Mum BritAnon here
Do any planefags live near military bases and observe in person, or do you guys all do it remotely via radio/internet?
Only asking because in my daily routine as a mum/housewife e.g. hanging out the washing, gardening, walking to shops, school, etc. I notice all the planes from our local USAF bases (they're all over the Eastern half of England) going over. I'm not an obsessive planefag but I do notice the patterns of what's going over because it just matches up with my weekly routine.
The patterns changed recently.
Living here, we were always intrigued by the Ospreys (is it a plane or a helo?) and their capabilities. I did a mini-dig and found that they were to move 11 of them to Mildenhall in 2012 or after, except I've lived nearby since 2007 and for sure those Ospreys were at Mildenhall between 2010 and 2012 because I always saw them on my way home to my old house.
https://www.stripes.com/news/ospreys-to-be-based-in-uk-for-special-ops-missions-1.177564
The recent changes I've noticed last few years are rarely seeing the AWACS nowadays, which I used to see regularly 2012-2016. Seeing more fighters (F-15 I think, although difficult to tell exactly). Most recent changes i.e. 2018+ I've noticed are much more heavy large planes around than previous years.
Not sure if this is of any help to anyone but thought I may as well mention
WWG1WGA