8 Squadron

No. 8 Squadron RAF

BASE:

RAF Waddington, Lincoln

Base Location

SQUADRON TYPE:

Airborne early warning and control

AIRCRAFT TYPE:

Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Number 8 Squadron (sometimes written as No. VIII Squadron) of the Royal Air Force operates the Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1 (AWACS) from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. As of 2020, the RAF AWACS fleet is made up of three Sentry AEW1s, down from seven originally ordered in the late 1980s.

It was announced in July 2019 that from the early 2020s the squadron will be the first to operate the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail AEW1, the planned replacement for the RAF's E-3D Sentry fleet.

I went on a base tour at Waddington in April 2019 and had been trying to track this coin down since then. I finally made contact with the squadron who were more than happy to help me track one down. So a really nice addition to my collection.