Was some time in the 80s when blackbirds flew from the UK. Alconbury I believe? Must have been semi regular for the local jag drivers to form up on them in the pattern…
possible problem with the blackbird and an escort home… just speculating
Alconbury was F-5’s and A-10’s in the 80’s, I used to go to the open day there, last one I went to was ‘89. Ice cold beer and amazing bbq, with lots of Cold War iron flying round. I wish I had the camera I have now back then.
Fairford used to have the US spy stuff, U2’s etc for a while, mostly around desert storm. Not sure about the blackbird.
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I would not like to be responsible for conducting the Hot Section Inspections on those engines. 
Those things look so weird. You see the wings and think “glider” and then you see the rest and you are like “wait…”
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“Starfighter”
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Haha, yeah, it kinda looks like this:
- elongated fuselage of a F-104
- nose and tail of a Cessna 414
- glider wings, but larger
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Just wait to you see one fly in person, cause it may look like a glider but it sounds like a fighter jet lol
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They climb out like they are frightened of the ground as well
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No wonder, they have tons of lift.
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These ones look like my Kerbal Space Program contraptions for science collection…
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Here’s a puzzling picture… is that a Mk 77 napalm canister on the right inboard station? I haven’t been able to dig up any other info, the picture came up randomly on a different search and caught my attention…
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Our baggage pods were Mk-77s with nose and tail cones added.
So maybe gear/baggage pod? The fact that they painted it makes me think that it wasn’t meant to be dropped…I think the originals were unpainted.
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