Tag Archives: fighter

The Growlers Must Be Shy

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I have shot at quite a few Red Flags both on and off base.  On base of get such good access that you don’t see anything to make you think that the participants are camera shy.  However, off base I have become rather suspicious of the Growler community.  When you see something strange once, you figure it must be an oddity but, when you see something repeat, you start to think there is a pattern.  When you tell your friend that something happens and then they do it again for both of you, you really think something is going on.

The E/A-18G Growlers fly in a way that makes me think they are trying to be difficult for photographers. (Either that or they think they are doing something to help but are actually making it worse!).  During arrivals the Growlers often go left but, when they go right, they either fly incredibly tight patterns or they go so long as to make all shots rather dull.  However, it is on departure that I have got most suspicious.  When they come off the left runway heading towards us, they seem to sidestep to the left and then straighten up after a while.  This puts them almost directly overhead the awaiting photographers.  You get an underside shot but nothing more.  Not a great shot but you start wondering what you are missing from the profile or above that might be more interesting.  I am probably paranoid but I do see a pattern developing.

Dormant Centerline Jammer

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The Growlers use the same jamming pod that came from the Prowler.  A new jamming system is in development but, for now, the ALQ-99 is the system that they have and the pods are the same pods.  The jamming power comes from a generator that is powered by a turbine mounted on the front of the pod.  As the jet flies along, the turbine spins in the airflow and provides the “juice” to power the electronics within.  Even at relatively low speeds the turbine gets rotating.  However, when the jets come in to land, if they have a centerline pod, the turbine is not moving.  I don’t know whether the blockage from the nose gear doors is enough to stop it or whether it is deliberately switched off.  However, the turbine blades are feathered and it is not moving.  Compare the wing mounted pods and the motion and blade angle is clearly different.

Mixed Formations

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Returning jets from the Red Flag missions often come back with the other jets from their units.  However, you do occasionally get a mixed formation or two as a straggler joins up with some other jets for the run in and break.  This time, it might have been my imagination, but there seemed to be more mixed formations than normal.  We discussed whether, with the F-35s taking part in larger numbers, other pilots were kind of keen to get in formation with them and check them out from closer quarters.  Whether that was the case or not, whether there was another reason or perhaps it was just coincidence.  Whatever the reason, we got a few mixed groups and not always just with the Daves!

F-16 on a Pole

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Our overnight stop at Medford in Oregon was close to the airport. I took a stroll towards the terminal which had an F-16 mounted on a pole outside.  This was an F-16A model.  I assume it had been there for quite a while.  There was a time a while back when units would detail bits of their jets with chrome.  A-10 guns would be chromed and F-16s would have the port around their guns chromed up too.  This jet had obviously had the treatment.  The odd thing was that, over the years the paint had become heavily faded.  However, the gun port looked exactly like new.  These pictures won’t really emphasize this since they were taken wide to get the whole jet in but you might just be able to make out the gun port.

Some Raptors Because, Well Why Not?

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The 1st FW at Langley AFB was the source of the Raptor contribution to Red Flag this year.  They weren’t the only F-22s I got to see though.  Some of the based aircraft were busy before and after the Red Flag missions so there was plenty of Raptor action.  Not much of a story to tell on these.  Just a chance to gratuitously show a variety of photos of F-22s because, from the right angle, they look pretty cool!

Late Gear Down for One Warthog

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The normal operations at Nellis continue even while Red Flag is on.  The local units try to fly their missions at times that fit between the larger exercises.  A four ship of A-10s launched in the morning and they were recovering shortly before the Red Flag launch.  Rather than run in and break, they flew a straight in approach to runway 21R.  Strangely the first jet came passed and it was still gear up as it came close.  I have no idea whether they were just keeping it late or had got a call from the tower but the gear came down alongside us.  The following three jets were gear down a lot earlier.  Let’s say it was deliberate…

Head to Head With the Aggressors

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Shooting at Nellis always requires choices to be made.  Aside from determining which end you will go to, there is the question about how far up you will go at the Speedway.  Some jets turn very tight, others turn long.  Some departing jets flex, some flex more tightly than others.  Where to go?  Paul and I headed up near Gate 7 to see whether we would do alright.  As it happened, quite a few of the jets were flexing right overhead us.  This didn’t provide the sort of shots we had originally envisaged but, as it turned out, I was rather pleased with the different look.

I was getting some very head on shots of some of the aggressor F-16s as the turned towards the ranges.  There was even a bit of moisture in the air and the vortices over the root extensions were showing up.  That angle has a very dynamic look, even though the lighting in that location is not great for such an angle.  The other benefit was as they had passed overhead.  You got a close look at the top side of the jet from behind as they flew away.  It might not have been what we intended but I was rather pleased with the outcome anyway.

A Lot More of the Talon Hate

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I got some shots of the Talon Hate jet on a previous visit and posted about it here.  On this trip to Nellis, not only was it very active but it managed to come our way whenever it flew.  Whether it was views of it flexing on departure or tight approaches to bring it passed us on the speedway, it all seemed to work out well.  I love the F-15 anyway but getting this special one was a lot of fun.  I’m sure the wingman in the F-15D knows that the single-seater is the one we are looking at but they certainly made a good effort to be in position for us to get some good shots of them too.  Here are a few of the two of them including a very nice two-ship run in and break.

Blue Angels at Oceana (And High ISO)

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I have only been to the Oceana show once.  I headed down there with my friends Ben and Simon.  We weren’t terribly lucky with the weather.  There was flying during the show but things were overcast and deteriorated as the show went on.  The finale of the show was, naturally for a big Navy base, the Blue Angels.  I was shooting with a 1D Mk IIN in those days and that was a camera that was not happy at high ISO settings.

The problem was, the light was not good and the ISO needed to be cranked up a bit.  Amusingly, if you were shooting today, the ISO levels would not be anything that caused concern.  Current cameras can shoot at ISO levels without any noise levels that would have been unthinkable back then.  However, I did learn something very important with this shoot.  The shot above is one that I got as one of the solo jets got airborne.  I used it as a test for processing.

I processed two versions of the image, one with a lot of noise reduction dialed in and one with everything zeroed out.  I think combined them in one Photoshop image and used a layer mask to show one version in one half of the image and the other for the second half.  When I viewed the final image on the screen, the noise in one half was awfully apparent.  It was a clear problem.  However, I then printed the image.  When I did so, things were very different.  If you looked closely, you could see a little difference.  However, when you looked from normal viewing distances, there was no obvious difference between the two.

My takeaway from this is that viewing images on screens has really affected our approach to images.  We get very fixated on the finest detail while the image as a whole is something we forget.  We print less and less these days and the screen is a harsh tool for viewing.

Some Spare Oxygen – Just in Case

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There have been quite a few Raptor posts recently.  I guess seeing a bunch of them at Nellis triggered a few things of interest to me.  One was as I looked at the jets after they had passed me by on their approach.  A few years ago, the F-22 fleet was grounded by some issues with the oxygen system.  Like most modern jets, the F-22 doesn’t carry bottled oxygen but instead generates it onboard for the pilot.  There were some issues with the oxygen being generated that resulted in pilots feeling unwell and, potentially, losing awareness of what they were doing.  As you can image, this is not a good thing in a fast jet and was believed to have contributed to loss of an aircraft with its pilot!

A backup oxygen system was implemented to provide the pilots with something in the event that they felt symptoms of the problem recurring.  Not so much of a solution as a fallback plan.  As I looked at the jets, I saw green tanks behind the ejection seat.  These are pretty big tanks and seem rather unsubtle in the way that something that has been added after the fact often is.  I wonder whether these are the spare tanks for the pilots to breathe should the onboard generation system cease to be reliable.