Cobra Warrior 25-1 - RAF Waddington

We went to stay at Tattershall Lakes for the first week of Cobra Warrior, and luckily the weather was forecast to be quite nice for February. The exercise days this week were Tuesday and Thursday, so we spent the first day at Coningsby as it was next to the holiday park. Wednesday was full of rain so we stopped in

February 24, 2025

First up was Coningsby, with a new pair of ladders and radio which made things much easier to know what was going on. We arrived just as they started to depart and left once the morning sorties had landed. There was a display slot for 10am, but low clouds meant the pilot, Sqn Ldr Nathan 'Reheat' Shawyer, had chosen to instead head over to Donna Nook to practice there. There was chatter that he could go out again later on in the day but the forecast looked bad so we never ended up going back.

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK343

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK344 (REHEAT01)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK329

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK311 (COBRA012)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK429, ZK368, ZK358, ZK376 (WOLF01/2/3/4)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK376 (WOLF011)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK429 (WOLF014)

We had a quick trip to Waddington just to get a look at where to go as it was out first time here, and there wasn't much happening apart from the usual Shadow doing some circuits, Red Arrows departing for Lossiemouth, as well as a new Protector RG MK1 being towed around.

Royal Air Force - British Aerospace Hawk T.1A - XX323 (REDARROW)

Royal Air Force - British Aerospace Hawk T.1A - XX221 & XX232 (REDARROW)

Royal Air Force - British Aerospace Hawk T.1A - XX221 (REDARROW)

Royal Air Force - British Aerospace Hawk T.1A (REDARROW)

Royal Air Force - Protector RG Mk 1 - PR011

RAF - Beech Shadow R.1 - ZZ507 (SNAKE57)

Tuesday morning we arrived around 10:30am and the car parks were very close to being full, but we managed to find a space and headed to the fence with out steps and chairs. First up came the 4x Saudi F-15 SA's followed shortly by a pair of French AdlA Rafale B's. Shortly after they took of, the Turkish came up the taxiway with an F-16C and D model, and then took off. After the mad rush of people filling the road, some members from the French team who are participating came over to the carpark with plenty of patches and memorabilia to sell to everyone. An hour and a half later, the first wave came back - the two F-16s came in for straight in approaches. Later on, the Saudis came back in two groups of two, then followed by the French as a pair, with a few performing go arounds. We then went back to Tattershall with a quick stop again at Coningsby to catch some afternoon departures.

Royal Air Force - Protector RG Mk 1 - PR010 (PHONX10)

Royal Air Force - RC-135 Rivet Joint - ZZ665 (RRR7225)

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 629

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 638

Armée de l'air - Rafale B - 308 (ROOSTER51)

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 633

Armée de l'air - Rafale B - 308 (ROOSTER15)

Armée de l'air - Rafale B - 308 (ROOSTER51)

Turkish Air Force - F-16C - 92-0020

Turkish Air Force - F-16D - 92-0022

Turkish Air Force - F-16C - 92-0020

Turkish Air Force - F-16D - 92-0022

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 633

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 636

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 629

Royal Saudi Air Force - F-15SA - 638

Armée de l'air - Rafale B - 308 (ROOSTER51)

Armée de l'air - Rafale B - 339 (ROOSTER52)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK321 (TRIPLE61)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK333 (TYRANT31)

Royal Air Force - Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 - ZK362 (TYPHO331)

On Thursday the wind had changed, making 02 the active runway, so we went to Black Cat Travel who offered a shuttle service from their place to the end of the path up to the runway. We could see the F-16 getting ready, but it was the French Rafales who started moving first, with the Saudis departing last, due to some support traffic coming in t land. After what seemed like a long wait, the Turkish were first to come back, with both doing a PAR approach, and the two-seater ending it with a low approach. Then came the F-15s and they seemed to land very low. Lastly came the Rafale pair, and the first one seemed to be quite high, but then the gear came up and they lit the afterburners and did an awesome low approach, with the second one following, albeit without the flames. Just as we were leaving, the Turkish showed up selling some of their watches so we went to see what they had and buy some.