Green Flag Exercise was a good excuse to take a week of from work and head to the UK for a bit of fun.
The first day was spent at Coningsby, with great sunlight in the morning but slowly getting worse as the day progressed. Almost all Saudi's were flying in pairs, lead by the RAF.
1.
2.
3. Only 2 Tornado's went out without RAF support.
4.
5.
6.
7. Tuesday was our first day in the Loop, but both the weather and the flying did not work out as planned...
A fully marked Lossie GR4 opened the ball, after which 2 Strike Eagles decided the cloud base was too low, and 4 pairs of RAF/Saudi Tornado's flew non-standard routes or passing too high over Cad.
After a long 5 hours, a lone 41sqn GR4 showed up.... swept and in full burner.... a great end to the day
8.
9. With worse weather expected on Wednesday, lowfly was not an option and Valley soon became the best solution. Valley is a wonderful base for photographers, you're close to the action and continuous flying.
10.
11.
12. The Thursday was spent in the Loop again, but the fog must have scared off all frontliners. Only a pair of Hawks made a brief appearance when the fog had cleared.
13. Our last day we went to Mildenhall, for some tanker and Strike Eagle action.
14. A dozen Strike Eagles arrived during the day, as Lakenheath was closing that day for a few weeks of runway maintenance
15.
All in all, a good week but eager to go back for some more lowfly as my wishlist still contains a few bits and pieces.
Hope you liked the pics,
Koen
/jasdf.gif)
