Category Archives: military

A2AX Workshop

About a year ago I saw a ton of cracking images showing up online from friends of mine that had attended the Madras A2AX workshop. At the time I figured I needed to start panning on being there for the next edition of the workshop. It is run by Scott Slocum and Lyle Jansma at the Erickson Air Museum’s facility and their aircraft provided the subjects for the photo flights. Scott and Lyle were joined by Paul Bowen. Paul was not instructing but he did provide his own perspective and guidance on what we were working on and also could be relied on to show up with his camera whenever you were looking at your goofiest and to tell some hilarious tales of his various exploits.

I met some familiar faces and made a whole bunch of new friends. Various hurdles were thrown in the way of the team due to weather and serviceability issues but they adapted well and the team were intent on having a good time whatever was going on. It was a fantastic weekend with some great learning opportunities and some beautiful aircraft to photograph. Here are a couple of samples of what we had to play with.

Kfirs

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Time for another post on a specific military aircraft. This time it is one with an interesting history. The Israeli Air Force was a customer of Dassault’s Mirage aircraft and had good experience with it. However, Dassault/France declined to sell further aircraft to Israel. Instead, the Israelis decided to make their own version. A combination of covert acquisition of design drawings and the introduction of a new engine resulted in the creation of the Kfir.

During the 1980s, a number of Kfirs were supplied to the US Navy to be operated as aggressor aircraft under the F-21 designation. Their use in service was not terribly long but, once they were withdrawn, they were acquired by private companies to use in support roles for training. I have come across them a couple of times. One was at Pt Mugu in California when an example was shooting approaches. The other time was during a visit to NAS Fallon in Nevada where they were launching on training missions.

The Kfir is quite a mean looking aircraft. The original delta wing design has many good attributes but approach speed is not one of them and they really do seem to be motoring when they come down the approach. I imagine they will remain in service for a number of years to come so I hope to see more in due course.

MiG29

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Continuing through my theme of looking at individual types, I came across some old pictures of the MiG-29. I figured I could get a post out of them so here we are. I saw quite a few of the Fulcrums in the late 80s and early 90s when they started traveling further afield. My first encounter was when the Russian Air Force brought a pair to Farnborough. They showed up again in a later year and then examples from other eastern bloc air forces started coming to the UK once the wall came down.

The quality of my film shots from those days is not great but you can see a bit of what was on offer. The Ukrainian aircraft showed up in some really cool colors. The best shots I have are of the MiG-29OMT which was a demonstrator that came to the UK in 2006 and displayed at RIAT. It had thrust vectoring nozzles to enhance maneuverability and put in a pretty impressive display.

Lots of the operators today are starting to look at replacements. The age of some airframes along with the support issues are pushing them to renew while interoperability with NATO forces is another driver for change. I’m not sure how many more I will see flying although there are a good number in museums. There are a couple in private hands here in the states (one of which I saw being towed from across Paine Field) so they might be my best bet.

Nemo the Seahawk?

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A few years ago I was on a visit to NAS Fallon. As part of the visit we headed to the hangar used by the local search and rescue unit. They were just in the process of transitioning from the Huey to the Seahawk airframe. The Huey had been painted in a bright white and orange scheme and there was some discussion as to whether the Seahawk would get the same treatment. Would it get to look like Nemo. The thought was that low viz would end up being the rule.

At the time, their new Seahawk was in a hybrid scheme. We were pleased to see it since it was thought it might not last. As it has turned out, they have adopted some far more vibrant colors on the airframes since according to the images I have seen online. Hopefully I will get up there again some time to see what they look like now.

Raptors at Play

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Is the Raptor a good looking jet or not? I still have yet to make up my mind on that one. From some angles it looks pretty cool and from others it looks awkward. Never look at it on the ground because the undercarriage is really not designed to make it look elegant! Either way, it is a striking jet. I have seen them a bunch of times at different venues and, while picking out some shots for a project, I also saw a bunch of F-22s and figured I might have a selection of some of them, hopefully looking at their best.

Aggressor F-15s

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The USAF recently got rid of their squadron of Boeing F-15 Eagle aggressor aircraft. The aggressors have used a combination of F-15 and F-16 aircraft for a while but now they have gone to an all F-16 operation. The aircraft have been redistributed to the other units that operate the type and will gradually lose their aggressor colors as they get repainted.

I thought I would celebrate them with a selection of shots of the F-15s that I have got over time. I wonder whether we shall see them again. It is not unknown for things to change again so we can hope. However, I won’t be putting money on it.

: An aggressor Boeing F-15C of the USAF launches from Nellis AFB NV.

Thunderbirds With One Extra

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Why is this different and why should I look? Thunderbirds shots are not hard to find online. I have tons of them myself and an appearance by the team at any show is going to result in a ton of shots from the people there. These are shots with a slight difference though. These were taken in Chicago at the Air and Water Show a number of years ago. However, they weren’t taken on the main show days. Instead, they were taken during the Friday practice.

Because it was a practice day, the team carried out their display with a spare aircraft loosely in formation. It was a twin seater so I assume the backseat had a photographer occupying it. (I am not in the least bit jealous of course!) The team flew their normal display routine and the extra jet would position itself around the formation and (hopefully) get some shots of them with some excellent backdrops of the city.

For me, it meant getting pictures of formations that you don’t normally see. I imagine the excess power of the F-16 means there is some scope for the spare jet to position itself well around the formation without running out of energy. It must provide scope to get some cool shots. They had better be cooler than the ones I got that day given the position they had. I am happy with mine all the same.

WACO and Stearman

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Vintage types are always nice to see out and about rather than in a museum. When they are active and in fantastic condition, things are even better. One evening at Boeing Field, I was treated to a pair of great looking planes. A Cabin WACO was one of them. It landed and taxied back in past where I was standing. Having had a fun time at the WACO Reunion a few years ago (more of which you can read about here), I am now more aware of them as a type than I once was.

The other visitor was a Stearman. Again, looking great in the evening light, it taxied out and departed away from me. The problem with planes like these at a location like Boeing Field is that they tend to fly quite a distance from you and, since they are a lot smaller than some of the other planes there, you don’t get such good photo opportunities. Heat haze can also make things tricky. Despite that, there were a few shots to be had and some time to just enjoy watching them.

Collings Foundation at Livermore

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The annual visit of the Collings Foundation to Livermore with their vintage warbirds is a popular event with many people turning out to look at the planes and, in some cases, fly in them. This year I didn’t plan on spending a lot of time there but I did head down for a while to check out how things were progressing. It was a hot day so the heat haze was playing havoc with shots as usual but there was still enough to see.

I had pondered what other spots might be useful for getting a shot or two and tried wandering down the street. However, the area is not pedestrian friendly so that idea didn’t progress too far. I did wrap up the day by driving to the public golf course at the end of the field to see whether I could get a different perspective on the departures. It wasn’t a bad spot but not somewhere I shall try again unless there is a good reason. You get a brief view and have to grab your shots before the planes are behind the trees.

Whatever the limitations, having the P-51, the B-24 and the B-17 on display is always nice and worth taking time out for given that it is so close to home.

Scorpion

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Some aircraft I blog about are ones that I find cool and wish I had seen in action. This is not one of those. However, it does interest me because it is so different from many of the types from the same era. This is the Northrop F-89 Scorpion. The Castle Air Museum has an example on display and I have seen a few scattered around various museums. The Scorpion is, in theory at least, a fighter. However, looking at it, you might be forgiven for not realizing this. It is a big beast of a lane with an unswept wing and a decidedly chubby appearance.

It’s role was to shoot down bombers heading to the US. It was made in an era when jet engines were famously inefficient and having long range and endurance was tricky for a fighter. In order to operate far enough out to shoot the bombers while they were still out of range of their targets, the Scorpion focused on efficiency. It was not a maneuvering fighter. Its job was to get close enough to the bombers to launch its missiles.

These missiles look a bit odd too. They are not your traditional air to air missile designed for speed and agility. They also didn’t need to be. The Genie missile had a special warhead. It was a nuclear weapon. As long as it was reasonably close to the target, it was going to take it down. No clever tracking and requirement to get close to have the required effect. Ultimately, this combination was only suitable for a relatively limited type of target and the focus moved to newer fighters and missiles (although the nuclear armed missile concept lasted a lot longer). The Scorpion went into the history books.

One other aspect of the Scorpion is of interest. It had large wing tip fuel tanks to increase endurance. Someone came up with the idea of equipping the jet with unguided rockets and these were installed in the front of the tip tanks. I’m sure it was well worked out but the idea of having rocket exhaust plumes on the front of a fuel tank seemed bizarre to me as a kid.