Category Archives: military

Dutch Training

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AE7I6448.jpgThe Dutch F-16 training unit has been at Tucson for a while now.  It moved from Springfield IL to join the Arizona ANG unit at the International Airport.  I have seen their jets before but it was nice to see them again.  The Dutch F-16s have been through an extensive upgrade program but the airframes are knocking on a bit.  Built by Fokker as F-16A/Bs in the early days of the program, they have soldiered on while the USAF retired their F-16As a long time ago.  I didn’t get a lot of chance to shoot the Dutch jets but managed to catch a few during my time there.

This Harpoon is Not the One We Flew In!

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B11I7318.jpgOne of our party on the trip to Eagle Field commented on whether it was a rule that all airfields have a derelict Harpoon parked on them.  While we had traveled down in a pristine example, parked a short distance away from us was a Harpoon that was not in the greatest of shape.  Most of it seemed to be there but some bits had gone.  The effect was to expose the aircraft and make it look more like a skeleton of a plane.  When the light angles were nice and low, the texture on the plane was really nicely picked out too.  I have no idea what the future holds for this plane but I doubt it is going anywhere in a hurry.

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Hawgsmoke on the Ramp

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B11I4043.jpgEvery two years the A-10 community gets together for the Hawgsmoke competition.  I covered it again for GAR and you can see the piece I wrote here.  The first day we were there was the arrival day.  The plan had been to watch some landings and then to move to the parking ramp area.  As it happened, we couldn’t get too close to the runway and some of the arrivals were delayed so we headed to the ramp instead which proved to be a good choice.  The A-10s were coming in from the various units.

AE7I5421.jpgInitially he team were a little concerned about how we could access the area while the jets were on the move but we gradually got more access as they got more confident in us staying in the right places.  The jets were taxiing along the outsides and then parking facing inwards.  Consequently, we could be in between the rows and out of the way of the aircraft on the move.  As more jets were parked up, we could move further out towards to the taxiway and closer to the arriving aircraft.  It all worked pretty well.

B11I3922.jpgOnce the jets were on the ground the ground crews were straight into action taking off he baggage pods and starting to load up with practice bombs ready for the range slots that were to come as the exercise got underway.  Most of the jets were parked outside the sun shelters so the crews were getting pretty hot as they worked.  Plenty of coolers of water were on hand to keep them in good shape.  This was a good start to the coverage of the exercise from my perspective.

Eagle Field Fly-In

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AE7I7531.jpgMy trip in the Harpoon was to get to the fly-in at Eagle Field.  This is an event that I previously didn’t know anything about so I went with few preconceptions.  As it turned out, this year was not the most well attended that they have had.  A selection of aircraft showed up for the event but not as many as hoped for.  A few T-6s were there along with a C-54, some Navions, an Interstate Kadet and us.  Some less exotic types were also there such as Pipers and Cessnas.  There was also quite a gathering of military vehicles.  These are not something that I know a lot about.  During the day some reenactors also carried out some firefight demonstrations.

B11I7095.jpgThe following morning, the visitors headed back out.  We were one of the last to go so got to watch the other aircraft start up, taxi out and take off.  Most put in at least one pass before they headed home.

Flying in the Harpoon

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B11I6923.jpgI had a really fun experience recently.  I was given the chance to head down to a fly-in in one of the participating aircraft.  The aircraft was a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon.  Beautifully restored, this aircraft was piloted by Taigh Raimey.  Taigh works with a variety of aircraft including a lot of Beech 18s but the Harpoon is a great aircraft to fly in.  Inside it is extensively restored so a lot of the original equipment is included.  Consequently, it is a little cramped in there and you have to be careful as you move through the airframe.

B11I6952.jpgThere are two places inside that are worth spending some time.  In the middle of the fuselage is an astrodome.  This is certainly a great place to watch what is going on.  You can look freely in any direction.  I was up there when we arrived at Eagle Field and got a good view of our flyby.  However, my favorite spot was the rear of the fuselage.  It is extensively glazed and you can lie on your stomach and watch the world pass behind and below you.  That will get a post of its own.

AWACS Oddity

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Scan 2-1594.jpgA number of different airframes have been used for airborne early warning requirements. The Boeing E-3 Sentry is the most well-known but there have been a number of other types over the years. SAAB developed a radar system that has been mounted on Embraer 145 jets, SAAB 340s and SAAB 2000s. The development of this system was started in the 1980s and a testbed was produced prior to the system appearing on a production airframe. This testbed was a Fairchild Metro turboprop. It made an appearance at the Farnborough airshow where I got some shots of it. It was camouflaged in what was then the standard Swedish camouflage scheme. This was a cool look for their planes and I do miss it.

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Iraqi F-16s

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B11I3768.jpgIraq places an order for F-16s a number of years ago.  The first aircraft were not initially delivered to the country but instead went to Tucson to set up a training unit.  There are still some aircraft there being used to train new Iraqi pilots.  Soon the remaining jets will head to Iraq following those that have already been delivered.  I hadn’t seen them before since this all happened since my last visit to Tucson.  They operate from Tucson International, alongside the ANG unit and the Dutch training unit.

B11I3570.jpgWe had a few movements of the Iraqi jets while I was there and these were, apparently, some of the newer jets to have been delivered.  They have adopted a different camouflage pattern to the normal F-16 scheme so it is easier to recognize it is them as they approach.  I doubt I will be back before they leave the country so this was one of the few times I will likely see these jets.

Transport for the Hawgs

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AE7I5174.jpgAll of the A-10s coming in for Hawgsmoke need some support.  There were C-17s and C-5s on the ramp during the exercise.  While we were out watching the jets arrive, a C-130J came in as well.  It landed and then turned to taxi right back passed us.  I don’t know for sure whether it was supporting the A-10s from a unit or it was just a coincidence that it arrived at that time on another mission but I figure that it is a strong chance that is why it was there.

DM’s Museum Jets

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B11I4056.jpgMany airbases have a selection of historic aircraft on display to show something of what has gone before on the base.  Sadly, they are often unavailable to shoot when you visit.  Davis Monthan AFB has quite a few different planes on display and, fortunately, the location of the Fallen Hawg ceremony during Hawgsmoke was in front of the display A-10.  While everything was being set up, we had some time to kill and I was allowed to wander around the other planes.

B11I4070.jpgThe selection included some obvious DM aircraft like the A-10 and A-7 (even if it was actually a Navy A-7E that they had repainted).  A U-2 was a slightly more surprising one to see.  I’m not sure how that qualifies but I wasn’t complaining.  The F-105, F-100 and F-4 all looked good too.  Not only was it nice to be able to shoot them but it gave us something to do since we had got in place pretty early!

Vampires Out in Daylight

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B11I5928.jpgTucson International is a place I was expecting to shoot F-16s of various nations.  I had not expected to see any Super Hornets.  However, the Navy had other plans.  A couple of VX-9 Vampires jets were detached and carrying out missions with some of the based test aircraft.  One of them was the color jet too!  This was a very pleasant surprise.  They took off in the morning for a mission and we got to see them head off.  They returned ahead of my expectations and I wasn’t in the right place to get them on approach.  Even so, a great addition to the day.  I was flying home later that day and, while looking out of the window at the gate, they taxied by again so I guess they were getting a lot of flying in.