New Fairford Bomber deployment

[138EAW]

Support /personnel have started to arrive from Barksdale / Minot for the next bomber deployment if anyone is interested

[Tommy]

Cheers Gary mate. Sounds like Minot birds from the support?

And as ever, whilst we’re happy to answer and questions, discuss the deployment, we’re also always more than happy to direct members to the knowledgeable guys on FC who do a great job tracking BTFs: https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/ ... .php?f=440

Happy hunting to all - hope to see some photos soon!

[Stagger2]

Inbound Fairford this morning between 06:45 & 07:30 Local (Thurs 18th) Go get 'em!

[G-CVIX]

Can anyone advise how long these deployments usually last? I'm in the area 12th-19th September. I caught them last year albeit without a camera so I'm hopeful for to catch them again this year.

[Tommy]

Usually about a month, give or take. 12th - 19th would probably put you in decent stead.

The Spring BTF this year lasted two months (Feb - April), but I think that was quite a long one, and probably impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[Brevet Cable]

No sign or sound of anything yet.
Only planes in or out of Fairford so far this morning that I've heard were a C-17 and a U-2, both departing ( both between around 08:45-09:15hrs )

Checking on the Fairford Movements website, they're listing 3x B-52 flights due in today(usings HYLA callsign, apparantly ) presumably this afternoon.
Nothing showing on ADS-B exchange.

[cg_341]

No sign or sound of anything yet.

Look or listen now!

[Brevet Cable]

Still nothing.
Only things American that I've heard recently is a Westbound C-130 ( SCORE ) and what is showing on ADS-B as an RC-135, WARHAWK, which is up between Ireland & North Wales.

[Tommy]

According to FC and Facebook (“FC and FB”?), 60-0023 has just landed.

[Brevet Cable]

Presumably came from the East/Northeast, as nothing heard from my location?

[jingernut]

Presumably came from the East/Northeast, as nothing heard from my location?

FC had some info on their location as they came in.

[cg_341]

Presumably came from the East/Northeast, as nothing heard from my location?

Correct, they've been to Norway prior to recovery at Fairford.

[Brevet Cable]

Would that explain the flight of KC-135s whch were headed up that way this morning?

[LN Strike Eagle]

Would that explain the flight of KC-135s whch were headed up that way this morning?

Yup.

[Brevet Cable]

Not a B-52, but I can't think of anywhere else to put it ( doen't fit on the FR24 thread as they usually don't show on that )

Had a U-2 arrive at Fairford this morning, DRAGON 86
Didn't give it another thought at the time, but looking on the Fairford Movements site it's listed as 80-1077 , which isn't one of the 2 currently deployed there.
Further quick check would appear to show that it hasn't been there since 2009.

Is this an additional deployment ( bringing it back up to 3 ) or is it just one of the normal transit stop-offs?

[Brevet Cable]

As nobody else has bothered mentioning them.....
A couple of the B-52s departed early this morning, routing Southbound.
One's now showing on ADS-B & FR24 currently over Hungary ( showing as SPLTR 24 )
looks to have been doing a bit of willy-waving ( sorry...'show of force' ) around the Black Sea area

Forgot to add...
One of the U-2s - presumably the one which arrived on Friday - also departed, gave destination as LCRA ( RAF Akrotiri )

[FGR2]

Heading back over Belgium now.

[Brevet Cable]

Inbound from the East, currently Oxford area

[Tommy]

[Brevet Cable]

REACH 455 on it's way, currently Southbound over Scotland.

And as an aside, according to the FM website, the U-2 which went to Akrotiri yesterday is back at Fairford.
No sign of any B-52s being up this morning yet.

[Zoom]

As nobody else has bothered mentioning them.....

well actually I noticed them on ADSB yesterday and did indeed track them, sadly they were nowhere near my patch over the UK

[Brevet Cable]

Missed them departing earlier, but I see on ADS-B & FR24 that there's a pair of B-52s up.
Currently over Germany, near Trier ( between Luxembourg & Frankfurt ) callsigns SPICY 31 + 32

[Brevet Cable]

B-52s now lurking over Belgium

[Brevet Cable]

SPICY's inbound from the East

[frank]

Just a quick thanks to Brevet eat al for keeping us upto date. Much appreciated.