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Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

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Sw
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Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Sw » Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm

With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's

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GOOSE
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by GOOSE » Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:22 pm

More Coronets, Crested Caps and Salty Bees please!
Aviation - “You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.” :thumb:

starfighter
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by starfighter » Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:37 pm

GOOSE wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:22 pm
More Coronets, Crested Caps and Salty Bees please!
That would be fun , but back in “the good old days “ you could pull up at the base a couple of hours be for the eta ,
but you would probably need to get your parking space two to three days in advance now 😳😳

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Mike
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Mike » Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:38 pm

Sw wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm
With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's
I think the biggest A-7 deployment to Waddington was 36 aircraft.
This season, I'll be mostly wearing........A THONG!

NorvilleRogers
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by NorvilleRogers » Thu Jul 07, 2022 1:36 pm

Sw wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm
With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's
As recently mentioned on the other thread on this, there are no extra deployments due. The F-35s are just those being slowly delivered to Lakenheath as planned.

luxto
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by luxto » Thu Jul 07, 2022 1:58 pm

Mike wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:38 pm
Sw wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm
With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's
I think the biggest A-7 deployment to Waddington was 36 aircraft.
That's correct - `Coronet Buffalo`- Waddington May - June'85. 24 from Iowa + 12 from South Dakota.

Drinkmat
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Drinkmat » Thu Jul 07, 2022 5:20 pm

Mike wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:38 pm
Sw wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm
With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's
I think the biggest A-7 deployment to Waddington was 36 aircraft.
I'd agree with 36. I was working in ATC at the time.

Bucky P
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Bucky P » Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:16 pm

I drove a car load of guys from around Abingdon, Witney area to see them arrive! Support was 2 RAF Herks ferrying equipment in from Upper Heyford where 2x EC135Ks arrived if I remember correctly!

Drinkmat
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Drinkmat » Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:40 pm

On the day the Waddington A7's arrived I was on a morning & night shift in the tower. During the afternoon I had a walk off the camp and as I was approaching the old (original) site of Vulcan '607 on the corner, saw someone lying on the grass, who was shouting to some people further down the road. As I got closer I saw he had a telescope and was looking through a gap in the hedge and fence towards the approach for Runway 03.

I stopped to talk to the chap lying down and noted he has a strong Geordie accent. He said he was "spotting" for the A7's on the approach and when he saw them at a particular point, shouted a "heads-up" to his mates who also had telescopes and were trying to jot down the tail numbers, also through a gap in the hedge. I asked him where he had come from and he said they'd driven down from near Newcastle for the arrivals. Expressing surprise that they had driven down by car all that distance, he said that they'd had to hop in the car and drive down as they'd missed the 53 seater coach they were booked on!

The civvy police estimated that there about 3,500 spectators around Waddington that day.

luxto
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by luxto » Thu Jul 07, 2022 9:36 pm

1st one landed at 1346, last one down at 1640. Biggest Coronet ever to the UK.

Malcolm
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Malcolm » Thu Jul 07, 2022 10:00 pm

That was my first Coronet. I was at University in London and caught the train up to Lincoln, arriving about 9am. Then cycled up to Waddo - my first ever trip there. Probably arrived around 10am, not knowing what to expect. IIRC it was dry, but chuffin' cold. Basically sat in the grass on the airfield side of the A15 opposite where the WAVE now is. I had a UHF AOR2001 radio, so I could listen in to Scottish and Midland radar, but I wasn't sure what agency they would be talking to at the weekends, so it was pot luck. Every now and then some American ground crew would come round the peri track and give us a new ETA. Radio chirped into life around 1pm, and from then on it was all go.

Two other notable events that day:
1) It was the last day that Lincoln St Marks railway station was open. I was on the second last train back to Newark/Grantham? and the station was packed with train spotters/enthusiasts. Funny lot :P
2) It was also the day of the Bradford football stadium fire. RIP the 56.

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PaulN
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by PaulN » Fri Jul 08, 2022 6:36 am

Great days :clap: , just come across this Thought some may be interested in some pics from the arrivals of the A-7s at Waddington :S

In the process of sorting out my Waddington pages so a bit of a jumble at the moment but it gives you a flavour I hope :S

https://pbase.com/usnavypatchman/wadd2

Cheers

Paul :thumb:

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sschofield
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by sschofield » Fri Jul 08, 2022 7:03 am

luxto wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 1:58 pm
Mike wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:38 pm
Sw wrote:
Wed Jun 29, 2022 12:35 pm
With the latest remarks by the US President I would if there will be TDY like in the past to RAF Station's like Waddington. Like the 48 ANG A7's but with F16's
I think the biggest A-7 deployment to Waddington was 36 aircraft.
That's correct - `Coronet Buffalo`- Waddington May - June'85. 24 from Iowa + 12 from South Dakota.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP ... cg60c4BrQ

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cat1
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by cat1 » Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:36 am

speaking of which
when is the next bomber deployment to fairford?
Cheap cameras aren't good. Good cameras aren't cheap

johnwayne
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by johnwayne » Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:01 am

cat1 wrote:
Fri Jul 08, 2022 8:36 am
speaking of which
when is the next bomber deployment to fairford?
You should know better than to ask questions like that ;) Just speculating of course , but it seems to me the US/NATO military & political response to Putins aggression , whilst clearly a strong one , errs towards a defensive posture rather than an offensive one . i.e. deterring but not provoking escalation . Against that backdrop maybe the 'bombers' are on the backburner for a while (hasn't there also been a drop in GPM's Europe's way recently too ?) :unsure:

Drinkmat
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Drinkmat » Sat Jul 09, 2022 1:31 pm

One thing that happened at Waddington during the A7 deployment was that the USAF were treated to a Vulcan display of power. The display crew saw an opportunity on a poor weather day (Green, with a forecast cloudbase of around 700 feet over the airfield) when they were going up for a display practice/continuation training sortie above cloud.

Many of the Americans had never seen a Vulcan so there was a crowd outside the hangars when the display jet taxied out to Runway 21. What they didn't know was that between the display crew and Air Traffic Control, a number of phone calls had been made to Scampton, Coningsby, Binbrook and Cranwell to arrange some clear airspace for the Vulcan take-off and climb out. This wasn't normally done, but there was a special reason.

The big jet lined up on Runway 21 and rolled, with that famous "howl" from the engines. Lifting off, it climbed quite steeply and went into the cloud at about 700 feet AGL, vanishing from sight. The natural noise it generated was amplified by the low cloud, so was extremely impressive to our visitors. The noise continued and it appeared from the audio signature that the jet was still very nose high and still climbing impressively. What happened in reality though was that when the Vulcan entered cloud, the crew lowered the nose sharply and simultaneously commenced a left turn to a heading agreed with the other airfields, that when rolled out, put the jet pipes directly towards the hangars. A very shallow climb at full power was then maintained for a couple of minutes, with the noise directed towards the hangars.

It still sounded like the jet was in the climb from take-off on runway heading to those standing by the hangars. I should imagine that at some stage, the Americans found out how they'd been fooled on the day, but it was well thought out and co-ordinated on the day.

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roughcutter
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by roughcutter » Sat Jul 09, 2022 8:30 pm

I remember just after Coronet Buffalo (85) at Waddo, reading in the classified ads section of (then) Aviation News. An appeal for a missing roll of Kodachrome 64 shot at the deployment that some poor lad had lost, talk about your worst nightmare :'( . I hope he managed to get reunited with it.

Lossie
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Lossie » Sun Jul 10, 2022 8:15 am

While I was editor of Aviation News because I'd heard so much about the 36 A-7s Coronet to Waddington I wrote an article a few years ago about it and managed to track down some A-7 pilots who took part to get some insights into that amazing deployment.
Also put in the mag an article another time about the Coronets to the UK.
Dino

Lossie
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by Lossie » Mon Jul 11, 2022 10:45 am

Hi,
I've dug out the article I mentioned in my above post about the 36 A-7s that deployed to Waddington for Coronet Buffalo, as there seems to be some interest in it based on the comments above. It can be viewed for free at: https://www.key.aero/article/coronet-bu ... waddington
Dino

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paddyboy
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Re: Back to the 70's Usaf TDY'S to RAF Station's

Post by paddyboy » Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:10 pm

Hi Dino :P

Thanks for the link :thumbs:

Aviation News has, imho, gone downhill big time since you relinquished your post as Editor, and I have stopped my subscription to what is now a primarily civvy and new tech magazine :grr:

Thanks for all your great work :thumb:

Paddyboy :clap:
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