Category Archives: military

Flexing Fighters

Regular visitors to Nellis will know this and can move along. For those that haven’t shot there, Nellis departure routes when taking off from the 03 runways can be one of two things. The jets tend to climb quickly and they are offset from the usual photography location alongside the speedway. You can get shots but they are pretty samey with side on shots of the jets further away or slightly underside shots of the jets coming off 03L.

However, anything that is playing as Red Air tends to take a Flex departure. This involves a break to the left from the normal route with a different heading to take the, to the ranges to deal with the incoming Blue force. The aggressors tend to flex most of the time. The other aircraft that may be augmenting the aggressors might flex too. The nice feature of this is that they break towards you. Then you are playing a guessing game as to how quickly they will break. You pick a spot along the road and hope that they will come your way. Sometimes they will turn tight and catch you out. Other times they will delay a bit and still be far away from you. At their speed, it doesn’t take much to increase the distance from where you are. At least you get more dynamic shots.

Can I Make a C-17 Different?

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If you go to a few airshows, you get to see a lot of familiar types in the static display. The goal is how to get something a bit more interesting. I am okay with having a record of what I have seen but you do want to try and do something different. I have seen C-17s at shows and on bases in the past so I have a lot of shots. Detail shots of parts of the airframe, low shots from near the nose, views up the ramp and under the tail. What about something different this time. Shows are a bit restrictive because there are other people around so I decided to try and minimize them by going wide. Then it evolved into shooting some wide angle shots for a pano sequence from right under the wing tip. This creates some significant distortion. It was okay but I think I could have done it a bit better to add to the drama. Maybe closer in with a wider field of view. I’ll have to try again.

Did Someone Patch This Raptor in a Hurry?

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The F-22 Raptor has a complex coating system on the skin of the airframe that is part of the overall approach to stealth. Normally, they look pretty well finished in order to preserve the performance of the system (although I have spotted a few jets with the green primer showing through worn finishes). However, one or two of the jets that were at Red Flag had what almost looked like a panel missing from the spine of the jet. Looking a bit closer, I think the panel had been replaced and the finishing of the surfaces around the work remained to be done. It did look a bit of a mess though. Checking some of the other jets, they also show this panel in a slightly different color. Perhaps they have all been undergoing a modification program in this area?

Breitling Jet Team

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There are a number of jet display teams that are operated by militaries around the world. Private jet demo teams also exist although there are a lot less of them. The Aero Vodochody L39 Albatros is an airframe that has proved popular with private teams. In the Midwest, the Hoppers used to display with four jets while out west the Patriots team are a regular fixture. In Europe, the Breitling team has been around for a long time. I saw them when we still lived in the U.K. at a couple of shows but they decided to bring the team to the US for a couple of seasons.

My first chance to see them was at San Francisco Fleet Week. I didn’t have any expectations about how the show would be and I wasn’t super excited about seeing the team. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the show that they put on. The display was well planned and kept something going on in front of the crowd. The Albatros is not a powerful jet so they need to manage the energy well to keep the display going and they did this effectively. The backdrop of the bay was obviously a good addition to the display. They did combine the individual jets with the formation jets well. They also made good use of flares at one point during the vertical maneuvers. That is something you don’t see enough these days. Sadly, it doesn’t always translate as well on photos as it appeared when you are seeing the display.

I don’t know what the plan is for the team this year but I imagine they will need to go back to Europe at some point. Two years away must have been an expensive proposition and means they will not have made any appearances over there. Maybe they will be here again but I can’t count on it. I think they are done. Good job though.

Guarding the Gate That Doesn’t Exist Anymore

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Over the years, many military installations have been closed down. In what form they get handed back to the local community varies. Close to us is Alameda. This was once a big base for the Navy with many ships based there and an airfield that was home to many operational aircraft. The whole thing is now closed with the runway having garnered most attention as the location for many a stunt by the Mythbusters. The layout of the base is still much as it was beforehand though. The hangars are still there now being home to local businesses.

The aviation theme shows itself in some relics of the past. Gate guardians are common at air bases and Alameda has a few. Drive into the old base along one main road and you go around a grassy circle which has an A-7 mounted on a plinth in the middle. It is loaded up and looks pretty dramatic. Another gate near the water has an A-4 Skyhawk mounted just inside. It has the name of some local dignitaries painted on the side.

Another Skyhawk is not far away. This one is not on the base itself. Instead it is mounted outside a local school. The Jet is not as dramatically painted as the others but it is still a pretty cool thing to have outside your school if you are an aviation nut like me. It actually looks like it could do with a repaint before too long. It’s good to see that they are still on guard duty, even if the thing they were guarding is no more.

Get Those Shock Waves Showing

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The Fleet Week air show in San Francisco is wrapped up by the Blue Angels. The sneak passes made by the pair are an opportunity to try and get something interesting. Since they display over the bay and the city is known for having high relative humidity, I am always hoping to get some good vapor shots. This time out, that wasn’t to be. The air seemed to be pretty dry and there was not a lot of vapor on show. However, the fast pass from left to right takes the jet in front of the hills and Alcatraz which provides some detail to show up the distortion caused by the shock-waves. The large number of boats and associated masts meant a clean shot was tricky but I got a couple I was pleased with.

Hercules Tankers at Nellis

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Red Flag 16-4 was a bit unusual in that tanker support was not what you normally see. No KC-135s were taking part. The Israeli Air Force had brought some 707s for tanking there jets. The rest of the tankers were KC-130s. An MC-130J showed up although I don’t know whether it was part of the exercise or just there coincidentally. The Spanish Air Force brought their KC-130s to support the Hornets. Seeing a camouflaged Herc is a nice change given how most of them are monotone these days. It doesn’t hurt that, since tankers tend to recover late, they came back as the light was getting very nice.

Customs Citation

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Cessna Citations are not the most exciting business jets. The original versions are particularly uninspiring with their simple design and unswept wing. Normally I might not even bother if I came across one. This example showed up at Davis Monthan while we were on the ramp and it obviously wasn’t a standard version. It belongs to the Customs people. I imagine it spends a lot of time looking at what is going on along the border. Flying out of Tucson would support that idea. I imagine the sensors on board are a lot more interesting than the plane itself.

Vipers Sneaking up on Strike Eagle

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Before I say anything else, this shot is not original. I didn’t think of this and I certainly wasn’t the first to shoot it. Indeed, it is the exact opposite. This is a shot that I have seen from other people a bunch of times but that I have never achieved. The recovery for Red Flag has a lot of jets coming home at once. Jets will break into the pattern and will be turning final when more jets are coming in to the break. You can get jets coming in overhead directly behind the jet on final turn. It looks cool but I had not got it before. This time I got lucky. I don’t know whether I am pleased with the shot or just glad that I finally happened to get it!

Spanish Hornets and Some Strange Patterns

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It has been a long time since I last saw some Spanish Air Force Hornets so I was glad to see them at Red Flag. They may not look very different to the Navy and Marine Hornets but still, some variety is worth it. It was the second week of the exercise so I would have expected everyone to be pretty familiar with the operations around the pattern. However, the Spanish guys seemed to have some different ideas.

They were certainly interested in keeping the patterns tight. I don’t know whether they convert to type with the Navy and are trained to fly tight or whether that is just their nature. However, on one occasion, the pilot came way inside the downwind line while another jet was flying that line and he was going to end up cutting them off. I guess he realized at the last moment because he turned left to get back out where he should have been. A bit strange to watch!