Chasing White Tops & Skyhawks

By Dan Eley

My only day free for aviation and photography for a few weeks approached, as always, I wanted to plan in advance what I wanted to achieve with this trip. I keep a close eye on all the forums and groups for any movements and at this stage not a huge amount was happening and I was still yet to catch the awesome Top Aces A-4 Skyhawk. With that being said the plan looked like a more chilled day at Lakenheath to capture both the A-4 on taxi to RW24 and landing onto 24, these would give me the chance to get as close as possible to them.

The afternoon before my day out at the fence I begin my usual routine prior to a day at the fence, I have a checklist of everything I need to do and have ready for the morning (this is where the Army in me comes out). Firstly, I get together the clothes I will change into in the morning and neatly pile them by my bed side ready to quickly grab in the morning so not to wake the wife and kids up, secondly is the spare and emergency clothes which go straight into the car to save time in the morning. My next point of preparation is my gear, my mono pod is loaded into the car before moving onto my cameras and hard case. I ensure all my batteries and power banks are charged, my lenses and camera are all secure and packed and my memory card for the day Is working well with a back-up in place. Once this check is complete my hard case is moved downstairs ready to pack in the car. Moving onto the evening I’m packing my food and drink into my cooler bag, I will always ensure I have enough food and drink with me as I really don’t want to waste fence time going to the shop, knowing my luck id miss something amazing if I left.

A new addition to my routine is now preparing my laptop, I now take this with as I’ve found I can upload and process my images throughout the day during the lull periods. This allows me to get a good head start on the processing and helps me keep on top of my editing.

Now it’s time to relax with only one more thing to do post 20:00, check the forums and groups once again…and now my plans are changing last minute! With the update of the newly upgraded and reworked Constant Phoenix WC-135R coming into Mildenhall at 09:00 this scuppers the initial plan. Additionally, the Combat Sent is going out on a mission which gives me the Opportunity to get the close ups from Johns field on arrival that I wanted. The head on with those shark teeth surround the front sensors in my head framed perfectly.

So now I had to formulate as best of a plan as possible, looking at the timings of each ETA and ETD for the A-4, Constant Phoenix and Combat Sent I could just make it work to catch all 3 and get the shots I want. Mildenhall first thing, then across to Lakenheath for the A-4 departure and arrival and then back to Mildenhall for the Combat Sent. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly on edge as with no other time to catch these and with the new WC-135 eluding me and being so rare I had to nail this.

The morning arrives and the Journey to Mildenhall was flawless, no traffic or accidents just a calm morning drive with a coffee and heart radio. Arriving at John’s field I could see OLIVE36 tracking and inbound, what a moment of relief and excitement this was for me. I loaded my ladders onto the trailer, took my test shots and amended my settings. She arrived in the most beautiful morning sunlight and glistened in the light like a brand-new sports car. This moment was exceptional with only the sound of her engines purring and the light autumn breeze in the air, as she moved round to the far HAS’s I had no time to lose and had to get to Lakenheath for the A-4.

I arrived at Lakenheath with plenty of time to spare so I used the opportunity (While still tracking the A-4) to get some nice Eagle and F-35 taxi shots. As the A-4 approached onto its return leg I took a walk around to the forest entrance side to get the shots I wanted, as the Cold War jet howled back into RW24 in a beautifully blue and cool sky I hammered my camera to achieve the shots I desired. 2 out 4 shots now achieved.

I stayed over this side to capture the inbound Eagles as well while I awaited the A-4 to pop back out for the afternoon sortie, I’ll never waste an opportunity with the Eagles.

45 minutes had passed and I took to moving back over to the viewing area side, I could hear the F-35s firing up so I knew it was time to get into position. The last chances are now littered with Eagles and F-35’s, launches and quick climbs by the dozen and the A-4 starts to roll out. As the iron beast slowly rolls onto the piano keys of RW24, the sun peppers the A-4 gloriously as she slowly twists into a launch position as if time was in slow motion. A slight fist pump to myself and that’s now 3 out 4 desired shots achieved, now back to Mildenhall for the final shots.

I arrive back at John’s field and load my ladders back onto the trailer, re check my camera and settings and wait. With the Combat Sent still not tracking I used the time to capture the Mildenhall based assets taking part in training and NATO sorties. KC-135’s and MC-130J’s and RC-135s pound the tarmac with pattern work and landings as we wait. Time passes and we get closer and closer to 16:00 (the time I had to leave to be back to do dinner for the family). The tail between my legs message was sent to the wife letting her know why I wouldn’t make it home for dinner, fortunately for me she was in a good mood and didn’t mind.

As the Combat Sent tracked over Norfolk, I eagerly moved onto the viewing trailer, Camera set and my iPhone added to the mount to capture the moment both in still and video. As I stood waiting and chatting to a fellow enthusiast, another car comes down the track to come into John’s field “just in time for the sent” me and the others on the trailer mention to each other.

A young man comes up onto the trailer and says Hi to everyone with a distinct American accent, this isn’t out of the Norm as there are plenty of aviation enthusiast and photographers who work on the bases that come to Johns Field to capture some of the rare birds that drop in. I offer him the use of my ladders as it looked like he was trying to get a shot of the Ospreys through the wire but he politely declines and says that he is waiting for something more special. A conversation immediate sparks about the Combat Sent, how awesome it is, how rare they are, how stunning they look and how the shark teeth make that front sensor profile even more prolific etc and I even show him a few of the shots I have captured of the sent in the last few weeks. The conversation sharply ends as the RC-135U we had been waiting for descends on the approach and elegantly makes it way down the runway. The clicking of shutters on rapid and the purr of the engines ring in the air as the RC turns into the taxi way giving us a stunning head on/ close up opportunity. As the Combat Sent moves into the far hard stands out of sight the area descends into a quietness as we each grin like Cheshire cats while briefly checking over our shots.

That is now the 4 out of 4 shots achieved. As I switch my camera off ready to pack up and head home for dinner the American gentleman walks up to myself and another spotter on the trailer and hands us each a RC-135U patch! With My jaw dropped and that moment of speechlessness passing I go on to thank him, he then proceeds to pass us another patch for the 45^th recon squadron! Again, absolutely flabbergasted by this generosity I proceed to thank him. He then proceeds to tell us that he is the other lead pilot for the combat sent here for this deployment and is on his day off. He also proceeded to thank us for our interested in the Combat Sent and the 45^th RS and that he also sees all the pictures that are posted online by the spotter community! By this point I was a bit star struck and in complete admiration, The Combat sent is a family favourite in my household and especially by my daughter. As a final gesture of my gratefulness, I asked if he has an email address which I can send all of my captures of the combat sent at Mildenhall during this deployment to, and I tell him just how much he has made my week and how crazy my kids are going to be with happiness when I tell them who I met today and what I was given.

It’s moments like this in aviation that I will forever treasure and cherish, after an already very successful day at the fences this was the jackpot ending. I never thought I’d ever own any Combat Sent patches or meet any of the crew’s purely due to the rarity of the bird and the secrecy of their roles. As I made it onto the A14 home I made the phone call to the wife, she put me on loudspeaker so I could explain to the children what happened with all 3 of them screaming with happiness down the phone and excitement to see the patches.

The extremely kind gesture of this airman made an incredible impact on not only 2 spotters on the trailer but to 3 young children.

My initial calm and chilled day at the fence which rapidly changed to chasing white tops and Skyhawks turned out to be one of the best moments of my aviation year. This is why I love this hobby and this is moments like this drive me to succeed with my relentless pursuit.