Air Fete 1990

[Knife 04]

Good afternoon all

On the Friday before the last weekend in May (traditionally a bank holiday weekend), many of us old enough to remember used to make our way over to Mildenhall for the Air Fete. I cannot believe it is now 21 years since the last one!

As many have said on here before, a brilliant weekend with a great atmosphere, burgers & beers provided by the hosts, the USAF

Selected at random a few from 1990 - these are a mixture of slide & negative scans

WC-135B - 12667 - 10th ACCS - RAF Mildenhall by Darren Currie, on Flickr

OV-1D Mohawk - 68-15953 'Bad Bitch' - 2nd Mil Int Btn, Wiesbaden, Germany by Darren Currie, on Flickr

OV-1D - 68-15953 'One Bad Bitch' - 2nd Mil Int Btn, Weisbaden AB, Germany by Darren Currie, on Flickr

A-7D Corsair II - 70-008 / HA - 174th TFS, Sioux City ANG Base by Darren Currie, on Flickr

A-10 - 81-979 / AR - 10 TFW, RAF Alconbury by Darren Currie, on Flickr

KC-10A - 30079 - 2nd BW, Barksdale AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

EC-135H - 10286 - 10th ACCS, RAF Mildenhall by Darren Currie, on Flickr

B-1B - 86-114 'Wolfhound' - 319th Bomb Wing, Grand Forks AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

B-52G - 92585 'Swashbuckler' - 69th BS, 42nd BW Loring AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

F-16C - 88-401 / TJ - 401st TFW, Torrejon AB, Spain by Darren Currie, on Flickr

C-130E - 40542 - 317th TAW, 'Bravo Squadron', RAF Mildenhall by Darren Currie, on Flickr

RC-135W - 24139 - 55th SRW, Offutt AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

F-4G - 97268/ SP '81 AGS' - 81st TFS, 52 TFW, Spangdahlem AB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Vulcan B.2 - XH558 - Vulcan Display Team by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Nimrod MR.2P - XV232 - 120 Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth by Darren Currie, on Flickr

B-1B - 86-114 'Wolfhound' - 319th Bomb Wing, Grand Forks AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

C-5A - 00453 - 436th MAW, Dover AFB by Darren Currie, on Flickr

UC-12B - 16-3837 / 8G - NAF Mildenhall by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Tornado F.3 - ZE764 / DH - 11 Squadron, RAF Leeming by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Tornado GR.1 - ZA591 - 16 Squadron, RAF Laarbruch by Darren Currie, on Flickr

F-111F - 70-390 'Miss Liberty II' - 48th TFW, RAF Lakenheath by Darren Currie, on Flickr

F-111F - 70-390 'Miss Liberty II' - 48th TFW, RAF Lakenheath by Darren Currie, on Flickr

Many thanks for looking - hope you found of interest and not too boring. Please feel free to add any to the thread

Enjoy the weekend despite there being no Air Fete this weekend

Darren

[grumpy616]

Awesome set Darren

[F3]

V. nice selection Darren, some of which are strangely familiar esp the last one which appears in the Air Fete book. In case you had nt heard on the grapevine the F-111 crewman on that last one is now a proud owner of a copy and was dead chuffed to see that pic of himself in it. As far as I'm aware that's the only copy to have crossed the pond. Also liking the shot of the legendary 'Swashbuckler' never having seen the nose art before.

[James Cutting]

Awesome set Daz as always! love seeing these from the Air Fetes, if only I could have been to just the 1!

[f106dart]

V. nice selection Darren, some of which are strangely familiar esp the last one which appears in the Air Fete book. In case you had nt heard on the grapevine the F-111 crewman on that last one is now a proud owner of a copy and was dead chuffed to see that pic of himself in it. As far as I'm aware that's the only copy to have crossed the pond. Also liking the shot of the legendary 'Swashbuckler' never having seen the nose art before.

F3

Let me correct you. The gentleman in the F-111 shot still lives in the village. And was chuffed to say the least that his picture is in the book. And after he was finished he did mail it to me in the states. My 4.5 years I spent was probably the best years of my AF career. One that I will never forget. As my health doesn't allow me to travel anymore. I will always have those memories to look back on. Sure do miss lite and bitter and all the friends I made while I was there

[mancman]

Very nice set Darren, great weather and cracking UK air defence contribution. Here's the other black jet attending.

XV582 Phantom FGR.2 RAF May 1990 Mildenhall by Andy Bird, on Flickr

[Punkrunner62]

Brilliant Darren, makes me kinda sad, thinking back to those days, it was a major effort coming down from Aberdeen but what a blast we all had.
Cheers.

[F3]

V. nice selection Darren, some of which are strangely familiar esp the last one which appears in the Air Fete book. In case you had nt heard on the grapevine the F-111 crewman on that last one is now a proud owner of a copy and was dead chuffed to see that pic of himself in it. As far as I'm aware that's the only copy to have crossed the pond. Also liking the shot of the legendary 'Swashbuckler' never having seen the nose art before.

F3

Let me correct you. The gentleman in the F-111 shot still lives in the village. And was chuffed to say the least that his picture is in the book. And after he was finished he did mail it to me in the states. My 4.5 years I spent was probably the best years of my AF career. One that I will never forget. As my health doesn't allow me to travel anymore. I will always have those memories to look back on. Sure do miss lite and bitter and all the friends I made while I was there

Thanks for putting me straight. I only remember that the F-111 guy saw his pic in the book and that a copy was sent to the States. I'm sure that there must be an untapped market over there given the number of USAF personnel who rotated through' the Hall down the decades and experienced AF. I've contacted Air Force magazine and sent them an e-copy with a request to review it but never even rec'd an acknowledgement. I would welcome any suggestions you might have as to how I might set about marketing it over there.

[Fibrous Freddie]

Fabulous... a day eating burgers, drinking the occasional bud, and looking into the sun (sometimes)! Memories!!! Thanks.

[TAFFEVANS]

Nice selection, happy memories. I flew ZA591 the black 16 Sqn fin in for the Air Fete, night stopped into Cottesmore on the Thursday then low level through the lakes before landing at Mildenhall on the Friday, happy days!

[paddyboy]

Hi Daz

Awesome shots from an awesome event

Worth the piffling entrance fee for the SLUFF and the Mohawk alone

As for Randy Rushworth and Swashbuckler

Thanks for posting and great to see you last weekend, matey

Paddy

[The Phantom]

Cracking set of images

That A-7 is a beauty

[raptor9]

Wonderful!!!. Randy Rushworth? A legend and one of the best Airshow performances EVER [and I have seen many!!!].

[Reach4060]

Cracking pictures Darren - those really were the days!
Thanks for sharing
Rod

[Mustang531]

These are great and thanks for sharing these. Some really interesting subjects, the Mohawk was always one of my favourites and ANG A-7s were always welcome. Lovely blue skies and the smell of burgers added to the atmosphere.

[DanBeeden]

Fantastic shots from a cracking show

[matt e]

Nice set especially #2 and 4

[3Greens]

Brilliant set Darren
Indeed mate just couldn't wait for the Bank Holiday at the end of May to come ! .. we always made sure we were set up camping on the Thursday night ready for a good start and position on the approach for the arrivals on the Friday morning.
Then another good early start on the Saturday for a static park as clear of other pedestrians as possible then burgers and beer

Thanks for posting mate
Keith (3Greens)

[Knife 04]

Thanks all for all your very kind comments - very much appreciated.

James - 'What a day - No beer Karl - orange squash!'

'F-106 Delta Dart' - Thanks for the correction - he is a top man and helped me out on many occaisions! Please pass on my best

'Punkrunner62' - Cheers Mike - glad you got the A-10s today

Paddy / Petey - As always - good to see you the other weekend - look forward to my next trip to sunny Suffolk

Keith - Cheers mate as always - hopefully not too long before we catch up again

Andy - Nice addition of the other black jet - thanks

Taff - Great story - Happy days indeed

Raptor9 (Jaybee) - Pretty sure it was him and the take off of the century! Paddy will be able to confirm

Matt e / Rod / Dan / Mustang / Freddie / The Phantom & Mike (F3) - Thanks for the comments guys - much appreciated

Stay safe all

Darren

[Blackcat1]

Great shots! Great memories of the Awesome air fetes, I have to say I preferred them to RIAT! The Americans were always great hosts! Love the shot of Black Mike. I have just been looking at old photos of mine of Black Mike launching out of St Athan.

Thanks for sharing