Cobra Warrior 24-2 is a large multinational exercise organised by the RAF usually twice a year in March and September but was cancelled in sprint with no formal reason given. Multiple RAF bases across the UK are involved but the Air and Space Warfare centre at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire directs the exercise and also hosts the majority of the visiting overseas squadrons. For Cobra Warrior 24-2 the Canadian, Finnish and Polish Air Forces all deployed to RAF Waddington with USAFE’s 555 Triple Nickel Fighter Squadron deploying to RAF Mildenhall and the Norwegian F-35’s from 332 Squadron deploying to RAF Lakenheath.
Additional USAF and RAF units flew from RAF Lakenheath, Coningsby and Leeming as well as tanker support from RAF Brize Norton and red air support from Draken based at Teeside airport. The exercise runs for 3 weeks from the 16th September with the visiting squadrons arriving a week or so before to settle in and fly familiarisation sorties.
For the first day of the exercise I joined the masses at the 20 end of the runway, parking in the Waddington Aviation Viewing Enclosure and grabbing a spot along the hedge overlooking at taxiway. Sadly with winds blowing from the east we were left with very high departures from the Polish and Finnish Air Force and taxi back shots as the light moved down the runway.
For the rest of the week I decided to position myself down at the 02 end of the runway which not only gave fantastic taxiing out and landing shots throughout the day but also gave a close up view of the Finnish pan with plenty of activity as the jets are readied for the next mission. The Finnish ground crew also provided a great spectacle with their formation cycling activities having brought over a batch of bikes to save walking out to the aircraft from the mess area. With a couple of exceptions it seemed the pilots were too cool to participle in any cycling activities.
The atmosphere at the 02 end was fantastic with plenty of parking in the southern layby on the B1178 meaning an early arrival wasn’t needed. The local farmer had kindly cut back the hedge to allow easier access along the fence line from the crash gate and even called in on Tuesday morning to cut along the fence line to save people from the wet morning grass. The downside of that end is a longer walk than at the other end but only a small 3 or 4 step ladder is needed so the very heavy Telesteps used at the 20 fence line could be left at home.
The first two weeks of Cobra Warrior 24-2 are day time air combat sorties with aircraft departing between 10-11am and arriving back 1-2pm with the Canadians out for the longest time carrying three additional fuel tanks and the Poles out the shortest amount of time. Additional sorties are flown in the afternoon usually between 3-6pm which are additional air combat exercises, the odd use of Holbeach range and extensive (especially in the case of the Polish Air Force pilots) use of the Mach loop for low level practise.
The final week of the exercise sees limited afternoon sorties with the main exercise flying happening after dark from 20:30 until just after midnight to allow pilots to train during darkness.
The Royal Canadian Air Force deployed 8 CF-188’s from 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron based at Cold Lake Alberta, Canada with the following serials.
188763, 188770, 188742, 188759, 188783, 188796, 188782,188758
using the callsigns Hitman and Murder
The 6 Polish F-16s from the 3rd Tactical Squadron (known as 3.ELT – 3 Eskadra Lotnictwa Taktycznego in Poland) are based at Poznań, Poland with the serials 4045, 4060, 4061, 4043, 4044 and 4050 which features a special scheme celebrating the WWII Polish squadron based at Duxford and used callsigns Raven and Viper.
The Finnish Air Force deployed 6 F/A-18s from Fighter Squadron 11 from Rovaniemi, Lapland and always used the callsign BISON.
HN-417, HN-419, HN-434, HN-446, HN-452, HN-457
Additionally the Royal Canadian Air Force deployed their C-130HT Hercules 130339 as a tactical tanker but this suffered a bird strike on landing on the Friday before the exercise started and had to sit out the first week of the exercise until a new leading edge was delivered from Canada to repair the damage. It flew under the callsign Oiler although maybe Buzzard may have been more approrpriate.
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