RAF Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, England is the home base of several Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon units: 3 Squadron, 11 Squadron, 17 Squadron (Operational Evaluation Unit) and 29 Squadron (Operational Conversion Unit).
The Aviationist’s contributor Alessandro Fucito spent a day there in September and took the following interesting pictures of an ordinary day at the UK’s main Typhoon base.
Image credit: Alessandro Fucito
RAF Coningsby QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) and its armed Typhoons are often called into action to perform air policing and security purposes. On Apr. 12, 2012, two Typhoons were scrambled when a helicopter pilot accidently entered the 7500 squawk code, telling the Air Traffic Control units the aircraft had been hijacked.
The fighter jets accelerated through Mach 1.2 to intercept the allegedly hijacked chopper and the sonic boom was heard by thousands of people across the UK and even the British Geological Survery was contacted to see if the island had been struck by an earthquake.
RAF Typhoons both operating from their homebases (Coningsby and Leuchars) and temporarily deployed at RAF Northolt, enforced the No-Fly Zone established over London to protect the Olympic Games.
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