Hornets away! 🇨🇦 4x Royal Canadian Air Force 🇨🇦 CF-188 Hornets taxi and take off at RAF Waddington

Exercise Cobra Warrior - on Monday 4th September 2023, at the beginning of the first week of exercises, I made a visit to catch some of the aircraft taking part in the exercise. Here is a short video showing four of the Royal Canadian Air Force CF-188 Hornets - 188757, 188730, 188735 and 188782 - seen approaching runway 20 at RAF Waddington and departing using callsigns Blade 01-04. The aircraft were taking part in Exercise Cobra Warrior operations which took place in September 2023. Exercise Cobra Warrior is a biannual exercise, run by the Royal Air Force, designed to exercise participants in high intensity large force tactical training, and attracts a variety of visiting military fighters as well as a large number of aviation enthusiasts :)

This year's second exercise took place at RAF Waddington, RAF Mildenhall (USAF) and RAF Lakenheath (USAF) between the 4th & 22nd September.
The aircraft based at Waddington were as follows:

🇨🇦 Royal Canadian Air Force (Aviation Royale Canadienne) 🇨🇦
7x CF-188 3 Wing - 425/433 Squadrons
CanForce 0851 flight
188735 (2021 Demo Jet scheme)
188774 425 sqd mks
188757 425 sqd mks

CanForce 0854 flight
188782 433 sqd mks
188742 425 sqd mks
188736 401 sqd mks ('Swift Death' - YO X on tail)
188730 433 sqd mks
Parked on Bays 18-21

NATO
Boeing E-3A Sentry (AWACS) - based at Geilenkirchen, Germany
LX-N90443 (NATO 22)
LX-N90454 (NATO 21)
Parked on bays 26-29 to the south of the Tower

Italian Air Force
Gulfstream E-550A
MM62303 / 14-12
Parked on Bay 17

The RCAF have operated the McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet since 1982, with 138 aircraft originally delivered. They are only due to be phased out starting in 2026, being replaced with Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightnings.