Mildenhall/Lakenheath
Discussion
Looking for some help from the usually helpful PH crowd.
Wife has booked the three of us (inc. 1 year old boy) on a Centre Parc holiday to Elvedon Forest in mid July. Looking on Google Earth earlier I saw it was very close to Mildenhall/Lakenheath and wondered if there was anything worth doing nearby to do with either Airfield (museums, vistor attractions etc).
Never visited this part of the world and I'm well aware of both these iconic airfields and always fancied a visit to the Mildenhall Air Fete but never managed to do it. I've not searched on t'internet as yet as I'm hoping I'll get better answers from locals or enthusiasts that know the area. Happy for the three of us to go somewhere or I can fob her off to the Spa and then go on my own.
Off to find out whether they are even still active as airfields and what I might be lucky enough to see. (and even whether its worth taking a longer camera lens if there are photo opportunities).
In advance... Cheers!
Wife has booked the three of us (inc. 1 year old boy) on a Centre Parc holiday to Elvedon Forest in mid July. Looking on Google Earth earlier I saw it was very close to Mildenhall/Lakenheath and wondered if there was anything worth doing nearby to do with either Airfield (museums, vistor attractions etc).
Never visited this part of the world and I'm well aware of both these iconic airfields and always fancied a visit to the Mildenhall Air Fete but never managed to do it. I've not searched on t'internet as yet as I'm hoping I'll get better answers from locals or enthusiasts that know the area. Happy for the three of us to go somewhere or I can fob her off to the Spa and then go on my own.
Off to find out whether they are even still active as airfields and what I might be lucky enough to see. (and even whether its worth taking a longer camera lens if there are photo opportunities).
In advance... Cheers!
Hi
First of all, enjoy; you are in a beautiful part of the countryside and will have a whale of a time. There is loads to see with a military/air force angle.
Whilst I dont know of any museums at Mildenhall/Lakenheath, you can still see plenty of flying around the perimeters. You will be amazed at how much of a little USA the area is. Then multiply this by about 5 times and you'll get a sense for what it was like when I was there in the 1970s and 80s!
Duxford is 45 minutes drive away and awesome and you have a number of RAF bases in the vicinity. The Rock Apes are based at RAF Honington which is a lovely 1920s RAF airfield built to Trenchard standards and which you can drive pretty much through the mioddle of. No flying now sadly.
There are loads of WW2 airfields in the area and driving round the area is not unlike touring the Somme; every turn & you'll find some small evidence of the bomber offensive. There are a few good museums for this around& a good example of where you can easily pick out the remains of a ww2 USAAF base is the old RAF Knettishall, just north of a little village called Coney Weston, about 8 miles from Elvedon.
Enjoy!
First of all, enjoy; you are in a beautiful part of the countryside and will have a whale of a time. There is loads to see with a military/air force angle.
Whilst I dont know of any museums at Mildenhall/Lakenheath, you can still see plenty of flying around the perimeters. You will be amazed at how much of a little USA the area is. Then multiply this by about 5 times and you'll get a sense for what it was like when I was there in the 1970s and 80s!
Duxford is 45 minutes drive away and awesome and you have a number of RAF bases in the vicinity. The Rock Apes are based at RAF Honington which is a lovely 1920s RAF airfield built to Trenchard standards and which you can drive pretty much through the mioddle of. No flying now sadly.
There are loads of WW2 airfields in the area and driving round the area is not unlike touring the Somme; every turn & you'll find some small evidence of the bomber offensive. There are a few good museums for this around& a good example of where you can easily pick out the remains of a ww2 USAAF base is the old RAF Knettishall, just north of a little village called Coney Weston, about 8 miles from Elvedon.
Enjoy!
You could also visit Barnham Nuclear Bomb Store (now disused and used as an industrial estate) http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/barnham_nucl...
There is a tank museum at the same location, but not sure about opening times.
The place is only about 3 miles from Elveden Centreparcs
There is a tank museum at the same location, but not sure about opening times.
The place is only about 3 miles from Elveden Centreparcs
I've only been to sit and watch once, but found this guide/website useful: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/spotting/l...
Sadly the day I went (on the way back from a meeting in Norwich) I only saw one plane land. I do remember shooting around Newmarket with my Dad when I was a kid, with a beet harvester working in the same field being in awe of the noise/sight of (what I now assume to be) a B52 taking off just a few hundred yards from where we were!
Sadly the day I went (on the way back from a meeting in Norwich) I only saw one plane land. I do remember shooting around Newmarket with my Dad when I was a kid, with a beet harvester working in the same field being in awe of the noise/sight of (what I now assume to be) a B52 taking off just a few hundred yards from where we were!
muppetdave said:
I've only been to sit and watch once, but found this guide/website useful: http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/spotting/l...
I use this site frequently, Spot "N" on that page is better than the official viewing area and well worth the hike especially if they are landing from the South West.Rougham airfield/ Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk , a former B17 base, has an orginal control tower and a few orginal Nissen huts that's a small museum. Quite small , but is only 20 mins from Mildenhall.
Was lucky to have a friend in the USAF who worked at Mildenhall and got to look around the Pave Low 53's before they retired them. Oddest thing about it was the Celtic Knot shop selling kilts, sporrans and the like, quite strange.
Was lucky to have a friend in the USAF who worked at Mildenhall and got to look around the Pave Low 53's before they retired them. Oddest thing about it was the Celtic Knot shop selling kilts, sporrans and the like, quite strange.
Mojocvh said:
is Alconbury still operating?
Flying operations ceased towards the end of 1994 when the Spec Ops C130s and Helos pulled out. Since then Alconbury has been host the the USAF 423rd Air Base Sqn (later Air Base Group) and the airfield is under 'Care and Maintenance'.There were mutterings about 10 years ago to turn it into a Civil Airport but nothing came of that.
Mojocvh said:
hmm. Last contact I had with RAF Alconbury was when this cab
Ah yes: http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/PROJECT/Biograp...I'm surprised it wouldn't fly without a nose. Well perhaps it would, but it was too late to learn how.
Simpo Two said:
I'm surprised it wouldn't fly without a nose.
I'm not!If the radome had fully detached then they may have had a chance to recover the situation, but hinged open like that would have caused immense asymmetric drag. This would led to a huge yawing moment with associated secondary roll.
The a/c was on the approach and therefore at relatively high Alpha. The F4 had a handling 'oddity' such that at higher Alpha angles you rolled the a/c with Rudder - if you used the Ailerons you could exacerbate a 'departure' which, at low altitude, would be lethal.
I'm guessing that in trying to control the roll they ran out of rudder and so couldn't stop the yaw. That left them no option other than a 'Martin Baker Let-Down'.
If there's any doubt there's NO doubt - 'Eject in Time'!
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