Lincs airmen send Russian Bears packing...

Good to see Lincs airmen playing their part this week in seeing off one of one of the biggest shows of Russian air power since the end of the Cold War...

Lincs fighters shadow the new Russian Bear...

Two of the RAF's newest jets were scrambled from their Lincolnshire base last Friday to shadow a Russian bomber over the North Atlantic ocean - as shown in this photo.

They were two of the dozen new Eurofighter Typhoon fighters based at RAF Coningsby which went operational last month on round-the-clock active duty to provide protection against hijacked airliners and other threats from the skies.

Friday's sortie came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced long-range flights by bomber aircraft would resume.

While the incident did not threaten British security, it no doubt sent the muscle-flexing Mr Putin a clear signal.

The Ministry of Defence said tonight that the Russian Bear-H aircraft turned back before reaching UK airspace - and they released this photo.

Britain has ordered 144 of the £67 million Typhoons, which have a maximum speed of twice the speed of sound and accelerate from standing to take-off in less than seven seconds.

The Typhoon programme supports thousands of UK jobs and continues a proud tradition of Lincolnshire's role in the security of Britain. In the Cold War of the 1960s, English Electric Lightnings based at RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire regularly intercepted Soviet bombers over the North Sea.

My late father who was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Medal served in the RAF for 36 years - retiring from RAF Coningsby in the mid-1970s.