Hunting The U-Boat
With only two RC-135U Combat Sents in existence, any opportunity to catch one in the autumn sun has to be taken.
RAF Mildenhall is no stranger to White Tops (the RC-135 family), but the RC-135U - affectionately known as the U-Boat - isn’t the most regular visitor for TDY deployments. However, 64-14847 arrived at the Suffolk base on Monday 29 September for a two-month stay, flying weekday sorties to areas such as the Kaliningrad Oblast and the Black Sea.
Despite the length of the deployment, a huge amount of patience was required to capture the RC-135U in sunlight at Mildenhall. September and October can offer beautiful lighting, but autumn 2025 was dominated by cloud in the UK. After weeks of waiting, the stars finally aligned on Monday 17 November when the U-Boat heading out on a six hour sortie to Finland and back. The aircraft departed at 07:37, just as the sun was rising, and returned at 13:40 - fortunately once the sun had swung around, allowing it to be photographed from the Pollards Lane crash gate.
While the RC-135U was out on its sortie east, C-17 ZZ173 dropped into Mildenhall for some circuits, while the based CV-22 Ospreys and KC-135s went about their usual daily operations.
