Two sets of Four Ship AV tail F-16s of the 555th Fighter Squadron 'Triple Nickel', strafe and fire live rounds at targets at the RAF Holbeach Air Weapons range on the 13th September 2022.
RAF Holbeach Air Weapons Range is a place to bring your aircraft to shoot and blow up stuff. It is situated between Boston and King's Lynn in the civil parish of Gedney on The Wash, in Lincolnshire. The range does not have a runway but it has a helicopter landing pad which is used by Chinooks and Apaches. Pretty much anything can come to the range, from Typhoons, F-15s to CV-22 Ospreys, it is a fantastic AWR.
The Eight F-16s (F-16C/D Block 40, I think this is correct) entered the range on the 13th September 2022 and the first flight of four came in at around 1645. This flight was the 'Fury' flight. This was their callsign, so you will have Fury21, Fury22 Fury23 and Fury24. The second four ship was the 'Grim' flight.
The 555th Fighter Squadron is part of the 31st Operations Group at Aviano Air Base, Italy. It operates General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (locally known as the 'Viper') aircraft conducting multirole air and ground missions. The 555th Fighter Squadron's F-16C/Ds tail markings consists of a green tail flash with the words 'Triple Nickel' inside it. The 'AV' tail code (for Aviano AB) is in the centre of the tail with the USAFE logo in between them on toned-down colours and the serial at the bottom of the tail.
The 555th Fighter Squadron was first activated at MacDill Field, FL in December 1942 as the 555th Bombardment Squadron. They trained with the B-26 Marauder and in May 1943, they departed for the European Theater. Stationed briefly at RAF Snetterton Heath then on to RAF Boxted, the 555th trained for medium level attacks. They encountered their first combat missions on enemy air bases and attacked gun positions and marshalling yards. They were involved in lots of bombing raids, and hitting coastal defences on D-Day.
On 8th January 1964, the 555th re-emerged at MacDill AFB as the 555 TFS, operating the F-4C Phantom II. Becoming part of the 8 TFW known as 'Wolfpack', the 555 FS let the first strike against MiG airfields in N.Vietnam. They launched night bombing attacks against North Vietnam and downed many MiG-21s.
After nine years of combat ops, the 555th returned to the US. in 1974, they moved to Luke AFB, Arizona where it transitioned the F-15 Eagle and became part of the 405th Tactical Training Wing. The squadron was then to become the 555th Fighter Squadron (555 FS) on the 1st November 1991.
Although inactivated on the 25 March 1994, just six days later they were reactivated on the 1st April 1994 and reassigned to the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) and stationed at the Aviano Air Base.
Before entering the range, pilots will need to confirm what aircraft are they have entering the range (how many crew are on board too), how many aircraft they have, whether they are carrying any ordnance before given the clearance to enter and squawk 7002.
They will do a few circuits before they commence strafing. Strafing is a an attack mode where the aircraft will almost dive at their target and fire missiles or their cannons. The F-16s are carrying an M61 Vulan cannon (an insane gatling gun) which fires 20mm rounds at 6,000 rounds per minute!
You will also hear pilots say “in DRY or in HOT”. Dry means the aircraft will strafe without physically firing anything. But when they call out ‘Hot', brace yourself for the delightful sound of weapons being fired.
REMEMBER: This is a DANGER AREA / AIR WEAPONS RANGE. Live rounds and weapons are fired. If red warning flags or red lights are displayed, regardless of timings, please remain clear of the range area.
Whenever warning signals are displayed, do not cross the range boundary. Do not touch any military debris it may be dangerous.
Useful links:
555th Fighter Squadron
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Holbeach AWR
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