48th Fighter Wing in action

USAFE aircraft based at RAF Lakenheath train all year round in all weathers. Alan Kenny was there on December 3rd.

RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk is a busy base. It is home to the 48th Fighter Wing which consists of four flying squadrons. They are the 56th Rescue Squadron (56 RQS) operating the HH-60G PAVE Hawk Combat Search and Rescue helicopter, the 492nd Fighter Squadron (492 FS) with the F-15E Strike Eagle, 493rd Fighter Squadron (493 FS) with the F-15C/D Eagle and 494th Fighter Squadron (494 FS) with the F-15E Strike Eagle. It is quite rare to get a completely quiet day at the base as there is usually aircraft up, even if only a couple.

Some aircraft from the 492th FS are currently out in Israel for exercise Blue Flag, so the base squadron wasn’t at its full complement of Strike Eagles. However, it was still busy with multiple launches of F-15s from the remaining 492nd FS, along with 494nd FS and 493rd FS. A HH-60G PAVE Hawk from 56 RQS was busy performing approaches and hovers.

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