Behold These Great Air-To-Air Shots Of The U.S. B-52s On Their Way To RAF Fairford

David Cenciotti
4 Min Read
One of the Minot AFB's B-52 escorted by a RAF Typhoon. (All images: RAF)

Some amazing shots show B-52s, callsign “Hate”, escorted by RAF Typhoons, callsign “Venom”, over the UK.

Flying as HATE 11-14, four U.S. Air Force B-52s arrived at RAF Fairford, UK, on Feb. 10, 2022. Although the timing of the deployment coincides with a military build-up in Europe and raising tensions with Russia, the USAFE-AFAFRICA pointed out how the strategic bombers arrived in the Old Continent as part of a “long-planned” Bomber Task Force (BTF) mission, a regularly scheduled U.S. European Command and U.S. Strategic Command joint mission series.

In fact, since 2018, U.S. Air Force bombers are regularly deployed through Europe. The last BTF mission involving B-52s in Europe took place in May 2021.

During their flight from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, the BUFFs were monitored by aviation enthusiasts from all around the world on flight tracking websites thanks to their Mode-S transponders.

Interestingly, on their way to RAF Fairford, integrated with British Typhoons and Portuguese F-16s currently assigned to NATO’s Icelandic Air Policing mission.

Bomber aircraft also integrated with British Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) to conduct bilateral Close Air Support training. In particular, two B-52s out of the four Stratofortress bombers operated over northern Scotland and the Tain range.

Take a look at the stunning photographs taken by the RAF’s camera ship:

B-52s and Typhoons contrailing.

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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