Tag Archives: aeroplane

Strike Eagle Shot I Couldn’t Ignore

As is often the case, this shot is the result of me looking for something else. While searching through the catalogue to find something, I came across my first visit to the Aviation Nation show at Nellis AFB. I would end up spending a lot of time at Nellis over the years, but this was possibly my first real visit. The USAF F-15E Strike Eagle demo was on the programme, and I had the 500mm on as it took off. By purely good fortune, it rotated at almost the perfect spot for that focal length.

There is a tiny bit of clipping of the airframe, but the dynamism of the shot combined with the favourable lighting means I don’t mind. This then got me thinking of other F-15E demos that occurred around then. On two of them I got the mudhen in an arcing turn at speed with vapour across the airframe. One was in nice light but slightly backlit while the other was in more muted conditions. I figured I would include both of them here so you can compare them yourself.

Some Other Barcelona Movements

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As I may have already written, our return journey from Barcelona was undertaken with plenty of contingency in getting to the flight. Consequently, we had a bit of time to kill waiting for the gate to board our flight. What is a guy to do while waiting at an airport? I guess I will have to just look out of the window. The taxi route from the terminal on the north side of the airport to the southerly departure runway took everything passed us.

Not a lot of variety of angles but a variety of airlines. I think this is the first time I have seen Air Baltic with its A220s. Westjet is not a novelty with a 787-9 having seen plenty and ridden on at least one but seeing them in Spain was new. Transavia planes used to make it to the US when Sun Country would lease them, but I don’t think I have seen them operating for themselves. Add to that Egyptair, Wizzair, Air Arabia and I got some interesting variety.

An Early Generation of Anson

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When the announcers at the RAF Cosford Airshow said that an Avro Anson would be displaying, I have to admit I was not terribly interested. My assumption was that it was the same example I had seen flying at Old Warden during shows last year. Nothing wrong with that display but I wasn’t super psyched by it. However, that was not the plane. Instead, this was an early model Anson.

It had flown in from Czechia in the hands of its owner. RAF Cosford has a strong historical link with the Czech Air Force, so this was something they were keen to highlight during the display. Because it was an operational rather than training Anson, it was wearing camo. The display really made good use of the plane. It kept nicely tight in front of the crowd. The angles showed off the plane very well. The framing and windows along the fuselage are quite a curious look and they showed up well with the light behind the plane. It was a good display and a lovely looking aircraft. What a delight compared to my misplaced expectations.

Is This Islander Watching Me?

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One weekend afternoon I was photographing at Heathrow watching the inbound airlines. I heard a bit of noise from above and looked up to see what it might be. It was an Islander passing overhead the airport at some altitude. I grabbed a few shots at significant distance. A bit of research suggests this airframe is used for a variety of surveillance missions of a more formal nature. I wonder if they got anything of me while I was photographing them?

Finally, I Get to See the Bronco Demo

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Tony De Bruyn’s air show performances with the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco have been a feature of shows for many years but, with me having not lived in the UK for a chunk of that time, I have never seen home display. Therefore, I was rather pleased to see he was on the schedule for the RAF Cosford air show. The plane is an agile performer and so well suited to keeping it tight in front of the crowd.

The lighting at Cosford is not ideal and his display did take place when the sun had not come around. However, I did the best I could to get some reasonable shots of the show. He really threw the plane around nicely including some slow passes and some aeros. The sideslip approach was something to see and the rate of decent he achieved was something else.

Not sure when the next chance will come my way, but I do hope to get to photograph another of his displays – preferably in better light. An evening display would be really great to make the most of the Luftwaffe colours on the plane.

HondaJet and the Sun? Really?

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If you have read the posts on this blog diligently – and surely you have – you will know that I am both interested the Honda HA420 HondaJet and that I seem to attract clouds whenever one is nearby. However, apparently, I am not a total cloud magnet. I did have one show up at Boeing Field on a sunny day. In fact, rather harsh sun which made getting a shot I was happy with a touch more difficult. However, it is true that I can see one when clouds aren’t around!

Vintage Harriers Pulled Out for the Show

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The static displays at RAF Cosford’s air show included quite the variety of out of service types that are kept at Cosford for training purposes. This included the first generation of Harriers. A pair of Harrier GR3s were on one lineup while a Sea Harrier FA2 was on another. The sun was out on the GR3s which made their ‘80s camouflage look great. Funny how, after years of Harrier IIs in service, when I think of Harriers, it is still the GR3s and the SHARs that come to mind.

Royal Jordanian Nose Job

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I have always been a fan of the liveries that Royal Jordanian Airlines adopts for its planes. They provide a welcome change from the variations on white that most airlines use. While at Barcelona, this Airbus landed from Amman. The livery looks great but is a bit disrupted by the radome that has been swapped off a jet that has a different generation of the paint. I wonder whether it will get swapped again or repainted at some point.

Rafale Display

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The Rafale has been in service for a long time now and exports have meant more countries operate it. I got to see some Indian Air Force examples when they came through Washington a couple of years ago. However, my experience of watching a display has been limited to the original Rafale A demonstrator and then the initial Rafale C development aircraft – both of which displayed at Farnborough. I have not seen a Rafale display since then.

This wasn’t the only reason I went to Cosford but it certainly was a big factor. The cancellation of RIAT had me thinking about what other air shows I might want to see and, while Cosford is not ideal from a lighting point of view with the crowd facing south-east, the knowledge that the French Air Force was bringing a Rafale to display was influential in my decision to go.

The display was excellent. I don’t know whether it is the characteristics of the aircraft and the nature of the display flying that the French Air Force goes for but this was an excellent show. (The French Mirage 2000 display always used to wow me too so there is a pattern.) The plane was constantly in motion and it really kept the attention of the crowd. There are definitely some lessons that other air forces could learn.

The display was just far enough into the show to get some benefit from the lighting coming around slightly. There was also some cloud which may have reduced the potential for silhouetting of the jet against the sky. I was a bit out of practice with my tracking but managed to get a few shots that I was happy with. I am not always in favour of special paint schemes for display jets but this one was no bad thing. I do hope to see the display again at some point – preferably in better lighting.

How Will I Know the Type?

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The airlines have adopted the practice of writing their name on the underside of their planes. I am not sure if it was Emirates that started it but that was who I first noticed doing it and now others have followed suit. I haven’t seen the type written on the underside of the plane before, though. This bizjet flew over home on approach to Southampton. I can safely say I would have known what it was but apparently the owner wants to make sure no one is in any doubt about what type they are operating.