Tag Archives: aircraft

Lots of Bones Awaiting Whatever Comes Next

I found myself in a plane over Gloucestershire recently and our route took us very close to RAF Fairford. Most of my photos at Fairford are from the Air Tattoo. However, in this case, whilst there was a fair bit of cloud in the area, I was getting shots looking down on the airfield. It has been used a lot recently for USAF missions to the Middle East. Things were a bit quiet while I was there but there were plenty of B-1Bs on the dispersals awaiting whatever might come next. Shooting through windows does not make for great image quality unfortunately.

Miss the Prowler

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When I was a kid, Airfix released a kit in 1:48 scale of the Grumman EA-6B Prowler. When it was released, I didn’t even know what it was. However, the unusual shape fascinated me and it continues to do so although they are now long retired and replaced by the EA-18G. I got to see them on a variety of occasions including not long before their retirement but this visit to Red Flag got me some close-up time with them departing.

End of the Line for these Dash 7s?

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I have been on a bit of a streak on Dash 7 posts recently. A couple of years ago, I was visiting the Pima museum in Arizona with some friends. The museum is very interesting but there are often some airframes just across the fence that are even more interesting. There were a bunch of Dash 7s there. I think they had been used by the US military for assorted purposes and there were signs of fairings added that hinted at modification made.

Civil registrations had been applied to the planes, but they didn’t seem to look like they had an immediate future. The Dash 7 isn’t something in high demand so, while someone might have a specialised need for them, I do wonder whether this will be where they end their days.

Aussie Herc in Great Light

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The last returns at the end of the Red Flag evolutions are usually the larger aircraft. The tankers and the AWACS will be near the end as might be the larger bombers if they are involved. You do also get some transport activity on the missions, and the Royal Australian Air Force had one of their Hercs included during one of my visits. I was off base for this return, and the light was beginning to get low which made for far better conditions than the high sun in the middle of the day. The Herc picked up the late light really nicely.

Everything About Eagles That I Love

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As a kid, I was a big fan of the F-15 Eagle. It was the fighter of the 70s and 80s and its size and power were so impressive to me as a kid. It could also go faster than almost anything else (although it wouldn’t in real life). The big wing (causing the nickname flying tennis court) and the nodding inlets looked excellent. Aerobraking and the speedbrake are just a bonus. Being able to see them so close up when at Red Flag was a big treat for me. I am so glad that the EX model means that they will be around for a while yet. Here are some shots of the jets that, I assure you, resulted in a big grin on my face at the time.

More on the Dash 7 Theme

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I had a recent post about a testbed Dash 7. That had resulted from finding some other shots that I was looking for to use in a project. That was regarding two defunct airlines that had operated from London City Airport when it first started operations. The only aircraft that was initially allowed to use the airport was the de Havilland Canada Dash 7. The initial operator was Brymon Airways that, if memory serves me right, was based in Plymouth.

A second operator joined them at LCY with the imaginative name of London City Airways. Their livery included a fin designed to look like a business suit. The target market was city workers that didn’t want to make the trek out to Heathrow. It wasn’t long before there was a push to get jet aircraft into the airport. The BAe146 was the only option at that point and a demonstration was undertaken in 1988. I was there for the CAA and had a chance to get out on the ramp at one point. I got these photos during that visit. The 146 did become a regular feature and then runway expansions allowed a variety of larger aircraft to use the airport with slightly less restrictive approach paths.

Catalina at RIAT

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I had seen a few Catalina family aircraft in recent years living in the PNW. I was a little surprised by this one showing up at Fairford for RIAT last year. Sadly, I only got to see it on the ground as it taxied in after arriving. I don’t know when it departed and why I missed it, but such is life. Here are a few shots of it. The blister windows on the rear fuselage look a lot slicker than the original design!

This is an Old Hornet!

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This US Navy Hornet was rolling out at Nellis AFB during a Red Flag exercise. Looking at it now, it doesn’t have the antenna locations that the C model had so this must be an old A model. The US Navy has now retired all of its original Hornets (although the Marines haven’t relinquished all of theirs yet). However, when it took this, I think that the Navy was mainly using C models so this must have been on its last legs. I do love the look with the speedbrake deployed. There was a Charlie as well so I shall include that for fun.

Virgin America A321neo

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I recently posted a Virgin America A320 thinking back to when they were an airline before getting swallowed up. Then I got involved in looking for some other images of them and got thinking about their introduction of the A321neo. That got me to this image I took when they were early in their use. As with a lot of images recently, I took a fresh look at how to process it and went through my current approach to get a better result than I had achieved when I first took it. I like the look of the bigger engines on the neo and the A321 is a nicely proportioned plane.

The Sun Was Going Away Rapidly!

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Last summer, the evening show at Old Warden included a flight by the de Havilland Comet. It was both in a formation and making some solo passes. The light had been absolutely excellent, but I was getting concerned that the light might be gone before it flew. The bright red paint has the potential to look excellent in very low angle sun, and I wanted to see that if possible.

It started out in a four-ship formation, and I was hoping that they would then do solo performances. Instead, the Comet ended up doing a series of formation passes with the Lysander. This was an interesting combination, but I was hoping to isolate it a bit. With a bit of luck and planning, I was able to get some individual shots that I liked. Sadly, the light was definitely on the way out by this time and, instead of having some gorgeous warmth on a red airframe, things were a little muted. Even so, not a bad thing to wrap up the air show.