The North Sea Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation range (ACMI), affectionately known by Military aircraft enthusiasts as the 'Showground', was opened by British Aerospace's owners in August 1990 at RASF Waddington.
By October 1990, we were beginning to realise that RAF Waddington, which served as the control centre for this operation, was quickly turning into a 'Mecca' for visiting air forces. Air forces from Europe and the UK, the British Navy, and the United States Air Force are among these.
The Belgian Air Force was the first to deploy in the second week of October 1990. They arrived with three F-16s; they flew missions alongside Tornado F3S drawn from the 229 OCU. Following the month's end, the Danish Air Force came with three F-35s and three F-16As. There were also free orientation flights to other European air arms.
With the Swiss Air Force arriving in mid-November 1990 for their first Nordseekampagne 90 (NORKA 90) exercise on the range, it was time to head North. I recently found the slides from that exercise, as well as many more from visits over the years.
It was a tedious four-hour drive from Dorset back then. No wonder I was on first-name terms with the owner at the local bed and breakfast.
I digress! Below are some of the many photos taken during those great years in no particular order. They include RAF Jaguars Tornado F3 and GR1s. French Mirage F1 and 2000s, Swiss F-5 and Mirage 111s, Austrian F35 Draken, German Air Force F-4F, and Spanish and Swiss F-18s. Some are from 'Nomad', a Belgian-inspired annual exercise utilising the 'Showground.' Many are from individual deployments. This is an introductory exercise for Nomad, alongside some of the separate European implementations, which also require their own reports.
Over the years, RAF Waddington has not been the only place that hosted aircraft while they deployed for training on the Showground. I have also found photographs of Dutch and Danish F-16s at RNAS Yeovilton.
Then, there were USAF F-15Cs at RAF Honnington whilst the Lakenheath runway was under repair.
RAF Conningsby hosted Danish F-16s alongside the RAF Tornado F-3 and German-based RAF Tornado GR1 aircraft. Everybody wanted time on the 'Showground'.
Below is a small collection of my great days at RAF Waddington in those 'Showground' years.
109/12-YI
Mirage 2000C EC.01.012 'Cambresis' Tiger Sqn heads the recovery back at RAF Waddington partnered by 19/2-EA Mirage 2000C from EC01.002 'Cigogne de Guynemer'.
RAF Waddington action at its best as they both recover to runway 20.
FA-109 and FA-89 F-16A BAF.
This photograph captures the high degree of action that was to be caught with the visiting air forces.
FA-106 F-16A BAF heads up FA-117/FA-114/FA-116/FA-85, a mixture from the 350th Squadron and 349th Squadron, Belgian air force.
XZ119/FG Jaguar GR1A 'Katrina Jane' 41 Sqn RAF.
ZE760/AP Tornado F3 229 OCU leads ZE288/GG Tornado F3 43 Sqn, XZ119 Jaguar GR1A 'Katrina Jane' 41 Sqn, and XZ399/02 Jaguar GR1A 226 OCU.
XX115/ER Jaguar GR1A 6 Sqn RAF.
ZE288/GG Tornado F3 43 Sqn and ZE760/AP Tornado F3 229 OCU RAF.
ZE858/A5 Tornado F3 43 Sqn RAF.
216/30-SG, 219/30-SL, 241/30-SA, and 259/30SH Mirage F.1s AdlA.
ZE204/DD Tornado F311 Sqnn RAF.
ZE760/P Tornado F3/P, its previous (A) is clearly scrubbed from the old (AP) code.
ZG774/GN Tornado F3 43Sqn RAF.
264/30-ML Mirage F.1CT "Normandie Niémen' EC02.030 AdlA from
Colmar.
231/30-SO Mirage F.1CT 'Canard Col Vert' AdlA.
15/30-FD Mirage F.1CT 'Chardon Lorraine' AdlA.
24/12-ZM Mirage F.1C 'Tête de Dogue' AdlA arrived at Waddington from its base at Cambrai in Northern France.
XZ455/717 Sea Harrier FRS.2 RN unmarked.
213/30-SR Mirage F-1CT ' Tête de Ranard' AdlA.
103/12-YN Mirage 2000C EC.01.012 AdlA.
Although the French Air Force had flown their Mirage F-1s for many years on North Sea ACMI missions with similar cold morning starts, this and the following photo captured those mornings we often witnessed at RAF Waddington. Thick frost is still on the wings and canopies, and the Sun has yet to rise fully.
118/12-KH Mirage 2000C EC.02.012 AdlA.
Another cold sunrise at RAF Waddington.
The Sun is up when the Belgian Air Force F-16s taxi in, but frost is still evident in the untreated taxiways.
FA-99 F-16A 1Squadron BAF from Florennes airbase.
Waiting for the AdlA Mirages to get airborne.
525/12-KN Mirage 2000B EC.02.012 AdlA.
Lands back at Waddington, the mission completed even before the Winter day's Sun is high in the sky.
FA-75 and FA-76 F-16A 349/350 Sqn BAF.
AdlA Mirage 2000C's and BAF F-16 aircraft are seen during a 'Nomad' exercise. Notice the scorched grass. We all had to duck down behind the boundary hedgerow as the jets powered to taxi. I can still smell the
JP-8 aviation fuel, the wash of heat, the roar, and the excitement tucked behind that hedge.
44/2EQ Mirage 2000C 01.002 'Cigogne' from Dijon/Longvic follows a BAF F-16 onto RAF Waddingtons' 02 old humped runway.
FB-23 F-16B from 1Squadron BAF recovering back to RAF Waddington following an ACMI mission.
56/5-AR, 57/5-AH and 46/? Mirage 2000C's from EC03.005. I imagine this was a Friday, as two AdlA C-130s can be seen behind them. They were 5150/61-PG and 5144/61-PF.
58/5-AK Mirage 2000C EC03.005. AldA.
The Mirage 2000s, 76/5-NP and 112/5-NB, kept us warm as they performed their final checks.
527/5-NO Mirage 2000B fast taxi to catch up.
512/2-FI Mirage 2000B lands back at Waddington on yet another ACMI visit.
FA-116 F-16A BAF has no option but to go around again due to heavy traffic on the runway.
J-3023 F-5E and J-3208 F-5F were seen during their first Nordseekampagne 90 (NORKA 90) exercise.
J-2313 Mirage 3S was seen landing on a later 'NORKA' exercise on a foggy Waddington morning.
J-2312 Mirage 3S landing on runway 02 at EGXW.
This aircraft was sold to the USA.
J-5021 F/A-18 Swiss Air Force on another miserable afternoon.
ZG756/AA Tornado GR1, the ACMI pod, is the opposite. In the early days, the aircraft would recover to RAF Waddington for data download and debriefing. This practice later changed, allowing many airliners to return to their home base for download and debriefing following their missions.
It was later sold to the Colombian military.
There were many support transport aircraft, so I kept them for another report.
C.15-26/15-13 EF/A-18A Hornet Ala15 EdA was deployed from its Zaragoza airbase.
C.15-3/15-72 EF/A-18B Ala 15 123 Esc.EdA.
Recovering after a 'Nomad' mission.
38+01 F-4F Phantom JG72 GAF.
05
J35D Draken 1 Staffel AustAF. Arriving from Zeltweg.
14 J 35D Draken 2 Staffel AustAF. Deployed from Gras-Thalerhof.
22J 35DD Draken 2 Staffel AustAF.
ZG504/75 Harrier GR.7 1 Sqn RAF.
After a long day, two Belgian F-16s landed as the Sunset.
If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you found it interesting. Any comments and corrections are always welcome.
