The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent.

After visiting the airfield site at Framlingham, I moved on, returning to the first campsite at Scole, where I spent a couple of very pleasant days, in fine weather, before travelling on, through Thetford Forest, to my next destinations, briefly visiting Lakenheath for some photos, and finally basing myself at the campsite right at the end of the runway at Mildenhall.
I'll describe these locations separately, and post pics, in forthcoming posts, but meanwhile, the pic below shows how close both airfields are.

Back soon with more pics.

looking forward to the Mildenhall pics Terry

Outstanding pics and descriptions. The only thing better would be a free ride back to 1944 in a time machine.

I'm amazed that those two fields are so close together. Must be a controller's nightmare.

As mentioned, first stop was Lakenheath, just as some F-15s were recovering from a sortie - missed catching those, as I was still unpacking the cameras !!
The airfield was originally a RAF base, opening in 1941, and being constructed on the sandy 'Breck Land' (Broken Land) just east of Thetford forest.
The base was much smaller then, and open, without fences, as at that time this area was relatively sparsely populated and, during WW2, operated Stirlings, Wellingtons and Beaufighters.
After the war, in 1952, the airfield passed into American hands, with B-47s arriving in 1953, and other types in the following few years.
In 1960, the 48th Fighter Wing took up residence, and has been here ever sine, operating first with F-100 'Super Sabres', followed by F-4 Phantoms, F-111s, F-16s and currently with F-15s.
The airfield is now vastly larger than the original RAF bomber field, and is constantly busy - during my brief, one hour visit there was plenty of action, as the F-15s were involved in a large NATO annual exercise taking place in the north east of England and Scotland and, for the duration of my stay, and for the next couple of days whilst I was in the area, there were constant launches and recoveries, which could also be witnessed from my base at Mildenhall.
The aerial shots below show the airfield as it is today, with the public viewing enclosure at the NE corner, and a closer shot of the viewing area, which allowed a good view across the airfield.
Although slightly hampered by the chain-link fence, and the heat haze from the ground, and even more so from the jet efflux, I managed to get some reasonable, but by no means great shots.
The range for photos varied between approximately 1,000 meters and 3.5 km, with all photos taken using the 300mm zoom lens on the Nikon D3300 body..
Had I been able to get pics of the aircraft landing, they would have been much closer.
Some of the shots are rather repetitive, but they are all of separate launches, the aircraft taxiing from various 'HAS' locations on the southern side of the airfield, and I'll show these in this and the next couple of posts.

Pics 1 and 2. The airfield and the viewing area.
Pic 3. A general view towards the control tower, about 1 mile distant, and on about 150mm setting, gives some idea of the size of this airfield.
Pics 4 to 10. F-15s of the 48th Fighter Wing, taxiing and taking off. Note the 'D-Day' Anniversary colour scheme on '219' in the second pic.

More to follow...........

Thanks chaps, and yes Andy, the proximity is rather unnerving. Must have been worse during WW2, with many airfield circuits often overlapping !

More from the 48th Fighter Wing, Lakenheath. The control tower pic mentioned above will be posted last, in the next selection

Final selection from Lakenheath - moving on to Mildenhall next.

Good stuff. By the way, Karl is looking forward to your Mildenhall pics.

Thanks Andy, and as Karl is looking forward to the Mildenhall pics, then I'll begin !!

Like Lakenheath, Mildenhall was originally a RAF bomber airfield, opened in 1934, during the 'Expansion Period', with H.P. Heyfords, and a little later, Hendons operating from the field, and the original hangars are still in use, although the airfield is around twice the size it was back then.
During WW2, Wellingtons, Stirlings and Lancasters carried out operations until the end of the European war, and the airfield passed to the USAF in 1951, used as a transport and air refuelling base, a role it still undertakes today. It also became the 'Gateway to Europe' for US personnel in the 1960's , taking over from Burtonwood, in the north west of England, handling military passenger traffic to and from the USA.
In addition to the above roles, many and varied types either operate from, or stage through the base, including strike aircraft and AEW and AWACS types.

The base was slated to close in 2015, but this has been put on indefinite hold, although the transport wing, and the 100th Air Refuelling Wing, descendants of the 100th BG at Thorpe Abbotts, are due to re-locate, to Fairford, in Gloucestershire, in 2024 at the earliest.

As before, the first two pics below show the airfield, and the location of 'The Willows' campsite, right at the runway threshold., with the remainder being a selection of shots showing the view over the airfield and some early activity.

Pics 1 and 2. Airfield and campsite location.
Pic 3. The viewing platform on the edge of the campsite, right next to where I parked the 'Tin Tent' on my 'pitch'.
Pics 4 to 6. Panoramic views over the field, from the viewing platform. The range to the control tower, seen in the distance, is approximately 1/2 mile (800 meters), and the distance to the far threshold of the runway over one mile (1500+ meters).
Pic 7. Taken with the 300mm zoom lens on the Nikon D3300, a closer shot of the tower. Note the Ospreys parked nearby.
Pics 6 to 10. The view from my seat outside the 'Tin Tent', with a KC-135 of the 100th ARW taking off. Note the 'D in a Square' tail code, first used by the 100th BG and, just visible above this, the crest of RAF Mildenhall.
With the exception of the close shot of the tower, these were all taken with the 18-55mm lens, on the Nikon D5200.

More pics from Mildenhall, possibly later tonight, or more likely tomorrow.

Lovely shots Terry!

Love that F-15 with the D-day strips and the checkered nose.

vikingBerserker said:

I've only seen an Osprey once in real life. I was flying through a small airport in Connecticut that President Obama just happened to be going through at the same time (which created a nightmare for the rest of is). There were a number of them used for moving some of his staff and equipment.

Click to expand...

I see a tall blonde in boots walking across the tarmac. Oh, are there aircraft in that picture, too?

Ospreys are kewl.

1307 RIAT CV-22 landing

Nice to see the F-15s still in their D-Day 75th anniversary colours of the P-47s equipped units.

Good ones Terry. I can't imagine anyone other than an aircraft enthusiast staying at that campground!

Thanks all. There was one small family group who arrived on Friday, and seemed unaware of the airfield - until a KC-135 roared overhead !

Next selection, all taken from the viewing platform, with a 'Fat Albert' doing circuits and bumps, and a KC-10 parked at the far end of the field.
Hopefully, I'll have some time later today to post the rest before I depart for Duxford in the morning.

Some KC-135s, and a RC-135 that sneaked in quickly.

More to come ...................

very nice Dogsbody, will have to re visit this campsite i think !

Yep, early next summer maybe..

The final selection from Mildenhall and this episode of "The Travels of Tel's Tin Tent", with more Hercs, and the Osprey, beating the air into submission.

I hope you've enjoyed this latest tour as much as I did, and the next outing is this weekend, when Karl and I will be at the BoB airshow at Duxford, and all being well we hope to visit a couple of former WW2 airfields, and The Shuttleworth Collection again, at Old Warden, on Monday.
Pics from the show in a separate thread, and probably a few more in this thread too.