9th October 2017
by Chris Smith
Some family had spent the weekend in Suffolk and asked me if Coningsby had a museum which they could visit as a half way stop on the way home, so I suggested the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which is as good as a museum, if not far better. I had the day off work so I asked if I could join them as there have been a good few Typhoons delivered since my last visit and with the tours of the production halls at Warton stopped a few were needed.
I was running a little late so I went direct to Coningsby, missing out Gamston and Cranwell and with clear views of both as I passed I could see I wasn't missing much. My family arrived just 10 minutes ahead of me and so we went straight into the BoBMF guided tour. Despite being aware of the role of the BoBMF and having some knowledge of the aircraft they have, I was surprised by how much I became invested in the talk and how much I learned. Even the most seasoned spotters who might dismiss such a tour on the grounds that they see the aircraft at a multitude of air shows and events throughout any given year should reconsider and spend the £7.90 admission fee, it's well worthwhile.
With the season over, most aircraft were present in their hangar bar two - MK356/5J-K a Spitfire LF.IXe was at Biggin Hill on a major overhaul, and DHC-1 Chipmunk T10 WG486/G was at Duxford for the same reason. I knew I was good for the Spitfire but I was worried I needed the Chipmunk, luckily as it turns out I didn't and the only airframe I required - the 'old' Spitfire IIa P7350 - was accounted for. Moving on to fast jets, the RAF Typhoon fleet is now a single 'fleet pool', meaning aircraft are losing their codes in favour of their last three serial digits, and are also slowly losing any squadron markings. That said squadrons don't seem to be switching aircraft any more frequently than before but there ya go. It's much easier for spotting as you don't need to worry about the fleet having being recoded, but it's also much less novel. Unfortunately several Typhoons that were previously stored either here or at Shawbury that were assumed to be joining the two extra Typhoon squadrons announced in Governments Defense Spending Review have now been vandalised, or to use the correct term, returned to parts - they're barely ten years old for crying out loud!! I thought when the time came to scrap them they would follow the Tonka's into Leeming - it's bad enough the two new squadrons which must surely now be in doubt weren't earmarked for our local former F3 base.
RAF Coningsby
QCY / EGXC
| SERIAL | CODE | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | SQUADRON | NOTES |
| P7350* | QJ-G | Supermarine Spitfire IIa | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| AB910 | SH-F | Supermarine Spitfire Vb | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| EN398* | JE-J | Supermarine Spitfire (replica) | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | Gate Guard |
| LF363 | GN-F | Hawker Hurricane IIc | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| PA474 | AR-L | Avro Lancaster B1 | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| PM631 | Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | ||
| PS915 | Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIX | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | ||
| PZ865 | EG-S | Hawker Hurricane IIc | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| TE311 | Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXe | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | ||
| WK518 | C | de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T10 | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| XS897 | A | English Electric Lightning F6 | Lakes Lightnings | 29(R) | Preserved - marked as F3 XP765 |
| ZA947 | UK | Douglas C-47A Dakota C3 | Royal Air Force | Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| ZH903* | HR | Boeing Chinook HC5 | Royal Air Force | 27 | OTT to Donna Nook |
| ZJ802 | DW | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon T3 | Royal Air Force | 3(F) | 11 Squadron markings |
| ZJ813 | BL | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon T3 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | Stored |
| ZJ912 | DR | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | 11 Squadron markings |
| ZJ914 | DZ | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 11 | |
| ZJ920* | 920 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | |
| ZJ924 | 924 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | |
| ZK304 | FM | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 3(F) | |
| ZK313 | W | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 3(F) | |
| ZK335* | 335 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 41(R) TES | |
| ZK345 | 345 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | ??? | |
| ZK346 | ER | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 3(F) | |
| ZK352 | BV | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | |
| ZK354 | BY | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | |
| ZK365* | EB-L | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 41(R) TES | |
| ZK368* | 368 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | Royal Air Force | 11 | 2(AC) Squadron markings |
| ZK383 | 383 | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon T3 | Royal Air Force | 29(R) | |
| ZK459 | X | Hawker Beechcraft B200GT Super King Air | Royal Air Force | 45(R) |
29(R) Squadron line
ZJ802/DW T3 variant performance take-off
ZK345/ER FGR4 variant conventional take-off
Next I retraced my steps to tick off the airfields I'd overlooked on the way to Coningsby, starting with Cranwell in search of the new Phenoms, Prefects and Texans, I wasn't sure any of the latter had been delivered and upon checking they haven't and I drew a blank on the other two, to make it even more frustrating a Phenom had been delivered since I passed by earlier and must have been immediately hangared!! There's a curious grass airstrip just north of RAF Cranwell, it must be operated by the military as it looks part of the same site, I always forget to seek it out, although I suspect only the Vigilants and Vikings are based here?
RAF Cranwell
EGYD
| SERIAL | CODE | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | SQUADRON | NOTES |
| G-BYUW* | UW | Grob G115E Tutor T1 | Royal Air Force | 1 EFTS | |
| G-BYUZ | UZ | Grob G115E Tutor T1 | Royal Air Force | 1 EFTS | |
| G-BYVM | VM | Grob G115E Tutor T1 | Royal Air Force | 1 EFTS | |
| G-BYWI | WI | Grob G115E Tutor T1 | Royal Air Force | 1 EFTS | |
| XS727* | D | Hawker Siddeley HS125 Dominie T1 | Royal Air Force | 55(R) | Gate Guard |
| XW353 | 3 | Hunting Percival Jet Provost T5A | Royal Air Force | ??? | Gate Guard |
| ZK451 | K | Raytheon B200 Super King Air | Royal Air Force | 3 FTS / 45(R) |
I might not have bothered otherwise, but due to my lack of success at Cranwell I carried on a bit further to Barkston Heath which is only ten minutes down the road, fortunately I had much more luck with four Prefects going in the bag.
RAF Barkston Heath
EGYE
| SERIAL | CODE | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | SQUADRON | NOTES |
| ZM301* | Grob G120TP-A Prefect T1 | Affinity Flying Training Services | 3 FTS | ||
| ZM306* | Grob G120TP-A Prefect T1 | Affinity Flying Training Services | 3 FTS | ||
| ZM307* | Grob G120TP-A Prefect T1 | Affinity Flying Training Services | 3 FTS | ||
| ZM310* | Grob G120TP-A Prefect T1 | Affinity Flying Training Services | 3 FTS |
Final stop was the usual half-way house Gamston, which was dead given the fading light and the main gate was about to be locked up so I was all of two minutes here. Can't help but feel this place has deteriorated in the time I've been calling in and could do with some fresh ideas.
Retford Gamston Airport
EGNE
| REG | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | NOTES |
| G-AXSI | Reims/Cessna F172H Skyhawk | Private | |
| G-BCPN | Grumman AA5 Traveller | G-BCPN Group | |
| G-BIOK* | Reims/Cessna F152 | Northumberland Aircraft Maintenance | |
| G-BRPV | Cessna 152 | Eastern Air Executive | |
| G-CCFS* | Diamond DA40D Diamond Star | Private | |
| G-LLMW | Diamond DA42 Twin Star | Private | |
| G-PPFS* | Reims/Cessna FRA150L Aerobat | Private |
All in all an enjoyable day out but not the highest yielding...a more devoted spotter would have either visited Coningsby last week for the German visitors or gone a little bit further to Lakenheath for the F-22 deployment (or remembered to include a stop at Waddington for that matter!!). No regrets but I need to give myself a bit of a kick up the arse!