''Asgard' flight from the 495th.

[gary1701]

Gents,

 

Here's a selection from a Friday morning run over to the local which I thought might be of interest. My first shots of the newly delivered 495th FS F-35s with a 3 ship flying early. Only 7 are on strength so far, and 3 of them only arrived directly from Forth Worth the previous day, so this was 3 from 4 active jets in just one flight which was nice.

 

Early morning taxi to runway 24 on a bright winters morning. Unlike the F-15s, the F-35s don't do the EOR checks and just taxi direct.

 

 

 

For several months a sqn from the 4th at SJ has been deployed over in Europe, first further out East and for the last few months at Lakenheath alongside their own F-15Es. Trying to get them without heat haze when there's a large number taxiing around EOR and the runway is quite difficult!

 

 

 

Lakenheath's own Eagles were quite quiet, most of the remaining F-15C/Ds from the 493rd went to Poland the previous day (including the new anniversary jet), and the 492nd deployed to Spain for a TLP exercise. Only a couple went out.

 

 

'Asgard' flight from the 495th came back first and despite getting the first of the 495th F-35s being the main reason I went over I nearly screwed my pics up although thankfully the flight were up for some photo opportunities in the circuit. Each aircraft cleaned up and put on the power in turn on the first approach but sudden power failures on my primary camera meant I mostly missed a great opportunity.  These shots were the last ones I got on each approach as they went around as I frantically tried to sort my camera out.

 

 

 

Luckily I'd taken the back up camera down to the approach as well, which I don't always do so some quick lens changing meant I was ready for their second approach, which saw each of them, again in turn drop down from height directly onto the approach without using the visual circuit. Again they cleaned up and went through although this time it was further down over the airfield. They then formed up for a conventional break into the visual and staying down on the third approach. All very nice for the camera although I was still pretty annoyed I'd missed the best set up.

 

 

 

Seems strange after all these years to photograph something other than F-15s doing this in the overhead at Lakenheath.

 

 

'Asgard' flight landing in flight and serial order 19-5474/Asgard 01;

 

 

 

19-5475/Asgard 02;

 

 

 

19-5476/Asgard 03;

 

 

 

The local F-15s returning, including one still keeping it's nose art from last years deployment - '

 

 

 

Two four ship flights from the 4th FW were up and the first came back with the No2 ship calling a IFE due to hydraulics failure, so the first three landed followed by him taking the cable. A lot F-15s from both wings no longer carry fin flashes, is there a new rule in the USAF calling for them to be removed?

 

 

 

IFE aircraft.

 

 

 

The aircraft had to be shut down and towed off and the cables reset, which took about 40 minutes as the second flight went into the hold to the North. 

 

 

 

 

 

So got the F-35s and the 4th FW but missed the 493rd F-15Cs and newly marked anniversary jet, so not too bad for one morning. I have my suspicions that the imminent closure of the 493rd as a F-15C unit may be put back a bit with current events so may yet get another chance.

 

Gary  

 

 

 

 

[phantom]

Nice, thanks for the photos.

 

[GreyGhost]

Excellent shots Gary ..! 

I particularly like the "tailhook sparks" shot ... Nice capture ... 

Thanks for sharing ...

 

-Gregg

[Niels]

Very nice! 

[strikeeagle801]

Excellent shots Gary! Thank's for sharing them with us. 

 

Aaron 

[11bee]

Just stumbled upon these, as always, thanks for posting your fantastic pictures.   I've heard that the 35 is much louder than other legacy jets.    Did you notice anything when you were out there?

[habu2]

When I worked at Lockheed we could tell when a -132 powered F-16 took off by the louder engine (compared to other other F-16s).  When the F-35s started flying engine was louder than any other single engine jet I’ve ever heard. 

[Wolfgun33]

11 hours ago, 11bee said:

Just stumbled upon these, as always, thanks for posting your fantastic pictures.   I've heard that the 35 is much louder than other legacy jets.    Did you notice anything when you were out there?

 

I've seen both the F-35 and F-22 demos and they are by far much louder than legacy jets. I thought it was funny that the more "stealth" it is, the louder it is.

[A-10 LOADER]

Love the Strike Eagle shots !!

I know I'll take heat for this but, that F-35 is just plain ugly, on the ground and in the air. I don't know much about it because I don't like it but, it seems to me that it can't carry near what the F-15E's are capable of ?? Seems like a "downgrade" to me.

Steve

[habu2]

1 hour ago, Wolfgun33 said:

I thought it was funny that the more "stealth" it is, the louder it is.

 

 Afterburner is rarely/never used in "stealth" mode.

[gary1701]

Hi gents,

 

Thanks for the comments. To be honest I can't remember how they sounded compared to a F-15. I had my head down concentrating on the camera for most of the time when they were up close so was distracted. One thing that is quite noticeable is how different they sound on comms to a F-15 or any other fast jet for that matter. I first noticed it when the Hill detachment flew from here a few years ago but on a radio receiver a F-35  pilot sounds far more 'robotic' for want of a better word than the others. It's clear it's a F-35 straight away.

 

There's a detachment of F-16s in from Aviano for the next couple of weeks so there's a small chance I may just make a visit during that time if the weather and work allows. To update the current situation here, the 4th FW F-15Es have all moved out to Eastern Europe whilst all of Lakenheath's own are all here. The 493rd FS F-15C/Ds have returned from Eastern Europe (it was Poland I think) and have sent a couple more batches back to the US permantelty, there's about a dozen left. The resident 495th FS F-35s did deploy (6 from 7 current) to Eastern Europe last week but have come back and are flying locally. So with all the 48th here at the moment and a sqn from Aviano it's quite busy.

 

Gary 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by gary1701

[Dutch]

Gary, Beautiful photos, as always. Thank you for sharing. Kind regards,  Dutch