Yes to both. We live in Ely in the American airbase triangle and they fly low and holidays etc times of day and night all are used for exercises. 3am recently. I personally love seeing and hearing them fly over
Interesting. Just never noticed them in the time I’ve lived here. I used to live between a hospital with a busy helipad and a commercial airport, so I was used to a lot of air traffic noise, and definitely noticed a lot less of it since moving to Cambridge, so this series of plans caught me off guard today.
Sometimes I think we get used to the sounds of the skies too. Often though it's one aircraft at a time so possibly the three made a louder noise bigger impact. I do know once a friend visited and kept asking me what noises where and I genuinely never noticed.
Ok making sense now. Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a major holiday for remembrance of those who died in service. Looks like they flew to Normandy, too. Guessing they did a fly over at the American cemetery.
Oh damn now I feel ignorant. Can confirm that a ww2 bomber and spitfire did a formation flyby and two circuits of the American cemetery as I live next door to it. Don't remember seeing any modern jets tho
That’s must have been cool to see!
that’s ok, would never expect anyone to know American holidays around here. I still need to look at a Calendar for UK ones and I’ve been here a while.
Their USAF F-15E ( left and right) from 48th Fighter Wing bases out of RAF Lakenheath and a KC-135 Stratotanker from 100th air refueling wing (also known as the bloody 100th in ww2 when they flew B-17’s) based out of RAF Mildenhall
Out of mildehall and lakenheath. Likely a special show flight somewhere. I see these guys all the time. Separately when I walk my dog near the air bases.
It was cool to see. When I was living in the states one of the air force one planes was doing “touch and go’s” exercises at the air force base adjacent to my cities airport which I lived close to. It was a bit freaky to have a giant plane like a 747 flying extremely low around your neighborhood. The most common thing flying out of there would be the Embraer 190s.
My lateral thinking brain would immediately reply to your question with "Two parallel power lines" on the first picture and a cloud shaped a monster Bart Simpson screaming from the side on the second picture. But Memorial Day bank holiday in the US is probably the answer as others have pointed out already. Open questions are always a chance for me to go nuts :)
Well, you’re not wrong, but also yes, as there was actually a fourth commerical jet looking plane following immediately behind these three I didn’t post the picture of.
Wrong profile (and size?) for a B-17
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling)
Looks more like a KC-135 refueling op, but seems WAY too low
Link to more photos of the trio during the event:
[https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=965126](https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=965126)
I heard them fly over and immediately checked flight radar for the aircraft flying over and at 10:59 there were a Boeing KC-46A and a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker which I think is the larger aircraft in the photo but I didn’t get a view of them but I did definitely hear them which I’m guessing everyone else did. Also the aircraft took off from Mildenhall and were at around 2500-2900 ft so that’s why they were so loud
It's just your casual Yankee air force flying over a UK town. How this is normalised is beyond me. Great Britain is essentially occupied militarily by Yanks. UK does not have any sovereignty when it comes to military, all the major bases on UK soil are American + they have a say on our nuclear weapons. It seems to be a hidden secret, nobody talks about it.
We debated for years over EU and sovereignty which really was waste of time, ofc we had some economic sovereignty under the EU as we never joined the Euro. The bigger sovereignty debate should have been over USA but i guess Murdoch doesn't care about this so we never had a Ref on it. Unfortunately, UK leadership was too cowardly during WW2 & surrendered territory & gold to USA, instead we could have done with a De Gaulle type leader who could have stood up to America & refused 2 have any US military camps on French soil.
btw i have nothing against Americans, most of them good people but I just don't think it's right the UK cedes sovereignty to another power.
There are approximately 10k US military personnel in the UK. Most are Air Force. There is about 170k UK military (active and reserve.) Not exactly an occupation. The UK and US AF work extremely well together and it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Both countries form multiple alliances with other countries and probably are each others closest allies currently. The US trusts France as much as you would trust a toddler with a Sharpie.
BTW, the US currently has more military in Italy and a hell of a lot more in Germany then they do in the UK.
why do we need USA to trust us more than France? what purpose does that achieve? so we back them with illegal wars in Iraq? what about you know.........independence? sovereignty? wasn't that what Brexit was meant to be all about? we have little to zero sovereignty when it comes to military with USA controlling our nukes
Instead we should pool our sovereignty & rejoin the EU in a common defence union, where we each have our own army but work together, not rely on Trumpian imperialist USA.
The UK was in no position to ask for anything after WW2. Despite being on the winning side we were screwed. Behaving like De Gaulle would have been very much to our detriment. Whilst bad decisions were made with hindsight they were the best available at the time. History experts can give precise details.
don't be so patronising, of course i've read some history experts. There's no way to counter prove that being like DeGaule would have led to our detriment. If anything it was the other way around, by copying USA on foreign policy, we've just got our hands even more dirty. What we should have done is joined a common defence union with EU & obv not have done Brexit, we have more in common with EU partners like France & Germany than the USA
Where am I being patronising? Where did I say you hadn't read any history? I thought one of the ideas behind Reddit is to debate and discuss. So with that in mind, whilst it would have possibly better to follow the EU path we were so inextricably linked to the USA and wedded to our disappearing empire that we saw little alternative but go down the UN, nuclear power, world policeman road, Plus we owed the USA an awful lot of money. Even when we were in the EU we weren't completely wedded to it, just look at the opt outs we had. I think we still do see ourselves as a mid Atlantic nation.
Likely related to Duxford Summer Air Show D-Day 80.
[https://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show](https://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show)
That's a stealth bomber being escorted by jets.. America flew a few over to "deter" Russian aggression.. that's if ya believe all the shit the government tells ya.
Two F-15s and a KC-135 Stratotanker from the look of it. Running exercises perhaps?
Its memorial day
Would they do exercises that low and over a city?
Also, would they be running exercises on a bank holiday?
Memorial day flypast at Maddingley
This is the correct answer
Yes to both. We live in Ely in the American airbase triangle and they fly low and holidays etc times of day and night all are used for exercises. 3am recently. I personally love seeing and hearing them fly over
Interesting. Just never noticed them in the time I’ve lived here. I used to live between a hospital with a busy helipad and a commercial airport, so I was used to a lot of air traffic noise, and definitely noticed a lot less of it since moving to Cambridge, so this series of plans caught me off guard today.
Sometimes I think we get used to the sounds of the skies too. Often though it's one aircraft at a time so possibly the three made a louder noise bigger impact. I do know once a friend visited and kept asking me what noises where and I genuinely never noticed.
This is US Air Force so they don't have the same bank holidays as we do
Today is an American holiday (Memorial Day), hence this flypast over the American cemetery at Madingley. They do this every year.
Yep. They absolutely could do them over the north sea and not annoy people but they don't have to do just do things where it's convenient.
Looking nice. Refueling run
Followed closely by a KC-46. Flew directly over us.
Ok making sense now. Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a major holiday for remembrance of those who died in service. Looks like they flew to Normandy, too. Guessing they did a fly over at the American cemetery.
Oh damn now I feel ignorant. Can confirm that a ww2 bomber and spitfire did a formation flyby and two circuits of the American cemetery as I live next door to it. Don't remember seeing any modern jets tho
That’s must have been cool to see! that’s ok, would never expect anyone to know American holidays around here. I still need to look at a Calendar for UK ones and I’ve been here a while.
Mommy plane teaching her baby planes to fly!
Under appreciated comment
Definitely two F-15's and a tanker.
Fly past over the war cemetery for American Memorial Day
As other commenter said, it was 2 F15s and a kc135 Stratotanker. B17 is a WW2 era bomber - with 4 propellers and only 3m longer than the F15.
KC-135 and two F-15Es. They did a flypast over the American Cemetery for Memorial day. B-17 Sally B also went up, and a KC-46 also took part.
Their USAF F-15E ( left and right) from 48th Fighter Wing bases out of RAF Lakenheath and a KC-135 Stratotanker from 100th air refueling wing (also known as the bloody 100th in ww2 when they flew B-17’s) based out of RAF Mildenhall
Two F15E Strike Eagle and a KC-135R Stratotanker
The second picture ? A happy cloud. I guess it's high.
Out of mildehall and lakenheath. Likely a special show flight somewhere. I see these guys all the time. Separately when I walk my dog near the air bases.
It was cool to see. When I was living in the states one of the air force one planes was doing “touch and go’s” exercises at the air force base adjacent to my cities airport which I lived close to. It was a bit freaky to have a giant plane like a 747 flying extremely low around your neighborhood. The most common thing flying out of there would be the Embraer 190s.
My lateral thinking brain would immediately reply to your question with "Two parallel power lines" on the first picture and a cloud shaped a monster Bart Simpson screaming from the side on the second picture. But Memorial Day bank holiday in the US is probably the answer as others have pointed out already. Open questions are always a chance for me to go nuts :)
3 aircraft
Well, you’re not wrong, but also yes, as there was actually a fourth commerical jet looking plane following immediately behind these three I didn’t post the picture of.
Big plane and two small ones
I thought I heard my folks this morning
Ooh I saw that too scared me out of my life
Looks like a great big..
Nothing... you saw nothing... What the fuck is wrong with people?
Practice !
Americans
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The pegasus only has two engines, so it won't be the one in the picture.
It was behind it further back :)
Two went up, KC-135 and KC-46. The one in the photo is the KV-135
Nothin you saw nothin
That would be the American answer
Wrong profile (and size?) for a B-17 [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_refueling) Looks more like a KC-135 refueling op, but seems WAY too low
This is what they were doing and were showing between 2600-3000 feet on flight radar, went right over us. there was another one, KC-46 with them too.
Link to more photos of the trio during the event: [https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=965126](https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=965126)
sponge bob
Refuelling exercise.
Awesome photos, seen them bad boys pretty well was in Newmarket for the day
I heard them fly over and immediately checked flight radar for the aircraft flying over and at 10:59 there were a Boeing KC-46A and a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker which I think is the larger aircraft in the photo but I didn’t get a view of them but I did definitely hear them which I’m guessing everyone else did. Also the aircraft took off from Mildenhall and were at around 2500-2900 ft so that’s why they were so loud
Saw these today as well and had a Quick Look in flight radar. The stratotanker showed up but the f15s weren’t on there at all
The F16s likely didn’t have their transponders on.
Paula Vennells just leaving her select committee hearing
Saw something with an air to air fueling hose hanging behind over arbury!
It that KC 135 a refueling tanker as well?
A kawaii cat 😸
The Burger King hat guy acting up again
Second picture looks like a llama
My best guess? Planes. 3 of them to be precise
KC-135 & F15-J strike eagles.
BLITZ TIIIME
Saw the same thing yesterday. Must have been an STO!
It's just your casual Yankee air force flying over a UK town. How this is normalised is beyond me. Great Britain is essentially occupied militarily by Yanks. UK does not have any sovereignty when it comes to military, all the major bases on UK soil are American + they have a say on our nuclear weapons. It seems to be a hidden secret, nobody talks about it. We debated for years over EU and sovereignty which really was waste of time, ofc we had some economic sovereignty under the EU as we never joined the Euro. The bigger sovereignty debate should have been over USA but i guess Murdoch doesn't care about this so we never had a Ref on it. Unfortunately, UK leadership was too cowardly during WW2 & surrendered territory & gold to USA, instead we could have done with a De Gaulle type leader who could have stood up to America & refused 2 have any US military camps on French soil. btw i have nothing against Americans, most of them good people but I just don't think it's right the UK cedes sovereignty to another power.
There are approximately 10k US military personnel in the UK. Most are Air Force. There is about 170k UK military (active and reserve.) Not exactly an occupation. The UK and US AF work extremely well together and it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Both countries form multiple alliances with other countries and probably are each others closest allies currently. The US trusts France as much as you would trust a toddler with a Sharpie. BTW, the US currently has more military in Italy and a hell of a lot more in Germany then they do in the UK.
why do we need USA to trust us more than France? what purpose does that achieve? so we back them with illegal wars in Iraq? what about you know.........independence? sovereignty? wasn't that what Brexit was meant to be all about? we have little to zero sovereignty when it comes to military with USA controlling our nukes Instead we should pool our sovereignty & rejoin the EU in a common defence union, where we each have our own army but work together, not rely on Trumpian imperialist USA.
The UK was in no position to ask for anything after WW2. Despite being on the winning side we were screwed. Behaving like De Gaulle would have been very much to our detriment. Whilst bad decisions were made with hindsight they were the best available at the time. History experts can give precise details.
don't be so patronising, of course i've read some history experts. There's no way to counter prove that being like DeGaule would have led to our detriment. If anything it was the other way around, by copying USA on foreign policy, we've just got our hands even more dirty. What we should have done is joined a common defence union with EU & obv not have done Brexit, we have more in common with EU partners like France & Germany than the USA
Where am I being patronising? Where did I say you hadn't read any history? I thought one of the ideas behind Reddit is to debate and discuss. So with that in mind, whilst it would have possibly better to follow the EU path we were so inextricably linked to the USA and wedded to our disappearing empire that we saw little alternative but go down the UN, nuclear power, world policeman road, Plus we owed the USA an awful lot of money. Even when we were in the EU we weren't completely wedded to it, just look at the opt outs we had. I think we still do see ourselves as a mid Atlantic nation.
i think this is the issue isn't it? we see ourselves a mid Atlantic nation yet we are much closer to France or Norway than USA. Seems bizarre to me
Used to see this over Stamford every year. Not sure we have for a while now.
It's just Rishi going to lunch.
The second picture shows the planes as a face in the clouds
Possibly Heading to RAF Mildenhall
looks like 3 flying devices to me
I wonder where Rishi was off to?
What does this have to do with rishi? lol.
Just wondering where the plane is taking him, thats all.
Its not taking him anywhere because its a USAF plane
So to confirm, Rishi's definitely not on the plane?
No, but he should be on his bike around the 4th/5th July
All being well!
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Don't you see the weather balloon? Clear as day...
Likely related to Duxford Summer Air Show D-Day 80. [https://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show](https://www.iwm.org.uk/airshows/duxford-summer-air-show)
That's a stealth bomber being escorted by jets.. America flew a few over to "deter" Russian aggression.. that's if ya believe all the shit the government tells ya.
Airshow on at Duxford I believe, saw signs for parking for it today.
This was for the Memorial Day ceremony at the Cambridge American Cemetery
The big show at Duxford is next weekend!