The mix of aircraft at Mildenhall back then was wild. You could catch a tanker launch and an SR-71 movement in the same day if your timing was lucky enough.
The planes from these years like the B-1 seemed to have a darker color and it was distinctive. I assume what they use now is better?
Anyway, the A-10s live in my city and we’re grateful they’re relatively quiet. I fucking love seeing them. The J-35s are extremely loud and shit for close air support. No city wants them and losing our beloved hogs is going to be terrible.
I luckily live and work under an approach and see F-15s daily. I fucking love it, hearing the r2d2 *weep* *woops* as they adjust the throttle just tickles me. Plus the roar when they takeoff over this direction! Love it.
I don’t really hear our hogs and when I once in a while hear loud aircraft I get so spooked because it feels like crazy shit could go down at any moment. Rawr.
I was stationed at Beale AFB, CA in the late 1980s as a boom operator on KC-135Q models supporting the SR-71 program. Every time the Blackbird departed it set off all the car alarms on the base. I deployed a number of times to Mildenhall supporting the mission there. I very much enjoyed my time there--nice people.
I lived at Lakenheath and Mildenhall as a kid (dad was an aircraft electrician at Mildenhall) from 1975 to 1977.
I can see 10 year old me on my bike watching those guys land and leave.
The SR-71 departure and arrival were classified, but dad would call home and say "be at the flightline at 2:30 pm." We'd peddle out to where we could see the whole runway.
He didn't know the official time, but he knew that when they closed the airspace for an hour that meant the Blackbird would be arriving/leaving at the 30 minute.mark.
Sorry my bad, I was a big 11-12 year old. I got into pubs at 12 when I was there. I didn't drink but just played the 10 pence video games. The owner of one pub was an old Spitfire pilot and was like a god to me.
I've heard that some security type removed an airfield on an exercise area for "Security". A tank company on exercise soon wrecked the surface because their maps didn't show any airfield they should avoid.
Similar story with a radio tower- a bunch of lost soldiers trying to take a bearing off something the map said wasn't there because security reasons
I had Commissary privileges at Beale. We always made a point of driving as close to the Blackbird’s end of the base as we could get. Every blue vehicle we saw had someone standing beside it with field-glasses on us.
My dad was doing quite a bit of building work in the Thetford area with my uncle in the 80's and they tell me stories about hearing these coming over.
Always listen in envy as it's my favourite and never got to see one in the air.
This is why film has never really gone away. If you have good film and a good scanner, you can easily capture small details that even high end digital sensors can't.
If you have good film and a good scanner, you can easily capture small details that even high end digital sensors can't.Â
Not true at all anymore.
Where film is actually still better is exposure latitude. To use an example, NASA still uses film for high speed colour footage of its SLS rocket for this reason. They can pick up much more detail that on a digital camera would otherwise be wildly over or under exposed.
I was TDY to RAF Mildenhall in 1983, around the time these pics were taken. I was assigned from a MAC unit in Germany at the time, working on a VC135. The SAC guys and the SR71 were in the next hangar over from us. A couple of us asked if we could go in and take a look at one of their aircraft that was in the hangar at the time. They obliged and brought us in for a close up look at one of the most amazing airplanes ever built.
We were only allowed to look around at the outside of the aircraft, but I'll never forget how blown-away we all were by getting that up-close, sneak-peek at the Blackbird.
It was a long time ago in southern California. Early 90s. I went to an airshow with my dad and I saw Chuck Yeager Speak. An SR71 did a flyby and I saw a red Mig 15. It was pretty much the coolest shit I've ever seen and it made me fall in love with aviation. Is there any chance anyone knows what airshow this was? Sorry it is vague - I was a kid.
Visited my brother there while I was stationed in Naples in the late 80’s, since he was an SP he got me down to visit the cockpit of an SR-71. Line truck came by and said one was going to be taking off shortly so we bolted off base and watched. Great memories.
Loved the air shows at Mildenhall, Budweiser ÂŁ1 hot dog ÂŁ1 and great planes. I remember going to the one where the SR71 would make its last appearance, 1987 I think, great days.
Was lucky enough to see this in the hangar thanks to a kid in our class who`s dad was a pilot, can vividly remember the smell of fuel and massive trays laying under the engines as the fuel oozed out, also remember the red shutters over the cockpit and the crew telling us the records it had broken.
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Accomplished-Salt797@reddit
X-Men are real🫢
Italiancan@reddit
The mix of aircraft at Mildenhall back then was wild. You could catch a tanker launch and an SR-71 movement in the same day if your timing was lucky enough.
dibronxer@reddit
ai karma farming
Weird_Alki@reddit (OP)
Photos were scanned from 43 year old SLIDES. People use all kinds of tools to clean up noise. Get a grip.
DogsOutTheWindow@reddit
How can you disrespect the fuckin blackbird with this AI shit?
Weird_Alki@reddit (OP)
Not my photos, not my slides, not my de noiser. You're mad at somebody but it ain't me lol
DogsOutTheWindow@reddit
I’m not mad, I’m disappointed, son.
Sixshot_@reddit
Noise is an inherent part of the medium these shots were taken on
dibronxer@reddit
either post the scanned originals or calibrate your ai enhancer but pls don’t post this frankenstein shit in a place full of aviators
Weird_Alki@reddit (OP)
lol the idea that you're in any sort of position to demand anything
dibronxer@reddit
peak ai hallucination
DogsOutTheWindow@reddit
Lmao this needs to be higher up, wtf! Been bamboozled once again.
Helpful-Arm7843@reddit
That’s pure Cold War vibes bet the sound of those engines shook every teacup in Suffolk.
Luci-Noir@reddit
The planes from these years like the B-1 seemed to have a darker color and it was distinctive. I assume what they use now is better?
Anyway, the A-10s live in my city and we’re grateful they’re relatively quiet. I fucking love seeing them. The J-35s are extremely loud and shit for close air support. No city wants them and losing our beloved hogs is going to be terrible.
(Sorry for trauma dump)
ArkansasCigarette@reddit
I luckily live and work under an approach and see F-15s daily. I fucking love it, hearing the r2d2 *weep* *woops* as they adjust the throttle just tickles me. Plus the roar when they takeoff over this direction! Love it.
superspeck@reddit
Yeah, I worked at the east end of KPDX right around 9/11.
Luci-Noir@reddit
I don’t really hear our hogs and when I once in a while hear loud aircraft I get so spooked because it feels like crazy shit could go down at any moment. Rawr.
DietCherrySoda@reddit
F-35, presumably?
Luci-Noir@reddit
lol, yes. I don’t know why I said J-35…
keenly_disinterested@reddit
I was stationed at Beale AFB, CA in the late 1980s as a boom operator on KC-135Q models supporting the SR-71 program. Every time the Blackbird departed it set off all the car alarms on the base. I deployed a number of times to Mildenhall supporting the mission there. I very much enjoyed my time there--nice people.
doc_ocho@reddit
I lived at Lakenheath and Mildenhall as a kid (dad was an aircraft electrician at Mildenhall) from 1975 to 1977.
I can see 10 year old me on my bike watching those guys land and leave.
The SR-71 departure and arrival were classified, but dad would call home and say "be at the flightline at 2:30 pm." We'd peddle out to where we could see the whole runway.
He didn't know the official time, but he knew that when they closed the airspace for an hour that meant the Blackbird would be arriving/leaving at the 30 minute.mark.
Great memories. Great way to grow up.
greatlakesailors@reddit
Canadians were like that when the CF-105 Arrow was rolled out.
"This plane is going to outperform anything else around by a fair margin, isn't it supposed to be secret?"
"Of course it's secret, that's why only HALF the town is mobbing the apron for the roll-out."
BamBamBob@reddit
Bentwaters/Woodbridge here.
doc_ocho@reddit
We played BW in the all-star tournament (11-12 year olds).
BW knocked us into the loser bracket and we played our way back to the finals.
Won the first game to force the winner take all game.
BW took it all... They had a kid who I swear was 6 feet tall and threw a baseball 175 mph. Only time in my life I was scared at the plate.
BamBamBob@reddit
Sorry my bad, I was a big 11-12 year old. I got into pubs at 12 when I was there. I didn't drink but just played the 10 pence video games. The owner of one pub was an old Spitfire pilot and was like a god to me.
No_One_Special_61029@reddit
Was at Mildenhall... we would drive over to Bentwaters to hit the club every now and then! Great times!
21five@reddit
Worth pointing out that Post Office Tower in Central London was classified until 1993, and didn’t even appear on maps until the mid-1990s. The British love their “secrets”. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/21/tv-terrorists-and-strawberries-all-year-round-the-story-of-londons-bt-tower
rambyprep@reddit
RAF Brize Norton doesn’t show up on Google maps (until you go on satellite view)
b_e_a_n_i_e@reddit
That's so bizarre. I just checked Leuchars and Lossie as well they're the same!
MandolinMagi@reddit
I've heard that some security type removed an airfield on an exercise area for "Security". A tank company on exercise soon wrecked the surface because their maps didn't show any airfield they should avoid.
Similar story with a radio tower- a bunch of lost soldiers trying to take a bearing off something the map said wasn't there because security reasons
vleight@reddit
SR-71..... my favourite plane...
E_E-Lightning@reddit
Went to a few Mildenhall airshows in the 80's, great airshow but getting out was a bit of a problem.
At the 1988 Mildenhall Airshow saw the English Electric Lightning & Vulcan do it's thing.
gislinghom54@reddit
I had Commissary privileges at Beale. We always made a point of driving as close to the Blackbird’s end of the base as we could get. Every blue vehicle we saw had someone standing beside it with field-glasses on us.
_toenail@reddit
My dad was doing quite a bit of building work in the Thetford area with my uncle in the 80's and they tell me stories about hearing these coming over. Always listen in envy as it's my favourite and never got to see one in the air.
JWE25@reddit
Picture quality is so good I thought these pics were taken recently
Wheekie@reddit
This is why film has never really gone away. If you have good film and a good scanner, you can easily capture small details that even high end digital sensors can't.
Sixshot_@reddit
Not true at all anymore.
Where film is actually still better is exposure latitude. To use an example, NASA still uses film for high speed colour footage of its SLS rocket for this reason. They can pick up much more detail that on a digital camera would otherwise be wildly over or under exposed.
SexySmexxy@reddit
sr71 comes out to play and suddenly the 1983 pics have 2020 quality :)
something tells me these pics werent candid
hangun61@reddit
I was TDY to RAF Mildenhall in 1983, around the time these pics were taken. I was assigned from a MAC unit in Germany at the time, working on a VC135. The SAC guys and the SR71 were in the next hangar over from us. A couple of us asked if we could go in and take a look at one of their aircraft that was in the hangar at the time. They obliged and brought us in for a close up look at one of the most amazing airplanes ever built.
We were only allowed to look around at the outside of the aircraft, but I'll never forget how blown-away we all were by getting that up-close, sneak-peek at the Blackbird.
Imaginary_Grade_1716@reddit
225-Mriya?
Weird_Alki@reddit (OP)
Yes, with US AIR FORCE painted on the side
T_Ricstar@reddit
Sick 🔥
Doogers7@reddit
Why do I feel the need to boop snoopy at pic 5?
AerographerSkate@reddit
Haha right? Reminds me of Dug the talking dog from the movie Up!
PowerOfEternity@reddit
The shnoz on that thing. Paint scheme probably exaggerates it.
aa2051@reddit
Right? I know radomes used to be black due to materials used back then. But the black nose is enormous! There’s no way that isn’t just paint
BassKitty305017@reddit
Yeah, somehow the C5 looks even bigger when it’s not uniform gray
SchlopFlopper@reddit
Probably looks more distinct from the C-17s
DroidLord@reddit
Jump scare!
MonsieurLartiste@reddit
What a fucking plane.
And the Blackbird is pretty nice too.
aa2051@reddit
Can’t believe the blackbird photobombed the C5 in the first photo smh.
Wingthor@reddit
Damn that Rivet Joint has been working out.
Spacebotzero@reddit
Incredible photos. I can feel these photos.
saint_david@reddit
Same. Different world, different mindset.
ScarHand69@reddit
Both of those planes definitely spent some time flying around SE Asia in the 70’s
not_so_subtle_now@reddit
It was a long time ago in southern California. Early 90s. I went to an airshow with my dad and I saw Chuck Yeager Speak. An SR71 did a flyby and I saw a red Mig 15. It was pretty much the coolest shit I've ever seen and it made me fall in love with aviation. Is there any chance anyone knows what airshow this was? Sorry it is vague - I was a kid.
TXWayne@reddit
Visited my brother there while I was stationed in Naples in the late 80’s, since he was an SP he got me down to visit the cockpit of an SR-71. Line truck came by and said one was going to be taking off shortly so we bolted off base and watched. Great memories.
wggn@reddit
it's been 2 hours, where's the SR-71 copy pasta
the_silent_redditor@reddit
Fast.
Tower: faster
Plane: fastest
Part II: story about slowest
Everyone đź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Ź
Tuxpc@reddit
Sled Driver. Is that enough to trigger it?
Landscape4737@reddit
The only SR71 outside of the US today is in Duxford, which is down the road from Mildenhall.
Own_Ad6797@reddit
Just realised that the C5 looks like Doug the dog from Up!!
Sivalon@reddit
“I have just met you, and I love you!”
Lordhartley@reddit
Loved the air shows at Mildenhall, Budweiser ÂŁ1 hot dog ÂŁ1 and great planes. I remember going to the one where the SR71 would make its last appearance, 1987 I think, great days.
StevieG63@reddit
I was at that one too. Went for several years in the 80s.
civilized_starfish@reddit
Fuck yeah
FanNo7840@reddit
this plane is still operate?
CasticSpunt@reddit
Was lucky enough to see this in the hangar thanks to a kid in our class who`s dad was a pilot, can vividly remember the smell of fuel and massive trays laying under the engines as the fuel oozed out, also remember the red shutters over the cockpit and the crew telling us the records it had broken.
No_One_Special_61029@reddit
Great pics man! I got stationed there in June 1990... a month after the Blackbird left! ugh!
AllHailTheWinslow@reddit
A few minutes earlier over Heidelberg: "BABOOM!"
Wheekie@reddit
boop the snoot
ketchup1345@reddit
Goofy nose ahhh
Excellent-Ad-8767@reddit
My old man worked those at Mildenhall, got to ride in his QA truck going out to those.
Father in law was at Alconbury working F-5s, at the same time.
And I went back to Lakenheath when I joined….
And the bird in hand is gone…….
post-explainer@reddit
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