Ghostriders Transit through Mildenhall

As well as a P-8 Poseidon on April 2nd, it was also rumoured that RAF Mildenhall would be visited by a trio of USAF AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft on a 1-hour stopover while transitting from their area of operations back home to Florida. 

Having had a successful morning at Lakenheath, I headed across to Mildenhall for the afternoon in the hopes that the aircraft would show up. Generally, Special Operations aircraft don't show up on tracking apps, which makes it nearly impossible to catch them. Luckily, my scanner came to life with LAPEL58 talking its way into Mildenhall, this was quickly followed by LAPEL54 and, almost 20 minutes later, LAPEL56. 3 AC-130J Ghostriders from the 4th Special Operations Squadron, 1st Special Operations Wing based at Hurlburt Field, Florida, were on the deck by 15:30. 

Shortly after arriving, Flightradar24 showed flight plans for all 3 aircraft departing to Keflavik in Iceland between 16:30 and 17:00. We waited and waited, only to find out they'd cancelled until the following day! So, after catching the morning launches at Lakenheath on April 3rd, we went to Mildenhall to get the Ghostriders as they continued their journey home. By the time we'd arrived at the mound, LAPEL58 was already well on its way to runway 28. And, after much more waiting, 18-5882 was finally cleared to take off, getting airborne at 08:56. By the time 58 had departed, LAPEL54 was taxying to runway 28. All 3 were airborne by 09:15. LAPEL56s departure can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/Md-fAVnd_Ws

Shortly after departure, LAPEL58 started having issues and so made the call to return to Mildenhall. Since I hadn't seen an AC-130 before the day prior, I had to make the most of the opportunity, and so stuck around for its landing. I didn't expect it to depart again that day, so I headed to Lakenheath for the remainder of the morning. I was surprised to read that they were trying again, having quickly dealt with the problem while back on the ground. I wasn't going to rush to get it again!

After years of hoping, I'm glad to have finally caught the gunships, an aircraft I'm only too familiar with, having spent a good portion of my life calling them in on Call of Duty! I truly hope this isn't the last I see of them as they are one beast of an aircraft.

USAF Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider 18-5882 LAPEL58 - 4th Special Operations Squadron - 1st Special Operations Wing - Hurlburt Field

USAF Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider 16-5846 LAPEL54 - 4th Special Operations Squadron - 1st Special Operations Wing - Hurlburt Field

USAF Lockheed Martin AC-130J Ghostrider 16-5861 LAPEL56 - 4th Special Operations Squadron - 1st Special Operations Wing - Hurlburt Field