Sector 2
Departure was made from runway 24 at Sibson at 0905 into a light southwesterly wind with Tim MacKay in command. Fuel uplift had been restricted to 54 lt to give a total of 128 lt and an endurance of 3hr plus a 30 min reserve. Soft field/obstacle clearance take-off technique was used with a margin of 85 lb below max gross weight. The track to Bassingbourn provided both on-track and cross-track features to confirm drift angle was still as calculated. An altitude of 2500’ ensured that overflight of airfields en-route would be above ATZs. The Bassingbourn – Mildenhall track passed directly over their airfield but Cambridge ATC did not request any deviation or change of level. Similarly Mildenhall ATC simply requested we fly VFR and report any level change during passage through Mildenhall and Lakenheath MATZ.






BASSINGBOURN
The United States Air Force occupied Bassingbourn from August 1950 until April 1953 with B29s of the 353rd Bomb Squadron and 301 Bomb Group.
In 1951 RB-50s of 38Sqn, 55 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing and B-50s of 341 Bomb Squadron were resident.




MILDENHALL
One of only two USAF airfields to currently remain active with permanent residents and was made available to the USAF in July 1950. Strategic Air Command were the first American residents with B-29s and B50s followed by B-47s and KC-97 Stratotankers in 1953.In 1959, RAF Mildenhall became the home for the Military Air Transport Service main air passenger terminal for the United Kingdom with the 1625th Support Squadron providing military personnel and dependents service at the terminal with the drawdown at the Burtonwood site.
Presently based at Mildenhall are
100th Air Refuelling Wing 1992-Present Day KC-135R
352nd Special Operations Group 1995-Present Day MC-130E/H, HC130P/N, MH-53
95th Reconnaissance Sqn 1994-Present Day OC-135, RC135, E-4




LAKENHEATH
In November 1948, operatonal control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE. The first USAFE host unit at RAF Lakenheath was the 7504th Base Completion Squadron, closely followed by the B-29s of the 2nd Bomb Group. By 1950 Lakenheath was one of main operating bases for the U.S. Strategic Air Command in the UK. A succession of bombardment squadrons and wings, 33 in all, rotated through Lakenheath, the B-29s giving way to the improved B-50 Superfortresses and then, in June 1954, B-47 Stratojets.The 48th Tactical fighter Wing moved to Lakenheath from France in 1959 after President Charles de Gaulle’s insistence that all Non-French, nuclear capable forces be withdrawn from the country. The unit originally arrived with F100s and have also used F4 and F111 aircraft before re-equipping with the F15E&C models which they fly to this day. The base is also home to the Combat Search and Rescue HH60 helicopters of 56th Rescue squadron, part of the 48TFW.

The tracks to Tibenham, Shepherds Grove and Bentwaters presented no navigational difficulties with target sites appearing ‘on the nose/on time’. The latter leg was flown in receipt of traffic information from RAF Wattisham with further traffic being observed visually; the world of GA was waking up and becoming active. Woodbridge was visible from Bentwaters and then course was set on the 34nm leg to Wethersfield. Communication was transferred to Essex Radar after passing abeam Wattisham with a view to obtaining clearance into the Stansted CTA but a very busy frequency prompted the decision to descend to below controlled airspace. This meant the flight could continue unrestricted but required minor track deviations at 1450’ around built-up areas.

TIBENHAM
Now the home of the Norfolk Gliding Club, Tibenham was occupied by the USAF from October 1956 until May 1957. The 7536 Material Squadron Military Air Transport Service was the resident unit although unlike during the base’s distinguished wartime history, there appears to have been little aerial activity.

SHEPHERDS GROVE
F-86A Sabres of the United States Air Force 116th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron were stationed here from August 1951. The 116th FIS was a mobilized Air National Guard squadron from Washington State assigned to the newly-activated 81st Fighter-Bomber Wing. In September the 91st and 92d FIS arrived at Shepherds Grove from Moses Lake AFB, Washington to complete the complement of squadrons assigned to the 81st FBW. Shepherds Grove was also used as a storage facility for nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s. The nuclear store dates from February 1957. In 1956 the station returned to RAF hands as a Thor missile base before closing in 1966.


BENTWATERS
Control of Bentwaters was transferred to the USAF in March 1951 by the Ministry of Defence, and the United States Air Force in Europe designated it a primary installation of HQ USAFE. . Early USAF units at Bentwaters included the 9th Air Rescue Sqn flying SB-29 ‘Super Dumbo’ aircraft in the Search and Rescue role and the 7554th Target Tow Flight. In 1951 the 81st Fighter Interceptor Wing (later re-designated Tactical Fighter Wing) became the new host unit at Bentwaters, initially flying F-86 Sabres. The unit went on to fly F-84 Thunderstreaks, F101 Voodoos and F-4 Phantoms before converting to the A-10 Thunderbolt in 1979. The Wing eventually grew to six A-10 units spread over Bentwaters and nearby Woodbridge. The 527th Aggressor Sqn also spent a short time at Bentwaters becoming the only UK base for the F-16. The last A-10 aircraft departed Bentwaters on 23 March 1993, and the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing was deactivated in July that year. With the deactivation, the USAF returned control of Bentwaters to the Ministry of Defence.




WOODBRIDGE
The USAF took control of Woodbridge in May 1952, with the first residents being the F-84s of the 79th Fighter Sqn. The 79th Fighter Sqn was re-equipped in 1957 with F100s followed before moving to Upper Heyford in 1970.
Woodbridge was operated as a ‘twin base’ with nearby Bentwaters and as part of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron was based here from 1959 until1992 operating F84s and F101s followed by the F-4 Phantom and finally the A-10. A-10s were also operated by the 91st Tactical fighter Squadron between 1978 and 1992. Also resident between 1968 and 1988 was the 67th Air Rescue and Recovery Sqn operating HC-130 aircraft and HH-53 helicopters. Like Bentwaters, the last aircraft departed in March 93, followed by the closure of the base.



WETHERSFIELD
The 20th Fighter Bomber / Tactical fighter Wing were transferred from Langley AFB to Wethersfield in 1952 operating the F-100 until around 1970. The proximity of the nearby expanding Stansted Airport led to the Wing being re-located to RAF Upper Heyford, replacing and absorbing the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. In 1978 the British and American Governments agreed to establish a Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers (RED HORSE) unit in the UK. The main RED HORSE Civil Engineering unit established in December 1978 was the 819th CES. The 819th was tasked with rapid runway repair responsibilities for US Air Forces in Europe along with its traditional heavy repair role. The base was handed back to the Ministry of Defence at an official ceremony held in July 1990 and, at the end of September, Wethersfield was once again placed under care and maintenance status.

Photography at Wethersfield was successful and St Mary’s Marsh on the Isle of Grain was the next turning point, to minimise over-water time, en-route to Manston. Climb was begun as soon as possible subject to Stansted CTA, first to 1900’ and then to 2400’. In this busy environment Tim remarked that they were coming up to Witham. This was immediately contradicted by both Ian and Jon; it was in fact Braintree. It was a good demonstration of the value in all crew members wearing headsets and having a good intercom and showed the integrated-crew concept was working well. Southend ATC called traffic which was not seen but other traffic was observed. A dog-leg from the direct track was flown visually in order to remain over land as much as possible. Manston called traffic with approx 15 miles to run but it was not seen on the straight-in approach to runway 10. Landing time was 1120, giving 2hr 15min airborne time.

MANSTON
The USAF arrived at Manston in 1950 and the base was used by Strategic Air Command for it’s Bomber and Fighter Bomber units. In July 1951 SAC deployed the 12th Fighter-Escort Wing to Manston to provide fighter escort for its rotational bombardment wings. The 12th, however, only remained at Manston until November when it was replaced by the 123rd Fighter-Bomber Wing, flying F-84Es with the 12th being transferred to Japan for combat duty during the Korean War. In July 1952 the 406th Fighter-Bomber Wing was activated at Manston with three squadrons flying F-84s then F-86 Sabre. In 1958 the 406th Wing was de-activated and the base closed a USAF Asset.