Tag Archives: fighter

DM A-10s Are Gradually Going Away

For the longest time, there have been efforts by the USAF to drawn down the A-10 force. Various things have held them back from doing this but now there is a pretty concerted effort to retire them. Units are closing down, and it does seem that the aircraft might no longer have a role in the order of battle. There are many fans of the A-10 including me and some will never accept it can be replaced while others will think its time has come. They were produced from the late 70s to the early 80s, so they are definitely old, even if parts of them are a lot newer like the wings.

What we like or think doesn’t matter. They seem to be going away. Consequently, when we were at Davis-Monthan during the Arizona trip, I was pleased to get to shoot a few of the jets working around the pattern there. I know my Harrier experiences this year have shown how wrong you can be about when you will ever see things again, but I figure the number of encounters I shall have with these jets will be limited. Even so, they are continuing to make new developments as Mark found on a follow up visit when he saw a new store mounted on one of the evaluation jets. The A-10 was a favorite of mine in my teens, and it will be a shame when they are all gone.

Great Access for the Takeoff and Recovery

I didn’t get to see the F-15s when they did the flyover for the Huskies game, but the Sunday gave me a chance to head out and see what might be possible to shoot.  I bumped into my friend, Jeff, at the spot I was hoping to try, and it was immediately clear it would not work because a bunch of spare 737s had been parked in the line of sight.  With the weather being overcast, we both decided to head across to the terminal to see what our options were.

Then Jeff found out his friend, Clint, was working on the field that day and was happy to give us a ride.  The F-15s had already fired up so we were a bit concerned whether we could meet up with him in time or not.  However, it is always a long time between engine start and taxiing and Clint came and got us with plenty of time to spare.  We stopped at one location to photograph the jets taxiing towards us but a bizjet pulled out in front of them, so we made tracks to the other side of the field.

We picked a spot which we thought would be good for them having already rotated and then waited.  They were lined up behind the bizjet and it was waiting for its airways release so, eventually the tower had them taxi across the runway to make space for the F-15s to launch.  They then lined up and were blasting past us.  I hadn’t brought any hearing protection and things were a touch loud, but it was brief.  I was a little foolish playing with some low shutter speeds but a few of the shots worked out well.  The second jet kept things nice and low so the photographers further down the field would have been very happy.

Before they would return, Clint had some tasks to perform so he took us along while he sorted out what needed to be done.  We kept the football commentary on the radio so we would know when the flyover had taken place.  Then the jets came back into sight stopping across the lower end of the city before they lined up for landing.  We picked a spot close to where we expected touchdown and, again, got lucky.  The second jet even obliged with the speedbrake – a bit like their original arrival.

What a fantastic bit of luck and thanks to Clint and Jeff for allowing me to tag along.  There is nothing quite like seeing these jets at close quarter.

Thunderbirds Show Up (As Does Their Support)

While Mark and I were in Arizona, we heard about the potential of Harriers being at El Centro.  We decided an additional leg to our trip was worth it and headed for California.  As we came up to the base after a few hours of driving, we saw something rather unanticipated over the airfield.  The USAF demonstration team, The Thunderbirds, were flying around over the field.  It turns out that they had gone to El Centro to spend some time working with the Blue Angels that were still there for winter training.

This had us worried.  If the teams were going to be flying, that would stop the other base operations, and our trip would have been futile.  Fortunately, they landed and were going to spend the afternoon on the ground talking about whatever demonstration teams talk about.  Operations would continue.  We did get one flight with a Thunderbirds call sign, though.  The C-17 that had come to support them headed off.  It had a Thunderbird call sign and did try a sporty take off and climb out.  I’m not sure whether everyone was really buying it though.

This Stabilization is Amazing

Another episode in the testing of the RF 200-800 for today’s post.  This is more focused on the image stabilization in the lens.  When shooting stills, I have commented on the slightly odd jerking effects visible in the viewfinder.  I think this is most apparent when panning very slowly and I think the camera is trying to work out if you mean to stay still or not.  However, one area which is really effective at showing the capabilities of the stabilization is video.

I have some footage below that is taken with the lens at 800mm and hand held.  No tripod or monopod here.  The rabbit was at the other end of our back yard while the bees were on the lavender plants in our beds.  You can see that the image is remarkably stable.  It is amazing to see it lock on so well.  I have also shot some video of an F-35B in the hover, also at 800mm.  It was interesting to see a lot of movement in the viewfinder for a moment and then it seemed to lock in on what it was doing and then things get really solid.  This tech is most impressive.

F-15s Arriving for the Flyovers

Seattle was hosting two football games in one weekend.  The Seahawks had their season opener on Sunday and the Huskies were playing on Saturday.  The 142nd FW from Portland sent up three jets to undertake flyovers for both games.  Each flyover involved two jets so the third was a spare should one be needed.  After all, these jets aren’t young.  Indeed, with the wing taking delivery of F-15EX jets, it won’t be long before the Charlie models are gone.

They showed up at the end of the day which made it easier to be there to catch them.  Since there were three of them, I decided to use a relatively high shutter speed for the first jet, a slower shutter speed for the second and then lower still for the last jet.  That way I should get a result on the early jets and hopefully would get something more dynamic on the last one if I was lucky.  Things turned out well enough and the last jet even popped the speedbrake on touchdown which was welcome.  The skies were a bit red as a result of the smoke in the are from wildfires but that might have softened the light a little.

Tango Really Does Like to Get Those Jetpipes Close

Those that have seen photos from the air show scene in 2024 may well have seen the spirited departure that the Royal Canadian Air Force Hornet demo includes.  The CF-188 gets pulled aggressively to the vertical and the speed of rotation is chosen carefully so that the engine nozzles get very close to the ground, but the airframe is already lifting and climbing so that no contact is made.  It makes for some cool shots.  At Abbotsford and Comox, I was nowhere close enough to get a good look at the moment of rotation, but Bremerton provided a better chance.  Rather far away so a bit hazy but still pretty cool.  Shame the special demo jet broke again, and we had the twin tub instead.

Erickson Makes the Bremerton Show Interesting

The Bremerton Air Show had some interesting displays, but the biggest contribution came from the Erickson Air Collection.  Aside from the Grumman Duck about which I have already posted, they brought a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P-40 Kittyhawk, a Bf-109 and an F4U Corsair.  The Corsair was for the Legacy Flight at the end of the show, but the others went up together for a sequence of passes.  Great to see these different planes out and about and congratulations to Erickson for having added so much to the show.

Burning the Runway Surface

I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair.  I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface.  From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing.  I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine.  Interesting effect, whatever the reason.

Evening Raptor Demo at Last

The “at last” in this title is not that I haven’t seen an F-22 demo in the evening.  I saw one once at Chino and it was very cool.  This is more about the fact that the Raptor demos in recent years have not strayed far west very often.  They did a demo in Australia but only had one demo west of the Mississippi for one season.  However, Canada did attract the team, and Abbotsford provided a chance to see them for me.

The pilot for the demo for the last two years is a guy that was a regular attendee of air shows in the Midwest when I lived there.  I know some of his friends, but he was quite young then and I can’t claim to know him.  Even so, it is rather cool to see him have made it to his chosen airframe of the F-22 and then to become the demo pilot.  Only near the end of his second year did I finally see his routine and it was a good show.  I know he has used flares at a number of events, but warm dry weather probably has meant that the fire risk precluded that.  Even so, the evening light made for a great show.

Nicely done, Sam.  Excellent performance.  Hope you have enjoyed it for the last two years.

Can Even More Harriers Be Allowed on Here?

After posting about the possible last encounter I would have with Harriers, I have since posted more shots of them coming through Seattle on their way to Alaska.  Of course, they had to come back at some point and Boeing Field was the stopping off point again.  Consequently, I have even more shots of them.  The arrivals were pretty straightforward, and I was pleased with the results.  When it came to departing, they were going early in the day and so I had to try something different for a location.  As it turned out, they weren’t going home when I took these shots.  They recovered back to BFI after I had left.  They did eventually head east, though.  Maybe that is it at this point?