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| A little further up from this spot are a couple of lay-bys on each side of the road [Point D], where you can park up and walk to the approach, or stand on the corner of the perimeter fence [Point E], which is possibly a safer location, although the sun is often against you here, just off to your right. If you pull into the lay-by when you’re heading south, away from Brandon, slow down early and take caution when pulling off, the lay-by is very uneven and in places there is a hefty drop of a few inches from the road to the lay-by, which gave us a flat tyre and ended up causing £800 damage to the front of the car. F-15E breaking into the 06 circuit, taken from between Points B and C. Image © Author. Continuing along this road, just past the approach lights and the lay-bys you will see a yellow sign labelled “Aircraft Viewing Area” pointing to the left. Take this turn, and immediately after there is a second left-hander, which takes you down towards the viewing area [Point F] and the crash gate. Photos from the viewing area aren’t spectacular, but you get a good view of the base and you can see anything taxiing up towards you, because the taxiway/holding point is directly ahead of you. If you look closely over the horizon when 06 is in use you may see some moving canopies and tails sticking up over the horizon, which indicates you will shortly see something headed your way low and fast. If they are cleared for an unrestricted climb when 06 is in use, you’re in for a treat from here. 
An F-15E seen taxiing out towards the runway. Taken from the viewing area, Point F. Image © Robin Powney If you walk out of the viewing area and up to the crash gate [Point G], there is enough room to poke your lens through here and take shots of anything departing with afterburners, and the dark backdrop of the trees should make the flames showing up nicely. Leading off from this road is a private track (also marked up as a public footpath), which leads up to a farmhouse. Walking a little way up here isn’t a problem - going up as far as the trees, where the track bends to the left, should be fine. Security will sometimes ask you to move back to the viewing area from here, but it tends to be a bit hit and miss. Apply common sense - stand away from the fence and only approach it when there is something to photograph, do not take stepladders with you here, and under no circumstances should you drive your car down here!  
An F-15C departs Runway 06, and an A-10 taxiing back in after completing the landing roll. Taken through the fence, from the private track/public footpath near Point G. Images © Author. Back into the car now, and leaving the viewing area road, take a left turn and follow this road down the end, where you will reach a ‘T’ junction. Take a left again, onto the B1112, and follow this road through to the village of Lakenheath. In the village, there is a turning opposite the Post Office. Follow this road down past some houses and a school, and it merges into a single track leading to a crash gate [Point H]. If memory serves me correctly it’s quite an uneven surface, and the further you go towards the gate the less view you have as the road drops downhill. Departures from 06 might be interesting, but having never seen anything move whilst I’ve been here, I couldn’t comment, and I’d say photo opportunities are very limited as you are a fair distance from the runway and for the majority of the day, you'd be facing into sun. Also – security don’t seem to like you being here at all, so don't be suprised if you're greeted by armed guards in HumVee's!. There are no based aircraft which operate from the HAS complex at this side of the base, so unless there is a deployment of aircraft form an exercise, the journey may be wasted. Back into the village, turn left and continue down this road right through the village. Some way along here there is a clearing in the hedges and you should get a glimpse of the perimeter fence and the approach lights. There is a verge here [Point I] on your left where you can park up for arrivals on 06. There is a public footpath leading from the verge down to the approach lights and a gate, which will take you directly beneath the approach. Seeing as it is a footpath, I shouldn’t imagine security would hassle you too much; infact the last time I was there, some American service personnel were running laps around an area inside the fence, and they all said ‘hello’ as they went past. From here, there is plenty of warning of anything in the circuit and lots of time to set up a photo. There's enough space here to position yourself for side-on shots too. This a much more pleasant location for arrivals than out by the A1065 when runway 24 is in use!  
A pair of A-10s on approach to runway 06 (Image © Michael Hind), and an F-15C on approach (Image © Author) taken from the footpath near point I. For a little different angle on the photos, leave this area and get back into the car. A short distance further down this road leads you to a larger lay-by on your right hand side [Point J]. If the road is busy continue to the end and swing back round at the roundabout. Aircraft come over here still banking slightly and adjusting their curve for finals, and pass very low over you. The trees do make photography a little tricky, and they pass directly overhead, limiting the angles you can create. And that pretty much wraps it up.  
F-15Es on finals to runway 06 (Image © Author), and an A-10 curving onto finals (Image © Michael Hind). Taken from roadside at point J. Services At the end of this road, as mentioned, there is a roundabout, with a parade of shops. The SPAR that was once here has now closed, and I'm not sure what has taken its place. Alternatively, there is a Tesco’s in Brandon; just keep following the A1065 north when you are on that side of the base. There is a petrol station next to Tesco’s in Brandon. Lakenheath village also has a petrol station, as well as a bank with a cash point and a couple of shops.
Related Links | Warplane | Superb site offering spotting guides for Lakenheath and many other British bases, aswell as stunning low level photography, UK Airshow reports and much more. | | MilAirMan's Lakenheath Monitoring Site | Details everything about Lakenheath, daily logs, frequencies, photos of every F-15 on base and videos. A wealth of information. | | Official RAF Lakenheath Website | Official website of The Liberty Wing. | | | |
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