The 93rd FS 'Makos' at Lakenheath

[gary1701]

Gents,

 

A post showing todays little trip out to one of my usual haunts, but not for the locals as the 93rd FS have brought a dozen of their block 30 F-16s over from Homestead for a couple of weeks ACM training with the locals and RAF Typhoons. These guys are now on their second week here and today was the first day of good weather, although they flew last week the conditions were horrible, so I booked a days leave to go and have a look. Good weather and sunshine were forecast for the first part of this week which was good, but also a Easterly wind which supposedly would have had them operating on runway 06 and taking off towards our usual spot at the Eastern end of the runway.

 

I made a early start, getting there for about 7 AM, I wasn't the first!

 

South;

 

 

North back towards the 24 approach, and this was before it got busy.

 

 

I was very surprised to see the EOR guys at the 24 end and the first flight taxiing to this end rather than 06, but winds were calm and they do prefer to work 24, especially when Mildenhall is on 11. Only one resident sqn (the 492nd) is at home, although a few 493rd jets also remain, so about 10 F-15s went out with 8 of the F-16s. Last week they were stripped, but today the tanks were back on the F-16s, although they still came back within the hour. The wind picked up and I was hoping they wouldn't make the runway change until after the first wave recovered and luckily I guessed right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most visiting units on TDY at Lakenheath don't do circuits unless they have to, the 'Makos' didn't mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 48th now have three F-15s, one from each sqn marked for the Normandy anniversary, and all three are currently on the base but only the 492nd are regularly flying. Nice to get it and the two circuits were a bonus.

 

 

 

 

The 'Makos' two birds marked for the 482nd FW and the 93rd FS.

 

 

 

 

 

So by late morning they were on the deck and the second wave was awaited. The expected runway change was made and we were then in the hands of the drivers to keep at least some low on departure and hopefully bank right as they went past. A couple of 'Makos' caught on.

 

 

 

 

A big hand goes to the 492nd driver of the anniversary jet in the second wave for knowing exactly what the boys wanted and intentionally rolling it over as he went past. Not so good in a high sun, would have been spectacular in some low winter light, but nice nonetheless.

 

 

 

Hope that little lot is okay.

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by gary1701

[Whiskey]

A very substantial fan base for those guys indeed. Greta pics, looks like a lot of fun!

[Niels]

N-I-C-E 🍻😎👍

[GreyGhost]

Beautiful as always Gary!

Love'n that D-Day marked Strike Eagle!

Thanks for sharing Sir!

 

-Grehg

[bdt13]

Wow! Those are some nice shots. Thanks!

[Stephen]

Great pics, thanks for sharing them.

[gary1701]

 

Many thanks guys but my shots are nothing compared to what others have shot in the last two days. The base has stayed on runway 06 so all departures, including the first wave of the morning with the sun lower and further behind. Combine that with the 'Mako's really playing to the camera - it's hard to miss that number of cars and people at the end of the runway and I'm sure the locals have tipped them off - then the shots some of the guys have got on Tuesday and Wednesday have been spectacular. Here's a couple of sets taken by other locals, I should have booked some more time off...

 

 https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=175839

 

https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=175820

 

Gary

[11bee]

Amazing how large that turnout is.  If that was in the US, I honestly doubt you'd have more than a handful of spotters, if any.    Great pictures Gary, as always, thanks for posting!

 

Side note - any idea when the first LN coded F-35's will arrive?

[gary1701]

Thanks again guys,

 

I believe the 'Makos' head back on Monday, although there was some rumour that at least part of the deployment would stay to take part in the D-Day events. The 93rd FS lineage goes back to a C-47 unit active over Normandy in June 1944, so there may be something in that but not sure. As for Lakenheath and the F-35, the official date is 2021 for the first permanent assignment to the base and the 48th FW. There is a lot of building work going on as new infrastructure is being generated for them. Still not sure as to what the long term line up of the 48th FW is going to be. The best guess, and is what has unofficially been mentioned previously is that the two F-15E squadrons will remain with two F-35 units, increasing the sqn count to four, the same as when the F-111F was stationed here. Everybody assumed the F-15C/Ds of the 493rd FS would depart and the squadron would become one of the new F-35 units. However, I know one of the UK engineers involved in the work, who also happens to be a local enthusiast and he recently told me that the planning assumption is that the F-15C/Ds would remain as well. I can't see how they would operate five squadrons of fast jets, certainly their flying operations and ATC struggle with the load now (just ask the crews of the last Mountain Home F-15Es to transit through on their way home a few weeks ago what they thought of Lakenheath/Mildenhall ops - it's probably not repeatable!)     

 

It's just nice that in the last couple of years we've seen a big increase in deployments into Lakenheath from US units. Last year there was Spangdahlem F-16s early on, followed by some of the ANG F-15s that were also elsewhere in Europe. We had the big one in October with USN F/A-18 and Langley F-22s, plus lots of transits. So there's plenty going on and the base is still relatively free and easy to photograph around. A few years ago they would not have been happy with stepladders put next to the fence to photograph over the fence, but nowadays they don't seem to mind as long as you don't interfere with the fence itself.

 

Gary 

Edited May 18, 2019 by gary1701