Luke AFB has some contractor operated jets that we were hoping to get a chance to shoot. The ATAC Mirage F1s did launch while we were there but, despite waiting for quite some time, they never returned. However, Top Aces launched their F-16A aircraft and we were more lucky with these guys. They did do as requested and recovered before we left. Contractor operations are usually with old jets of previous generations so it is hard for me to accept that early model F-16s are now sufficiently old to fit that model. How can that be? These ex-Israeli aircraft are still in their desert colors and it was nice to get a chance to shoot them.
Tag Archives: contractor
Tactical Air F-5
The provision of aggressor services continues to expand across air forces. Some have come and gone and it is a developing situation with various old or retired military aircraft being picked up by the contractor market to provide services. Some of these seem to have a short life span as the demands of the customers increase beyond the point that older jets can be effective. One operator is called Tactical Air. They are operating a bunch of F-5s and have some based ay Klamath Falls.
One of their aircraft was on display in a hangar at Sentry Eagle 2022. It wasn’t the ideal conditions to try and get a shot of it but it was there and I was hardly going to pass it up. Earlier in the day, one of their jets had been towed to the north end of the field. I grabbed a shot as it passed, wrongly assuming it was a visiting T-38 and only realizing it wasn’t later. They had other jets parked at the alert facility but it was the sort of place that showing up with a camera seemed like it might be counterproductive so I didn’t get any shots of them.