Tag Archives: gloucestershire

Northrop Grumman Firebird

Northrop Grumman brought the Firebird to Fairford for RIAT.  RIAT is a big public show but it has developed a significant trade element to it and Firebird was clearly aimed at that audience.  It is a Scaled Composites design (with Northrop Grumman having bought Scaled a while back) and, while it has a cockpit, apparently it has the option to be flown unmanned.  I don’t know whether this is well tested or not.  Nor do I know the state of production examples.  I believe the one at RIAT was the prototype.

It was parked in the static park for a portion of the time I was there.  I did see it getting towed across to the north side at one point, presumably so it could be parked in a hangar rather than left out.  Supposedly, there is a US Government order for some of these and I imagine they will be fitted with some interesting systems.  Whether I shall ever see one is a different story.

Odd F-16 Vortices

With a sharp LERX, the F-16 regularly pulls a nice vortex on each side as it maneuvers hard.  Getting a shot of that is not a surprise.  However, I have recently been slowly making my way through shots from RIAT (months after the event) and I was working through some shots of the Belgian F-16 display.  I came across a shot of the jet pulling and rolling, taken from astern of the aircraft.  I noticed a second, smaller vortex trailing from the tail plane.  It appears that, with differential tail for the roll, there is a vortex coming from the tail plane – possibly at the route.  This pleases the old aero guy within!

Apache Wall of Fire

The British Army display of the WAH-64D Apache is one I have seen plenty of pictures of but I haven’t had much of a chance to shoot it myself.  The majority of the display is pretty standard stuff with them maneuvering tightly in front of the crowd, much like the US army’s display of the similar type.  They do use a little bit of pyro during the display but the finale is a wall of fire.  I was a bit concerned about my position compared to theirs as they positioned for the big moment as the background looked like it might not be all fire.  However, things turned out well enough and I got the sort of shot I was hoping for.

Turkish Phantoms

F-4 Phantoms are rapidly disappearing from service.  They remain in a few countries but their replacements are lined up in most cases.  The Turkish Air Force is still using them and brought some examples to RIAT.  They made their way to the west end for us to get some shots.  These jets had been planned for replacement by the F-35A Lightning II.  However, with the political fall out of the Turkish acquisition of Russian missile systems, they have been blocked from the program.  Maybe the F-4s will live on a little longer after all.

Patrouille de France Takeoff Configurations

I was working through some RIAT photos of the Patrouille de France display.  I had some tight shots of the first four jets as they took off and, as I looked closer at them, I was confused as to why two of the jets had a more nose high attitude than the other two.  Since they are taking off on formation, I figured that they should look the same.

A closer look at the images and it seems that the flap settings of the jets vary.  The nose high aircraft seem to have less flap – hence their need for a higher angle of attack – than the other two jets.  I have been trying the think why they would adopt this approach.  With all jets accelerating together and climbing together, I had imagined that they would all be in the same configuration.  I wonder whether there is something to do with the outwash from the nearby jets that requires a different configuration but I haven’t come up with anything conclusive.  I throw it out to the aero engineers that read this to propose your ideas as to why.  If any of you know anyone in the PdF, feel free to ask them instead!

Smokewinders Not Smoking

My F-16 shots from RIAT didn’t just throw up vortices (like this post).  They also showed something that seems to be a common occurrence in flying displays.  That is the failure of a Smokewinder to perform.  Smokewinders are a smoke generating pod that fits on a Sidewinder launch rail.  They are controlled from the cockpit and should add a nice effect to a display sequence.  The Belgian Air Force display aircraft was using them for its display.

In the early 90s we used them on the BAe company Hawk demonstrators at shows.  The crews had got to understand the workings of the pods well and knew what could cause them to quit during a display.  At one Farnborough, they actually helped out one of the other companies that was having trouble keeping theirs running smoothly.  I guess the problem hasn’t gone away and the knowledge is not widely shared as the Belgian jet lost one pod during its display.  In the shot above, you can see a small amount of flame emerging rather than the intended smoke and, a short while later, the pod quit for the rest of the display.

Arrivals at RIAT

Arrivals day at any air show is a good opportunity to catch the movements of aircraft that will only be in the static display as opposed to the flying display.  At RIAT, there are park and view areas at the east and west ends of the airfield.  I have used both over the years but the east end can be really hectic.  It does give you the chance to shoot the aircraft on final approach but you can really be fighting for space.

I chose the west end this year.  Planes were landing at the east end but it was pretty normal for aircraft to taxi to the west end to then be led to their parking location.  Of course, a few interesting types managed to turn off early or backtrack before they got to the end but, on the whole, we did well.  The weather wasn’t great but there was a fair bit of sun which helped.

Some of the more exotic types made it up our way.  The Ukrainian SU-27s and their IL-76 came up as did the special schemes on some of the F-16s.  The Luftwaffe brought some marked jets along too.  An F-15E taxied past twice and provided a couple of speed brake waves for the gathered photographers.  It could get a bit congested and, with jets holding in the turning loop, they did occasionally send their jet wash across the path of the incoming jets which sabotaged a few photo opportunities.

Later on the Thursday, a few practice displays were also flown by crews qualifying for the show which provided a different angle on some of the performances.  An F-16C of the USAF did its full routine and then added a few extra banana passes bringing out right over us at speed several times.  Much appreciated!

Another Rapide!

I posted some shots of John Sessions’ Dragon Rapide in this post.  I was pleased to see another Rapide show up at Fairford for RIAT.  I managed to get a few shots of it.  It was painted in a nice color scheme and looked very elegant as it pottered by.  Not a speedy plane (despite the name) so plenty of time to enjoy it.

Ukrainian IL-76

The IL-76 is a beast of a transport.  It is a rugged plane and looks like it could handle anything thrown at it.  I have seen them on a variety of occasions – most recently the modernized versions used for civil freight work.  The older versions with the original engines are a great thing to see though.  The Ukrainian Air Force brought an example to RIAT this year.  It was flying overhead when the Sukhois were landing and then it came in too.  It came up to the west end where we got a good view of it.  Then it was parked up on static display for the show.  Sadly, I didn’t get to see it depart at the end of the show.

The Avanti Couldn’t Escape Me Forever

When I heard an Avanti had showed up at RIAT while I wasn’t there, I was a touch annoyed.  I am such a fan of the type that I thought missing it would be very frustrating.  Fortunately, it was still at Fairford at the end of the show so the departure day was going to be the time for me to get a shot.  It took off in plenty of time before I had to go so I was treated to the sight and sounds that accompany a pair of pusher props.