The RAF in Suffolk

we have a connection with the tanker here at MH.
see

http://mhas.org.uk/event-reports/nr20041012.html




Lieutenant Nichelle Brokering (left)  now Captain and in USA from RAF Mildenhall, pilot of one of the USAF refuelling tankers. Nichelle is the niece of the late Lt. Eldon Slanker who flew with Don Strait in the 361st F.S. from Martlesham during 1943/45 and who unfortunately lost his life in a flying accident over Hintlesham in 1945.

-- Edited by tarkey on Thursday 24th of December 2009 05:35:37 PM

Yesterday I spent a few hours with the USAF on the periphery of two RAF bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath in Suffolk, these are two huge bases that the USAF has operated out of for many years. Lakenheath base is no further than 5 miles from Mildenhall but due to their size it probably means travelling 10 miles or more to get from one to the other. I have had a long association with these bases as I did with many others in Europe from Reykavik in Iceland to Incirlik in Turkey, all I had to do was to get my Sports Goods to RAF Woodbridge base on a Tuesday morning and by the afternoon these goods would be winging their way to either Ramstein or Frankfurt-Main Bases in Germany, these goods were guaranteed to be delivered anywhere in Europe within 3 working days and it cost me nothing in postage The set up operated out of USAFE Feltwell [another RAF base], I was paid monthly in arrears in US Dollars by The Bank of America, as safe as houses as they say, so I have a great affinity with the US Forces including the Army and Navy Where the RAF seemingly do not encourage you to view and photograph their aircraft, the Americans conversely encourage it, yesterday was no exception, I was able to get within 1000' of aircraft taking off, performing 'rollers' and on taxiways heading to their parking lots. I am currently in the process of sorting out dozens of photos, and my aim is to present these somewhat differently to how you see some of these aircraft on a flyby at airshows etc. I have to mention in advance that some of these photos were taken from some two miles away, often through a wire meshed fence with either heat haze coming off the runways or jet efflux blurring parts of the image Lets see how some of these go........for starters: This 747 was painted all white called 'Southern Air' some of the guys I was talking to said she had arrived in the morning, was refuelled and had some shrinkwrapped palletised cargo being loaded on board, her engines were started and within 10 minutes she was heading down the taxiway to the runway, she had to wait for a C130 on a 'Roller' I have a series of pics of her from start up to Rotate but this will do for now as she is some 1000' above with undercarriage not yet fully retracted