The US Air Force has returned to our area

In replying to a comment on my Blip yesterday, I recounted the news that the US Air force has returned to a nearby airfield shared with the RAF at Fairford in Gloucestershire.

By chance I chatted to a customer at my stall back in February, who bought a print. She said it was for her father in Colorado. I gently enquired where she was from, and she replied that she had just moved to Stroud, Her husband had just recently been stationed at RAF Fairford and this was a nicer place to for them to live. This was a surprise to me as we all thought the US base had been shut down several years ago. The news reveals that a flight of B52 Stratocruiser bombers have returned. It does make us wonder what the intention is.

I have seen a couple of B-52s flying right overhead, banking round to seemingly make a slow approach to land at Fairford. They are incredibly noisy even when gliding in to land. I’ve also noticed several pairs of smaller filter or bomber planes have accompanied them probably as additional defensive capabilities.

This afternoonI was having tea in the sunshine in the cabin when I heard the distinctive scream of a B-52. In fact it was louder than usual and although I went out onto the patio to try to spot it, I think it was on a different take-off trajectory  and obscured by the hills behind our house. I returned to my chair but within about twenty minutes utes I heard another aircraft and on walking to the patio again I saw this plane which I’m pretty sure is an F-16 fighter bomber.

It was on a similar descent path to the planes I’d seen on other days and soon after was followed by another F-16, which is the one I’ve blipped here. A few minutes later the different sound of a B-52, approaching to land this time, was annoyingly present. I didn’t spot it until too late as it was close to the horizon above Rodborough Common. They are massive planes and seem twice as loud as other  large civilian aircraft. My market colleague K., who loves military things, mentioned that she had seen a Stealth Bomber flying low over Stroud recently which almost certainly was also heading to Fairford.