We don't have any airports in Suffolk and Norwich Airport in Norfolk isn't anything like Gatwick, Heathrow and Stanstead so we don't get dozens of low flying aircraft passing overhead like so many people live with in much of the UK.
But most Mondays this giant machine flies low overhead circling round and round before disappearing into the skies above West Suffolk.
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker provides the core aerial refuelling capability for the United States Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 50 years. This unique asset enhances the Air Force's capability to accomplish its primary mission of global reach. It also provides aerial refuelling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft.
The ones in the UK are part of the 351st Air Refuelling Squadron, they are based at RAF Mildenhall - which is one of the USAF bases in this country and are some of the 400 that the USAF possess. From Suffolk they head out into Europe, and when they come back often circle several times before finally going back to base in West Suffolk
If you've not come across the website - Globe Airplanes Live it's interesting to know what's happening overhead -the number of aircraft in the skies at anyone time is enough to put a person off flying ever again!
Thanks for that link. The planes from RAF Markham near us exercise overhead on a Wednesday morning.
ReplyDeleteI like to know what's going on overhead!
DeleteWaw…quite remarkable when you think of how it all works.
ReplyDeleteIt's a clever thing to be able to refuel up there while keeping the right distance etc
DeleteHi Sue, the Jumble Sale I mentioned yesterday is at Thornham Magna 12-3. Jilly
ReplyDeleteThank you - very small village hall packed full of people last time I went to one there! and parking chaos!
DeleteI lived near Oceana Naval Base in the 1980's. It was day in, day out of an endless round of F14 Tomcats taking off and landing practice. It took nearly all my time living there to get used to it, sometimes I don't think I ever did.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch the tennis from Queens Club London on TV there is constant plane noise - not sure I could get used to living under a flightpath.
DeleteVery interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe're quite close to Stansted here and we do see plenty of aircraft but they are usually very high and hardly disturb at all, thankfully.
What we do get, very occasionally is the fly past to Buckingham Palace and back. That can be great. xx
Just once, back in the 90's we were able to watch the group of planes for a royal flypast not far from the smallholding, but after that they changed their route and were further inland
DeleteWe spent two years at RAF Marham during late 1960s ( when The Golfer was serving) - it was a noisy camp. Huge aircraft flying around daily, something to do with air refuelling plus landing take off circuits. The kids loved seeing all the aircraft overhead especially on ‘air show’ days - watched from the garden. The only posting I was glad to finish.
ReplyDeleteI would love to go to an airshow, I'm waiting for middle grandson to stop hating loud noises! then we can all go
DeletePrecision flying! We sometimes have aircraft stacking while waiting to land at Heathrow, and Concorde used to fly over every day. Other than that, we see very little, other than Chinooks from RAF Odiham now and again.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes get Apache helicopters from RAF Wattisham, but not often otherwise holiday planes are really high going out from Stanstead to Europe
DeleteWow-that must require really precise flying to achieve the refuelling in the air! Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to even think about how it's achieved
DeleteBy the time airplanes/jets reach us here we don't hear a thing, they are flying so high. We do get the occasional crop duster, or smallish plane flying lower from our little airport, mostly in the summer months.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I wouldn't like to live under the flightpath of one of the big airports round London, they have planes every few minutes
DeleteI've always been amazed at the capacity to refuel in the air. Where I live, halfway between major airports, the big passenger planes are so high up they're inaudible. Mostly we have little planes like piper cubs, flitting around from local air strips. They're not at all disturbing, especially on lovely days when you can tell they're just out to enjoy the sky.
ReplyDeleteLiving in a suburb of Chicago, I see lots of airplanes everyday. O'Hare airport is about 30 minutes from me and they are one of the busiest airports in the world according to Google.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, that must be a noisy place, although I guess after a while you don't notice
DeleteMy FiL was a navigator on the USAF KC-135s from the late 1950s to early 1970s. These planes have been flying for more than 60 years--348 of them are still in active military service.
ReplyDeleteSince I grew up on military bases (father in USAF), including some in UK and Germany, the sound of aircraft was a daily part of my life. I still miss the sound to a certain degree now that I live in the countryside and no longer hear them on a regular basis.
It's amazing how long they have been in use and presumably nothing has been found to be better for their job.
DeleteDo you ever see the actual refueling taking place in the sky? With all the war/conflict going on, I wonder which conflict(s) the refueling planes are supporting out of UK. I'll check-out Global Airplanes Live.
ReplyDeleteI once had a USAF pilot living next door and, occasionally he circled our homes letting his wife know he'd be home soon. Now I just see drones, mostly at night. A few neighbors got drones for Christmas!
Never seen the re-fuelling happening it would be interesting to see..
DeleteDrones are causing so many problems now, especially as they've got bigger and bigger. I've never seen one in our quiet village and hope I don't
I live between Heathrow and Gatwick so do have quite a lot of planes flying overhead. I have sort of got used to them. Although when Concord used to fly over, the windows and doors would shake terribly.
ReplyDeleteThat Global Air Live map was an eye opener. That's at ONE time?
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a lot more planes about when the bases at Bentwaters and Woodbridge were open. I remember going to the air show at Bentwaters when my (then boyfriend) was stationed there. Huge and loud!
ReplyDeleteI always think the pilots that fly these fuel filled planes are very brave.
ReplyDeleteCan you see where my comment went, please?
ReplyDeleteI thought that Mildenhall AFB had closed many years ago. My first husband worked there, he served his time in the US military there, and we met in Bury St Edmunds. That is how I came to live in the USA. We flew from Mildenhall in 1974, to Dover Delaware on a C5 cargo plane.
ReplyDelete