Lakenheath air base began life as a dummy aerodrome in the early days of World War ll to attract the attention of the German Luftwaffe away from the nearby bases at Mildenhall and Feltwell. Nowadays, it is America's largest operational base in Europe and is home to three units of combat ready jet fighters, the D-15E Strike Eagle and F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft.
While these jets are noisy during take-off, flying times are not all that frequent. Often there is no flying at all, and when there is, noise is loudest only during take-off, as all exercises are flown over sea or areas of very low population. Planes usually take off in twos at intervals of a few minutes, and the whole exercise does not usually take more than 30 minutes, often less. Night time flying is necessary for practice reasons, but only happens a few times a year and does not occur after 10 or 11 p.m. or start before 6 a.m. except in exceptional circumstances
There is a viewing area to the north east of the aerodrome for anyone interested.
The amount of flying varies so much it is impossible to predict on any given day. They also vary approaches and take off direction.
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F-15s and plenty of them, Both Eagles (F-15C/Ds) and 'Beagles' (F-15Es) are based at Lakenheath and fly on almost every weekday when training. However it's not just F-15s and MH-53, Lakenheath sees regular visitors from abroad; for instance German Tornados, F-16s of various nations, US Navy C-9s, and the occasional Typhoon etc. At Mildenhall you will find KC-135s, MC-130H, MC-130J, MC-130P, and a variety of visiting aircraft including E-3 Sentry 747, and C-5. Lakenheath is normally completely dead at weekends and in the evenings. One recent notable addition is the CV-22B Osprey based at Mildenhall. We have also had the news that Mildenhall will be closing in some 5 years’ time and operations at Lakenheath will be expanded. I expect more information will be forthcoming over the next few years.