RAF Lossiemouth - Exercise Joint Warrior

[Latinbear]

For some time I have been tempted to make the trek to Lossiemouth when Exercise Joint Warrior is on. When a good friend of mine pointed out that Timeline Events https://www.timelineevents.org/  were organising two consecutive days on base during this April/May's exercise then the opportunity was too good to pass up.

 

We were hosted by No. 2 Squadron in the mornings enabling us to see the their Typhoons being pulled out of the hardened shelters, followed by pre-flight checks and then taxying out for take-off and return. Owing to poor weather on day one the hot refuelling plan was abandoned but took place on day two. 

 

In the afternoon it was over to the apron where the MPAs were located. There were two P8 Poseidons, a CP140 Aurora, a French Atlantique and a Norwegian Orion in residence. 

 

I arrived the morning before our time on base and spent the day at the end of the runway 23 at the north end of the base. Suffice to say the viewing opportunities are superb which I hope some of the images convey. No stepladders are needed. Talking to a local, he told me that this was the quietest Joint Warrior he had seen in years and I think that was reflected in the small number of foreign participants. I have read that there is no JW this October but the staff on base told me that is not necessarily the case. 

 

Apparently this was the first event of this kind Lossiemouth has done with the planning having taken nearly a year. It seemed to go sufficiently well that there were hints of holding another one this October perhaps with a night shoot element. Despite 50 of us on each day everybody was courteous and there was none of the aggressive jockeying for position or selfishness that is sometimes encountered at this type of event. 

 

A huge thank you to the personnel of 2 Squadron and RAF Lossiemouth for a very enjoyable two days.

 

1. The squadron crest on their building. 

 

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3. Aircraft are pooled hence the markings don't necessarily reflect the operator. 

 

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5. BAe commuter. 

 

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10. I haven't shown it in any photos here but No. 1 Squadron's apron is left of this shot and the aircraft taxy round in front of you. 

 

11. It's a little like St Maarten in the Caribbean when the pilot revs up the engines. 

 

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14. See the parent and the children bottom right. 

 

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16. A golf course lies right beneath the flight path. 

 

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19. This pilot is a USMC major. 

 

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23. I've included this shot to illustrate what great access we had. Ear defenders and high viz jackets were mandatory. 

 

24. Two fire engines were deployed for the three aircraft involved in the hot refuelling. 

 

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35. Don't be fooled by the blue sky. Most of the time it was wet or cold and windy.

 

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39. The CP140 had declared an emergency hence three fire engines and an ambulance chasing it down the runway as it landed. We didn't find out what the issue was. 

 

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That's it, thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Des]

5 minutes ago, Latinbear said:

Apparently this was the first event of this kind Lossiemouth has done ......

 

 

Excellent photos and glad that the event worked out well for you.

 

This is perhaps the first time that RAF Lossiemouth has outsourced the administration of such events to an outside civilian agency who charge for the privilege rather than the previous long-standing practice of voluntary donations to station charities but the base had for many years arranged enthusiast access by ballot or through membership of recognised enthusiasts groups as had in their day RAF Leuchars especially for CQWI Courses and a memorable French Navy CAG work-up along with RAF Kinloss where in its final few years this peaked with visits to each of the biannual Joint Warrior (and its predecessors) and CQWI Courses.

[Latinbear]

9 minutes ago, Des said:

 

Excellent photos and glad that the event worked out well for you.

 

This is perhaps the first time that RAF Lossiemouth has outsourced the administration of such events to an outside civilian agency who charge for the privilege rather than the previous long-standing practice of voluntary donations to station charities but the base had for many years arranged enthusiast access by ballot or through membership of recognised enthusiasts groups as had in their day RAF Leuchars especially for CQWI Courses and a memorable French Navy CAG work-up along with RAF Kinloss where in its final few years this peaked with visits to each of the biannual Joint Warrior (and its predecessors) and CQWI Courses.

 

Interesting and thanks for the information. I was told that this was the first event of its kind and having seen other RAF stations do this then Lossiemouth decided to give it a go. Shortage of manpower was quoted as one of the reasons for getting an outside agency involved. I understand that the bulk of the proceeds will be going to good causes related to station.  

[RidgeRunner]

Excellent! Great to see the Atlantic and the Eastern Jetstream making a strafing pass!

 

Martin

[modelling minion]

A great set of pictures, thanks for sharing them.

[Parabat]

Top notch pics, thanks for sharing your experience on here.

[Latinbear]

Thank you gents, very nice of you to say so. Glad you enjoyed them. 

[72modeler]

Incredible collection of detail photos! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to post them for us to enjoy. I especially liked the P-8 Poseidon photos- a very distinctive-looking airplane!

Mike

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Thanks for posting Good to see the USMC Major flying the Tiffy ... Must be an exchange thing. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Alpha Delta 210]

Thanks for posting these. It looked to be an excellent few days with really good access. 

 

My favourites are #12 and #36.

[stevehnz]

 I have no embarrassment at sounding gushy & giving these a great big WOW, those are freaking awesome, in every sense. Thanks so much for sharing.

Steve.

[Latinbear]

12 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Thanks for posting Good to see the USMC Major flying the Tiffy ... Must be an exchange thing. 

 

I'm guessing that was the case. He and a couple of RAF pilots were posing for official photos in front of a Typhoon on day one and courtesy of the zoom lens I could read the USMC officer's name and rank. He clearly enjoyed playing to the crowd because when on day two he took charge of the two seater both his take-offs were almost vertical climbs in reheat followed by rolling off the top. As you can imagine we all appreciated this and it made a nice change from the usual take-off pattern. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Just now, Latinbear said:

USMC officer's name and rank. He clearly enjoyed playing to the crowd

Yep that sounds like a Jarhead pilot 🤣 .. No in seriousness i respect the corps. 

[Latinbear]

13 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Incredible collection of detail photos! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to post them for us to enjoy. I especially liked the P-8 Poseidon photos- a very distinctive-looking airplane!

Mike

 

Thanks Mike - glad you enjoyed them. Other than being behind the P8 at the end of runway 23 as shown above I managed to miss both of them when they took off and landed. For some reason I seemed to be focused elsewhere. There is a lot of building work going on at the base in preparation for the arrival of the RAF's aircraft. 

[Latinbear]

9 hours ago, stevehnz said:

 I have no embarrassment at sounding gushy & giving these a great big WOW, those are freaking awesome, in every sense. Thanks so much for sharing.

Steve.

 

 😂  All gushing welcome! Thank you very much for the generous comments and pleased you enjoyed them. 

[Latinbear]

3 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Yep that sounds like a Jarhead pilot 🤣 .. No in seriousness i respect the corps. 

 

He did have a proper haircut though! 

[72modeler]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 12:09 PM, Latinbear said:

 

He did have a proper haircut though! 

High and tight, and that's alright! Oohrah!

Mike