Lakenheath and Upper Heyford F-111's

[Lucky13]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmBIfxsg6Lg

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCEa6LuJo9U

 

[Wurger]

 

[Lucky13]

See if this is a better pic of 68-013......

 

[Lucky13]

48th Fighter Wing hosts Swedish Airmen
....and they're there to the 18th this month! 8)



70-413 taken at Prestwick, 8th of June 1985....

 

[stona]

I must have seen the Upper Heyford jets way back when. My mum and dad lived in a village called Souldern,not far from the Heyfords,and I do remember the F 111s flying overhead when I visited. I'm not a jet guy but I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Lucky13]

Have to admit, the more I find out about the F-111, the more I like the bird, even though it killed the TSR-2!

 

[evangilder]

They grow on you. I wasn't much of a fan either until I was stationed at Lakenheath and heard and saw them day in and day out. I had trouble sleeping on TDYs because it was so quiet. You develop a liking to them over time.

 

[pbfoot]

We used to get them a lot out of Pease AFB IIRC

 

[Lucky13]

A ground crew prepares a 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft for a retaliatory air strike on Libya. An arming supervisor gives hand signals to the pilot of the aircraft as the crewman underthe wing pulls armingpins out ofthe GBU-10 modular glide bombs. The crewman by the landing gear is checking for foreign objects on the runway that might be sucked into an engine before takeoff. Location: Royal Air Force, Lakenheath...


From: Wikipedia

 

[evangilder]

I am not sure that is what the crewmen by the wheels is doing. Anything that could get sucked into the jet engine would have before it got to where he was at. He may have been check the PAVE-TACK pod or some of the other electronics items in back.

 

[Lucky13]

Agree with you Eric. He's behind the wheels, looking outwards, more likely he's having a last check on the Pave Tack pod, or any other equipment back there, while also keeping an eye on what his colleagues are doing.....

Also, is this, as it says, a F-111F panel?

 

[Lucky13]

RAF Lakenheath map....

 

[evangilder]

That definitely is a 111 cockpit, but I don't have the knowledge to tell you if it's an E or an F model, or one of the others. I'd love to see a larger version of that map to see what they identify.

 

[Lucky13]

Try this Eric.... PB-Photos.com - Maps

 

[evangilder]

Thanks! That is interesting. Some things have either changed or aren't quite correct on the non-flightline side of the base. Some interesting changes from my day. The "Old ATC Tower" was the shop I worked in for the last year and a half. We had a radio shop in the base of the tower. The area labelled "North HAS" was where the 495th TFS was originally. The 495th had a green ECM pod on the top of the tail. Each squadron had their own color (red, blue, yellow and green). I guess the 495th TFS was decommissioned after the F-111s left. I can still make out the area that used to be the Victor Alert area (just below and left of the Control Tower label). The Memorial Park is new. They used to have an F-100 near Gate 2 on a post. I would love to see the old base again.

 

[Lucky13]

Interesting Eric! Do tell more, please..... 8)

 

[evangilder]

Wow, I just looked at the base on Google maps. Things have changed quite a bit. The old dorm where I was is gone and that are has changed quite a bit. It looks like the old Officer's Club building is where it used to be, across from where my old barracks was. It looks like the old Airmen's club building is gone too. The old tower appears to be abandoned and the weapons storage areas have changed dramatically as well. It's a far cry from the cold war days.

 

[razor1uk]

Nice info and vids there guys 8)
Regarding the 1st vid at 4mins 49 sec, to 5.28 is very good for showing engine throttle changes and spool up time for the engines - say 4.58 to 5.19 = stable idle > mil > afterburnurner stage 2 (or 3), roughly around 21 seconds; and until brake release make further estimations inaccurate as the Aardvark accelerates down the runway.

 

[Lucky13]

Aye, good videos indeed mate!

 

[evangilder]

Here are some patches from 1986ish time frame.