RAF Lakenheath & RAF Mildenhall - Cobra Warrior 24-2

So I've wanted to visit RAF Lakenheath for a while, especially on a Friday for 'Quick Climb Fridays', so we booked a hotel for 3 days, Wednesday 18th - Friday 20th. Before this, I knew that Cobra Warrior was going to occur around this time but it was later confirmed that whilst we were there, the first week of the exercise was going to occur. Lakenheath was on 'Lates' on Wednesday and Thursday, meaning that the normal flying would start around lunch time until midnight, however the Cobra Warrior aircraft would start to launch at around 10am. We spent Wednesday at Lakenheath all day, Thursday a mix between Lakenheath and Mildenhall, and Friday back again at Lakenheath to see the quick-climbs occur!

September 18, 2024

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We got to RAF Lakenheath at around 11am, and expected the flying to start at around 12:30pm, however not long after we arrived, a couple of F-35s performed some low approaches. We stayed until about 3:30pm and then headed to our hotel to have something to eat.

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5590)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (97-0218)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0302)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (97-0222)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0315)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5580)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5615)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5598)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5594)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0315)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0316)

Later on in the day, after our trip back to the hotel, we went to the spotters car park to view some of the late flying. As we got there, there were lots of F-35s coming back in some really nice lighting, as well as lots of low approaches occurring!

USAF - F-35A Lightning II

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5615)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5581)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5573)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5573)

Not long after this, more planes started heading out, and I started taking pictures hoping to catch the afterburners in the fading light...

USAF - F-35A Lightning II

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0314)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0302)

Thursday morning started with a trip to RAF Mildenhall to see the Aviano based 510th 'Buzzards' and the 555th 'Triple Nickel's take off for their part of Cobra Warrior.

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (88-0532)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2152)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (90-0772)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (87-0350)

We then headed to Lakenheath to see some of the afternoon launches.

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5573)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (97-0220)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (97-0221)

USAF - F-35A Lightning II (20-5572)

USAF - F-15E Strike Eagle (91-0334)

At around 1:30pm we headed back to Mildenhall and got there just as the F-16s were returning, performing multiple low approaches over us!

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (87-0350)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2018)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (87-0350)

We then stayed at Mildenall to see the F-16s depart for their afternoon sorties, including 2 quick climbs! Two Ospreys also took off which was nice to see. We waited for when they came back to see if there would be any more low approaches but un fortunately they just did straight-in approaches instead.

USAF - CV-22B Osprey (08-0050)

USAF - CV-22B Osprey (16-0076)

USAF - CV-22B Osprey (08-0050)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (88-0532)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2096)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2018)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (90-0772)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (88-0532)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2096)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (89-2018)

USAF - F-16C Fighting Falcon (90-0772)

Finally, Friday morning came and we headed off to the airfield at 7:30am and waited for the action to start. In total, there were 28 take-offs including 14 F-35 quick-climbs from both the Americans and visiting Norwegians, as well as 14 F-15E's, however only 2 performed a quick-climb as the other 12 were headed of to Spain for a NATO Exercise