments. For the first question about the markings the answer is unfortunately yes. The Tornados lost theirs quite a few years ago and went to a purely code on the tail, this was a set code specific to that airframe and never changed. The Tornado fleet, at the last count is down to about 28 airframes, all centralised at RAF Marham with 9 and 31 Sqn's, 12 disbanded on Tornados a month or so back. The Tornado out-of-service date is supposedly early 2019, so there's less than a year left.

 

The last Tornado's, which was only about 3/4 with 41 at Coningsby left to join the rest at Marham last year. One was still surviving in full 41 Sqn markings, may still be marked now. The Typhoon fleet has now gone to a repeat of the last three serial numbers on the fin and the majority have lost their sqn markings. With the fleet split between Coningsby and Loosiemouth, plus a rotating detachment in Cyprus for Syrian ops, there is no 'ownership' on the jets for any specific units. The exceptions are that 41 Sqn have kept their markings, as shown above, and also I believe the jets down at Mount Pleasant with 1435 flight carry their markings. Exceptions still exist, and there are a few jets between the two main UK bases that retain their sqn markings, and apparently a few at Lossiemouth have even been reapplied so the long term plan isn't clear.

 

There's only two reasons I can see as to why they have done this, the first and obvious is cost, but that doesn't explain the removal of existing markings, just the non application of new ones. A former RAF guy who I know says that it costs several hundred pounds for a full set of sqn decals, fin and fuselage, but in the scale of things that hardly seems that important. As he says, previously on his old squadron, if they received a jet from elsewhere, first place it went was the paint shop to have any old markings removed and his sqn applied, it was unit pride.

 

The other, which to me makes no logical sense, is intelligence and information being released from, say a downed jet. It's not exactly a secret as to how many jets are detached to operational tasks overseas, or which squadrons are currently on that det. I can understand removing the names under the canopy rails, as although almost certainly irrelevant to whose flying them at that time, giving captors any kind of information, even false is probably to be avoided. The squadron markings surely shouldn't matter, and the RAF has a long history of applying extra artwork on jets when deployed on active duties, but that's all stopped. I could be over thinking it here and this could simply be another example of the silly, mustn't offend PC rubbish that appears to have taken over the UKs - and other western militaries - armed forces in recent years.    

 

Overall, it's a massive shame that such a long tradition has ended, although it could reappear at some point again.

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

 

    

Edited May 29, 2018 by gary1701

[82Whitey51]

Great stuff Gary!

[gary1701]

Thanks gents, added a few of the Coningsby Tornados below from previous visits. There wasn't many, at most 3 to 4 here for trials work. Now the remainder of the fleet is at RAF Marham. Word around is that the first batch of UK F-35B's will make the trip across the pond for Marham sometime next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary