Leeming good time to visit

[buttkicker]

Just a heads up for Leeming which is pretty much my local base

it has been very lean with decent movements in recent months (years)
however with all these Ex going on the place has got plenty of very tasty Airframes currently on the base
2 Polish F16's arrived today along with a Polish Herc and Casa 295 which have now gone and left the F16's

along with 3 Turkish F16's which have been doing Spadeadam presumably the Polish will be doing the same on Monday??

must add that one of the Turkish machines looks to have gone 'tech' as the other two have been out 2 days running and the 3rd one has not moved

adding to those tasty treats 3 Puma and 2 Chinooks along with 2 RAF Hercs are all on base going up and doing the rounds

I would suggest your not going to get a better time to spend a day at Leeming for a Long time after this little lot

I dont have to tell you that getting Turks in this country is pretty much Rocking Horse pooh stuff

and fingers crossed that fingers crossed they might even make an appearance through the Lakes down Low

would Love to see Ian's face if a Turk showed up thru Dunmail

anyway there you have it Leeming is good so fill your boots chaps
cheers
Chris

[snowdog]

I'm hoping to get up there on Friday if they're all still there! I believe the viewing area is closed, so where is the best spot to view the aircraft on the deck and for photography, presuming they're on 34?
Thanks

[buttkicker]

Leeming is not the best base in the World for photography but there are a few good places
and by the way today they reopened the viewing area mid morning

if runway 1-6 is in use the only place in town for my money is down at the sewerage works
1-6 has been in use 2 out of the last 4 days
if 3-4 is in use the bridge on the main road into |RAF Leeming is pretty hard to beat
for taxi shots down the road at the back of Londonderry cafe has you standing literally 50yrds from the aircraft as they taxi past if they are using the right hand side taxi ways which the Turks have been using
personally I think the viewing area sucks as you need a small ladder and at least a 400mm Lens to get anything worth a carrot

the places above should result in some excellent images
Chris

[snowdog]

Hi Chris, thanks for the info.
When you say Londonderry Cafe, is that what looks like a truck stop/garage and you drive/walk down a lane to what looks like the crash gate? (I've been looking on Google street view)

Stu

[buttkicker]

Yes Londonderry cafe is the truckstop you can also stop and get images from the back of the truckstop car park

the main road near the tower is where I spent about 3 hours on friday they lift off getting the aircraft above the fence
opposite the Motorway crashgate now what used to be the old slip road to the A1 south bound but in recent times the roads have all changed confusing lots of people going into the base

I must of given directions to at least 5 cars yesterday

if they are using runway 1-6 the sewerage works is the place to be and 90% of the helicopters coming in and out fly over there as well regardless of which runway is in use

must add that in Leeming Village there are now roadworks which are pretty horrendous not allowing you to nip from one end to the other like you normally can
at least 20 minutes sat in traffic both ways and its going on for the next 6 weeks

[snowdog]

Thanks for that Chris, much appreciated.

I'm hoping to get up on Friday and hoping all the F-16s are still on the deck.