Trip Report November 2022

On Tuesday 15th November, a day later than planned due to adverse weather, Swiss Air Force (Schweitzer Luftwaffe) F/A‑18C and F/A‑18D Hornets arrived at RAF Leeming, Yorkshire, for the month‑long Exercise Yorknite 2022. Now in its fourth year, the exercise gives the Swiss pilots a large percentage of night‑flying hours required for their entire years training and a chance to hone their skills against their RAF and USAF counterparts.

Exercise Yorknite 2022 coincided with my last photographic trip of the year. On Monday 21st November, I visited the Lake District LFA17 for four days, in the hope of catching the Swiss Hornets as they routed low‑level through the area.

On Sunday 20th November, I started my trip with a visit to the North East Land, Sea & Air Museum (NELSAM) near Sunderland. I had visited the museum in October 2020, but decided on visiting again, as during my first visit the weather had been unfavourable and I was not happy with some of the images obtained. Another incentive to visit, was that the museum had since acquired a BAe Sea Harrier F/A.2 and Panavia Tornado F.3.
Photographs from my visit will be uploaded in the near future.

The North East Land, Sea & Air Museum's latest exhibit, BAe Sea Harrier F/A.2 (ZD582 ‘002’).

Monday 21st - Dunmail Raise (west side). A typical winters day in the Lake District, with low cloud and intermittent rain showers. I had just climbed up to my chosen vantage point for the day, when a USAF F‑15E Strike Eagle, BuNo. 01‑2001 (at 09:29) of the 494th Fighter Squadron “Panthers” from Lakenheath routed through. Being caught off‑guard, all the images I captured were unusable. I was lucky, as another Strike Eagle, BuNo. 00‑3004 from the same squadron routed through just after midday (at 12:27) and this time I was ready and waiting.

F‑15E Strike Eagle (BuNo. 00‑3004 ‘LN’) USAF 48th FW/494th FS ‘Panthers’, Lakenheath.

The Swiss Hornets daily planned take‑off time from RAF Leeming for their exercise was approximately 14:30. It takes them approximately ten minutes flying time to transit to the Lake District. It was around the time they were due, that it started to rain quite heavy. I assumed due to the weather conditions that they would not route through low‑level, so I started to pack my camera gear away. I had just finished packing when two F/A‑18C Hornets routed overhead and dropped down to low‑level at the north end of Thirlmere Reservoir - Typical.

Tuesday 22nd - Smaithwaite Banks Crag, Thirlmere Reservoir. A much better day for the weather, with good visibility and no wind. I was joined by a number of fellow photographers, like myself, hoping to catch the Swiss Hornets.
Throughout the day we were treated to passes by two Juno HT.1 training helicopters, ZM521 (at 11:58) and ZM514 (at 12:05), both from RAF Shawbury, followed by a Hawk Mk. 167, ZB133 (at 12:53) of the Joint RAF & Qatar Emiri Air Force Training Squadron based at RAF Leeming.

At 14:30 people began to get excited, as it was time for the Swiss to start departing RAF Leeming. At 14:54 two Swiss Hornets were spotted approaching Dunmail Raise at a relatively high altitude. As they passed Dunmail Raise and approached the south end of Thirlmere, they suddenly banked hard and dropped down to low‑level over the reservoir. The Hornets passed Rough Crag (another vantage point) on the west side of the reservoir, then suddenly pulled‑up in front of our location and passed over Raven Crag, to the dismay of everyone. People began to speculate of a photo set‑up with the Swiss pilots by possible photographers located on Rough Crag, as they did take quite an unusual route. I did manage to get a couple of distant photos of the Swiss, but they were not the most ideal images I was hoping to capture.

Swiss Air Force F/A‑18C Hornets dropping low‑level over Thirlmere Reservoir in the Lake District.

Wednesday 23rd - Raven Crag, Thirlmere Reservoir. A dry overcast day. Raven Crag offers a spectacular view, as one looks down Thirlmere Reservoir towards Dunmail Raise and Loughrigg Fell beyond. The only drawback to the location, is that one is quite distant from the aircraft as they route past. To give my camera more reach, I attached a 1.4x extender to my Canon 500 f/4 lens, to give a focal length of 700mm.

Aircraft seen: RAF Hercules C.4, ZH870 (at 12:31) from RAF Brize Norton, which just filled my camera viewfinder nicely. This was followed by two Hawk Mk. 167's, ZB133 (at 13:24) and ZB134 (at 13:34) both from the Joint RAF Qatar Emiri Air Force Training Squadron, based at RAF Leeming. The Swiss Hornets appeared before 15:00, but they were high as they passed overhead my location, so no suitable photographs were captured. Shortly after the Swiss had passed, my radio scanner picked‑up RAF Typhoon FGR.4's approaching the southern area of the Lake District with the intention of going low‑level, only to abort, due to the deteriorating weather conditions.

Thursday 24th - Smaithwaite Banks Crag, Thirlmere Reservoir. A dull, overcast day. Dunmail Raise, four miles to the south was just visible through the haze. The weather conditions were not ideal for photography, but I was treated to the following passes by four RAF Typhoon FGR.4's: ZK372 (at 10:23), ZK428 (at 10:28), followed by a two‑ship (at 11:07), ZK306 and ZK371, all from RAF Coningsby. I assume the Typhoon's were the same flight which had to abort their low‑level sortie yesterday evening. At 11:45 I left the hill due to strong winds and torrential rain. I drove down to Grasmere village for lunch and a coffee, hoping the weather would clear. To my surprise it did. At 14:15 I arrived back at the car park for Smaithwaite Banks Crag and quickly climbed back up to the vantage point. I arrived just before 14:30 (out‑of‑breath) and got my camera ready, only to discover the Swiss had cancelled their sortie for the day due to the weather conditions ‑ AAARGH. It turned out to be one of those days. The highs and lows of the hobby of military low flying photography.

To conclude. It was disappointing not to capture the Swiss Hornets, but I can't complain as I had passes by aircraft every day of my four‑day visit, so it was a good way to finish off my last outing of the year.
Photographs from my trip can be viewed at: 2022 ‑ UK Military Low Flying.