Eagles, Beagles, Gunfighters, excess cabin bags Lakenheath

[VH-WAL]

Yesterday on the 27 May, wife and I set off for a picnic down Cambridgeshire way at RAF Lakenheath (actually all USAF). we we were astounded at the number of people in the viewing area and on the roadways,sure it was a bright sunny day, covid restrictions have been eased (though everyone was pretty much adhering to the social spacing requirements) so why all the interest? Well we lucked out that day, unbeknown to us a squadron of F-15s were returning from deployment in the middle east. There must have been 30 F-15s in the air (16 Lakenheath and around 14 - I didnt count - Mountain Home based jets.)
I took 1000+ pics and spent 2 days going through them, they were a mixed bag quality wise, the sun position wasnt the best and it took a bit of time to get the right exposure but I find some of the silhouettes quite pleasing anyway, I had fun looking through them and I hope you do too, things to look out for:
different stores load outs
different paint schemes
different helmets / flying suit colours
kit bags spread around the cockpit coamings
crew chief "In Loving Memory of..."
Checkmate Eagle nose art, pod / tank with "Ride Hard, Shoot Straight and always Speak the truth"
Eagle with bomb mission markings
Eagle with 2 green star kill markings (?)

I will chuck a few up on here but follow on to my photostream to see the rest,

I had a great day, hope you like em

1P4A2594 4 ship silh 2 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2609 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2754-002 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2860-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2891-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2902 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2933 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2948 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A2976 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3051 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3062 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3071-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3140-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3153 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3224 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3253-002 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3327-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3494 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3521 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3626-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3713 kit bag and bombing missions by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3756-001 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3786 202 kitbag by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3795 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

eagle vs eagle by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3870 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

1P4A3353 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

What a great job!

Aircraft spotters can be be a weird mob.. number takers, shutter snappers and these two:
1P4A2838 by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

at the end of the private road there is some sort of alternative church, maybe they were from there, but maybe they are scooter riding Druid priestesses..who knows

anyway please enjoy the pics cheers
wal

[RayS]

Nice pictures Wal, interesting to see the stars and bars on the tail of that one MO jet

[Graeme H]

Great stuff Wal, thanks for posting

Nice pictures Wal, interesting to see the stars and bars on the tail of that one MO jet

and the Eagle on the nose

[hrtpaul]

Mmmmmm who doesn't love a Mudhen Great pics as usual mate

[Adam the Akrodude]

Noice!

One can see that some of those (perhaps all) F-15Cs at LN have AESAs fitted (newer grey nose cone colour).