United Kingdom 2025
The large international exercise Cobra Warrior usually attracts very interesting visitors and the 25/2 edition was no exception. At the English base RAF Waddington half a dozen F-15SAs of the Saudi Air Force were stationed, as well as three Turkish Air Force F-16s and the same number of French Air Force Rafales. The latter unfortunately only participated in the first week of the exercise. Moreover, our visit coincided with the biannual night photo shoot at RAF Northolt, which we therefore also visited.
In early March, 4Aviation left the continent for the second week of the exercise with two vans and was welcomed by great weather, which lasted the entire week. Several bases were visited with a very nice result.
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On Sunday 2 March 2025, two minibuses left the European mainland almost simultaneously with their final destination Lincoln in the United Kingdom. The route of the Dutch bus went via Arnhem, Utrecht and Breda to Antwerp, while the German bus from the airport of Dusseldorp via Eindhoven also went to Antwerp to continue touring together from there to the port of Calais. We arrived there in good time and it was not busy so we could already enjoy the beautiful weather and the events in the port. Boarding and crossing went smoothly and we were soon in the UK on our way north. The news of the day had taught us that a Ukraine summit was planned in London and the participants had to park their planes somewhere. London-Stansted was a stone’s throw away from our route and was therefore visited, and that was not in vain. A fairly new Canadian Air Force A330 stood out most, but Zelensky’s A320 was also present. There were also a number of other military/government aircraft, probably not all there for the conference, but that didn’t really matter to us, the first aircraft were on our cards. There was a lot of police present and we were also stopped for a quick check, but were able to continue quickly, towards our pleasant hotel for the next three nights in Lincoln.
Monday 3 March 2025 we got up early for a delicious breakfast, but also to be early at RAF Waddington. Although we knew that the missions for exercise Cobra Warrior 25-2 would not start early, we still wanted a nice spot for the cars and ourselves, and that worked out. In the meantime we had already received the flight program for the day and that always makes it a bit easier. The well-known demonstration team ‘Red Arrows’ also has RAF Waddington as its home base and during this week there was a lot of practice in various compositions and they started at 09:00. Then we heard the start-up sounds of the aircraft we really came for and a little later four Saudi F-15SAs taxied past beautifully and we saw them take off from very close by. One advantage of us driving instead of flying is that we could all take a stepladder with us, there was more than enough space in the vans. At the bases we would visit this week the stepladder came in handy. Later two Turkish F-16s and the last two F-15s also passed by and we were also treated to a local Beech and from the nearby RAF Cranwell a number of Phenoms and Prefects came to practice their landing, a nice full morning. Only one mission would be flown and after all participants returned we set course for RAF Coningsby, home base of a large part of the RAF Typhoon fleet. The wind was coming from the south today and so we looked for a nice spot in the landing on the north side. Immediately upon arrival, several Typhoons arrived and several aircraft taxied to the beginning of the runway for a new mission. It seems that applying squadron markings is completely ‘in’ again and most were equipped with them, which is just a bit nicer on the photos than just a boring code on the tail. Here it continued until the end of the day and we drove via a Lightning and a Wessex back to our hotel in Lincoln. After freshening up, we walked into town for a delicious meal and a pint.
Then it is already Tuesday 4 March 2025 and the program would look the same as Monday, if it were not for the fact that we were whispered that it would be smart to be at RAF Waddington around 08:00, an RAF RC-135 would be flying! Of course we did not want to miss this unique opportunity and around 07:30 we were ready at the fence and at the agreed time this beautiful white giant went towards the runway to start her mission. We then went back to the hotel to have breakfast and then went back to the airport, it was only a ten minute drive. The parking lot at the official spotter place was full then, but during the exercise right next to it, for a small donation, there is also the possibility to park. The mission progress, and also the visiting aircraft, looked almost the same as Monday, fortunately the other Turkish F-16 also flew so that we had seen all participants. Just like yesterday, French and RAF tankers came overhead from RAF Brize Norton to the training area, always nice to see. Two Army Air Corps Apaches were scheduled to refuel today and then continue their way further north, but only one of them came and that one came high, a pity. We went back to RAF Coningsby, where we arrived a little earlier and where there was plenty of activity again. We had now chosen a different spot so that you could photograph them better during taxiing out and take-off, but also nicely on/above the runway during landing. Part of the group now chose to go to the south side of the runway to capture the Typhoons rolling out on the runway, a unique sight.
When it became quiet we went back to the hotel and enjoyed a delicious Indian meal that evening.
Wednesday 5 March 2025 was planned as a reserve day, but since everything we wanted to see had already flown and with two days of fantastic weather under our belts, there was time to do something else. We started early again to take a look at RAF Cranwell, where a number of RAF training aircraft are located. A number of participants drove a little further to nearby Barkston Heath to score a row of Prefect numbers. At Cranwell all types were flying and after a few hours we had seen enough and headed for RAF Lakenheath. When we arrived there, the first F-15E Eagles arrived and a lot of F-35A Lightnings left for the next mission. It went on here until the lights went out and it was time for us to go to the nearby hotel, where we would stay for two nights. In Mildenhall we enjoyed a nice meal in a pub with a delicious drink.
They say that you have to be there early about RAF Lakenheath and that is what we thought we would be on Thursday 6 March 2025, but at 07:30 the first aircraft already arrived back and after that it did not stop. The comparisons were made several times, but what flies here in one day you see on both Dutch fighter fields in a month…. So you don’t hear us complaining and around noon we were already more than satisfied. On ADS-B we saw an exotic C-130 coming ‘our’ way and it soon became known that a C-130 from Bangladesh would come to Cambridge for a visit to Marshalls, the maintenance company there. That’s why we left Lakenheath a little earlier than planned to catch this one and we succeeded. We were going to leave earlier anyway because we had been able to arrange quite last minute that we could be present at the night shoot event at RAF Northolt. After Cambridge we now had some time left and went to have a look at the beautiful museum of RAF Hendon. We thought we would leave there in time to have a quick bite on the way to Northolt, but that didn’t work out because of the insanely busy traffic. So that’s why we bought a few bags of crisps and a Snickers at the petrol station at the main gate before we went onto the field. None of the group had been here before and it was a special experience. Despite the fact that it was very busy with photographers, there was enough space and time to capture all the aircraft present. A few, such as a civil Bell 47 and French CN235, left their moving parts running for a nice effect on the photo, but there was a bit of ‘stress’ when the delegation helicopters prepared to leave, the Apache, Wildcat and Puma. The latter in particular was well received because it was the last chance for everyone to photograph it under these circumstances given the upcoming phase-out. After closing the whole thing, we quickly caught the BAe125 gateguard and then the fairly long drive to the hotel near Mildenhall where we arrived around midnight. The whole week there had been rumours about Qatari F-15s that would arrive at Mildenhall for a delivery flight and finally it happened that evening around 22:00.
Friday 7 March 2025 is already the last full day of the tour and we start early again at Lakenheath. On Fridays they take off here even more spectacularly than they normally do, at the end of the runway it often goes straight up. This also happened on this day, unfortunately they flew towards the south, which makes the photography possibilities a little less flexible and you have to shoot against the sun. Nevertheless, we were able to take a number of spectacular photos. Part of the group chose to stay here, another part went to a spot in the edge of the forest on the north side. It is also very funny that some WA coded F-35As are temporarily flying at the 48th FW, this is said to be due to delivery issues of certain software versions by Lockheed. At Nellis AFB, home base of the WA code, some LN coded aircraft fly. On the wish list was a visit to RAF Mildenhall and we went there in the afternoon. There wasn’t much happening with the locally stationed aircraft during the day, but when a US Navy C-26 and C-130 came in, we were very pleased again. With a ‘lap’ around the field, we were able to photograph several local aircraft and the day was already over. Our last hotel for the night was an hour’s drive from Dover, so we didn’t have to drive that far on Saturday morning.
On this Saturday 8 March 2025, we left early again for our ferry to the mainland. In 2024, it was unexpectedly very busy then, but fortunately, that was not the case at all now and we were able to score some breakfast in the harbour. The crossing was very quiet again and in Antwerp we said goodbye to part of the group, with the German bus going back to Dusseldorp via Eindhoven, the Dutch bus going via Breda and Leiden to the east of the country.
This ended a great week where we enjoyed an abundance of aircraft in fantastic weather. This was the second time we have done this tour this way and will definitely keep an eye out for it in the future.
