Dragons Den - Fairford 19/10/10

Post by **LeeHathaway** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 11:49 am

Afternoon all, I caught these two chaps this morning:

RAF Fairford 2010 by Lee Hathaway, on Flickr

RAF Fairford 2010 by Lee Hathaway, on Flickr

Cheers,
Lee

Post by **Russ** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 11:52 am

Nice Lee. Fantastic conditions too by the looks of it. :clap:

Post by **LN Strike Eagle** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 11:52 am

Super shots Lee, what a great aircraft. Shame Fairford is so far away - never seen one of these.

Second looks great with the tailcodes left on.

Post by **DamienB** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 11:55 am

What's chalked on the nose in front of the intakes?

Post by **TonyO** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 12:09 pm

Cracking conditions and nice to see another Vietnam veteran arriving.

Damien, the chalk markings are usually warnings about the hatch weight of the Q-bay behind the cockpit.

Post by **bigcrow** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 2:19 pm

Nice ones Lee.. Quality light... :smile:

Post by **chrisward123** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 3:03 pm

Great Capture

Christian

Post by **Stu** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 5:18 pm

Very nice catch :clap:

Post by **LeeHathaway** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 6:16 pm

Thanks for the comments chaps! :cool:

Post by **F-86** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 6:21 pm

Lovely shots. :clap:

Post by **Maisie** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 9:41 pm

Check out the ice patches under the wings, obviously been doing some serious altitude!

Such a cool plane, I remember being at RAF Akrotiri and seeing one of these take off. Just went up like a rocket!

Post by **Sam Dodd** » Tue 19 Oct 2010, 9:48 pm

Stunning captures Lee, what perfect conditions! I wish I wasn't at School today, I need to start getting some shots of them!

Post by **LeeHathaway** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 2:57 pm

Cheers lads - certainly is a wonderful aircraft!

Post by **JJC** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 3:15 pm

Would absolutely love to see one!

How often do they come in? How long do they stay?

Maybe RIAT 2011? :heyhey:

Post by **canberra** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 3:32 pm

JJC wrote:!

How often do they come in? How long do they stay?

Maybe RIAT 2011?

The U-2s transit to through Fairford roughly every 90 days. You usually get one or two travelling east or west to or from their detachment to sunnier climes. Each aircraft will usually stay 1-2 days to allow the pilot a rest break.

Regards

Mark

Post by **pb643** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 3:48 pm

canberra wrote:
JJC wrote:!

How often do they come in? How long do they stay?

Maybe RIAT 2011?

The U-2s transit to through Fairford roughly every 90 days. You usually get one or two travelling east or west to or from their detachment to sunnier climes. Each aircraft will usually stay 1-2 days to allow the pilot a rest break.

Regards

Mark

Does anybody know why the USAF go to the trouble of opening up Fairford for these aircraft, rather than have them transit through Mildenhall ?
(assuming Lakenheath is too busy)

Phil

Post by **canberra** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 4:56 pm

pb643 wrote:
canberra wrote:
JJC wrote:!

How often do they come in? How long do they stay?

Phil

I believe Fairford is the preferred option because of all the USAF bases in the UK, it offers the best facilities for hangaring the aircraft. I suppose there is also the added advantage that if the aircraft has a 'difficult' landing or blocks the runway it wont affect other traffic in the same way that Mildenhall or Lakenheath would suffer. I believe that if Fairford were unable to take the aircraft their back up option is Sigonella.

Mark

The U-2s transit to through Fairford roughly every 90 days. You usually get one or two travelling east or west to or from their detachment to sunnier climes. Each aircraft will usually stay 1-2 days to allow the pilot a rest break.

Regards

Mark

Does anybody know why the USAF go to the trouble of opening up Fairford for these aircraft, rather than have them transit through Mildenhall ?
(assuming Lakenheath is too busy)

Phil

Post by **pb643** » Wed 20 Oct 2010, 5:55 pm

Thanks Mark

Dragons Den - Fairford 19/10/10

Dragons Den - Fairford 19/10/10

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