Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

Is what I am seeing real or is it a Mirage?  Sorry, pretty crummy pun usage.  When I was going to Nellis for Red Flag, one of the things I wanted to shoot was the Mirage F1s of Draken International.  It is a long time since I have seen an F1 – it was back when the Spanish Air Force was still flying them and they came to RIAT.  Now that Draken is using them for aggressor support services, I was keen to catch one or two of them.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to wait long.  The first time I drove up to the base, a pair of the Draken jets were recovering.  I grabbed the camera as they came in straight towards me before going over my head.  I had not set up the camera as I would have intended but just turned it on and pointed it at the jets.  Not bad luck and some of the shots came out okay.

I did get a couple more opportunities.  These were departures at the Speedway.  In one morning I had a pair of them heading out without flexing.  The camo pattern they have is the same but the colors vary.  The black and white scheme was interesting.  However, I prefer the brown scheme and the last two jets I got to shoot before I headed to the airport were F1s flexing north.  Top and tail the visit with Mirages!

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