WAVE at Waddington - No 8 / 23 Squadrons - E3D AWACS
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WAVE at Waddington - No 8 / 23 Squadrons - E3D AWACS |
| For several years, Waddington was home to Vulcan Bombers, but with their phase out from service, the sole based aircraft were the Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft of 51 Squadron. The purchase of the E-3D AWACS from the US and the opening of the North Sea Air Combat Range brought a new lease of life to this base. |  |
| Waddington also plays host to many foreign air arm visitors each year, the regulars such as the Dutch, Belgian and German, and the rarer visitors such as the Swedes, Austrians and Swiss fighters that come to stay for days or weeks at a time, while they practice the art of dogfighting using the BAe Combat Range in the North Sea. | |
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Visitors
to the base in recent years have increased, to the extent that the RAF
has paid to convert an old panhandle hard standing from the redundant wartime
section of the airfield into a dedicated enthusiasts area & car park
known as the WAVE - Waddington Aircraft Viewing Enclosure. There is a shop,
snack bar and toilets! For anyone whose interested, they cook a great bacon
buttie!
This has made things much better for us enthusiasts, all we need now
is the A15 closing to HGVs!
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| On our visit to 8 Squadron, we walked around the ramp and the two aircraft there, of which we were allowed to walk through ‘05’. While this was going on '06' came back in from a training flight, during which they had flown some circuits at our 'home' - Teesside Airport! Several friends rang me up boasting that they had seen an AWACS at Teesside. When we told them we were on the ramp at Waddington when it landed back their comments were generally unprintable! | |
| 25/02/03 | |
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