Currently at a Wetherspoons in Norwich as I had a 45 min wait for my connection at the station. No it's a coffee! The Sound of Freedom is now courtesy of F-15s if I'm any judge as they are much louder - or lower - and so far not visible through the odd gaps in the cloud.

Just passed a Rallye sitting in someone's garden at Waterbeach. Too small for even the proverbial tin parachute's legendary STOL capabilities!

A310 F-WNOV "ZEROG" currently having fun at FL200 in the Bay of Biscay having departed from LFBD.

Been wondering what the rumbling noises were for the last hour off to the north west of me.
Just checked FR24, it's a Globemaster doing Touch-and-goes (can we say that or is it Go-Arounds?) at RAF Abingdon (as was) now Dalton Barracks.

Just caught nav lights through the trees as it lifted away.

AAH there it goes again...

A T&G and a go-around are different.

I've heard it referred to many times as a "Hit 'n git".

Pair of USAF KC-46s (Pegasii?) outbound Mildenhall to France... missed the first, second currently around Stansted at 27k. Out of interest, tankers often seem to stay below 30k and certainly appear to usually refuel others there? Is this to avoid conflict with commercial traffic or is there another reason?

Couldn't see number two, sky looks quite Milky...

Rather nice Silkway IL76 into Prestwick this morning. Shame about the weather.

Yes - and an Italian Navy P.180 rattled overhead on its way to Wick

I think it’s a performance reason? More responsive controls and more of a thrust margin, at medium levels, for the aircraft keeping station with the tanker?

Hi

Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA1 just light up SW of me wonder what he is watching reg ZP80

mike

just disappeared again 18:31

Mike

One variant of "interesting" is regular over-flyers. There's a cargo Saab 340 that comes overhead Central London (and me) every night doing Karlsruhe to Dublin and back, outwards at about midnight and returning around 4am. Quite audible inside the house, and you tend to recognise an old friend.

First out of London City when it opens each morning is currently a Luxair Dash-8, and how up to time it is as I hear it pass governs how I, and thus the rest of the house, get up. Sometimes one of the Embraers gets there first. When the A318 used to come from New York it was one of the few aircraft landing at LCY which did reverse thrust, which carried over the distant rooftops. Same time, different noise, same purpose.

1990s, and I commonly visited the Wirral at the weekend. About the last regular big piston flight in Europe was the Air Atlantic DC-6B which took the Sunday newspapers from Manchester to Dublin, it came unpressurised across the WAL VOR at about 5,000 feet pretty much to the minute at about 9.30pm Saturday night. Normally just lights, but I always went outside to see it pass. Depending on its next contract, sometimes it came back the same way in the middle of the night, if so always woke me up.

The Air Atlantique DC-6 coming over South London in the small hours was a regular treat for several years after I moved into this house in 1997; just sounded so good fading gently into the still night. Not sure just how long ago it stopped, but I'd think it was no more than 20 years ago, probably a little less.

Both KC-46s were taking MO. F-15E’s towards the sandpit! Not sure if the F-15s were with the tankers when they went over as both elements looked to have separate routings to BENBO reporting point. cheers.

Apart from 2 C130Js I haven't seen anything of interest today ,they flew from Mildenhall via the S of Ireland and crossed the Atlantic.

RCAF CP140 Aurora just groaned over Akro Towers. Not many of them around these days. Reminded me of my time at Ice Station Kilo.

CHINOOKER Cheers! MO? Do I recall Mountain Home F-111s so adorned at Boscombe Down many years ago? Or are these F-15s Missouri ANG or similar?

Treadigraph, these 'MO' F-15Es are/were from Mountain Home AFB in Idaho. The 'MO' unit traded-in their F-111s in the 90s and re-equipped with F-15Es.

During assorted unpleasantnesses in the Middle East in the noughties and teenies they were one of the Wings that provided an 18-aircraft detachment, usually to Al-Udeid (the others were those from Lakenheath and from Seymour-Johnson AFB in the USA).

The ones this week (12 a/c) arrived at Mildenhall on Monday and departed on Thursday morning; one of them went tech, and didn't depart the UK (red-light on the cockpit coffee-machine?). I believe that they went to Jordan this time, but I don't know how long for. There are suggestions that if the Jordan exercise was called-off there was a back-up exercise somewhere in SE Europe ... maybe they will head to SE Europe after Jordan?

Thanks Geezers!

Living just outside Northampton we'd quite often hear it go out late evening, straining for height at full power.

Then see it bumble back around 07:00 while driving to the station. IIRC it would leave controlled airspace by descent routing to Coventry's NDB (CT?).