Tag Archives: fighter

Finally, We Get What We Came For

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As my day at the canyon continued (you can read about the beginnings here), I got a bit more luck.  The Navy came to the rescue with some Hornets and Super Hornets making their way through the canyon.  One came in at an odd angle and then pulled out of the canyon over the overlook location.  This was fine for me but probably annoyed those further down the canyon.

Then we got something a lot more like what we had anticipated.  Jets came in along the angle from the highway starting out a lot lower than those that had come across the ridge.  They could drop in a lot more quickly and be deeper into the canyon as they came by.  This was what it was all about.  They provided a last minute contribution to what I had come for and I was very grateful.  A few more would have been good but it was okay.

Once disappointing aspect of this was that, with so few jets coming through, I shot all of them.  I didn’t have the opportunity to waste so I never got to keep the camera down and just appreciate the jets transitioning through below me for what it was.  On my next trip I will hopefully get to do that as well as get some shots.

My First Trip to the Canyon

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Photographing low flying jets in their environment is a popular challenge.  The Loop in Wales is a great hunting ground.  I have driven through there a few times and flown through there once but I have never been on a photo expedition there.  Once I got close to setting up a trip but things got in the way.  In the US, Rainbow Canyon is a popular spot.  This canyon is known by a variety of names but it is well known for having jets flying through below the rim of the canyon so you can get shots of them beneath you.

I arranged to head there a short while ago with a buddy of mine.  The two of us were going to meet in LA and head up.  Sadly, he was unable to make the trip at the last moment but I figured I would go anyway as winter is a more acceptable time to be in Death Valley National Park and the chances of finding the time again soon were limited.  I did stay up in Palmdale to shorten the drive a bit.

The trip had mixed results.  We did not have a busy day.  Plenty of jets could be heard overhead or in the distance but the number coming through the canyon was low.  I probably got nine passes that day.  More disappointing was how some of them were quite high and not against the backdrop of the rocks.  Things did improve though…

Mossie Night Run

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Night photo shoots are becoming more popular these days.  The Flying Heritage Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) held one with the de Havilland Mosquito.  The evening started out with the plane on the ramp when people were free to wander around the aircraft.  I was shooting a lot of long exposures using the tripod which does a good job of removing the people provided they keep moving.  However, a few people were hanging around for long periods so they show up in the shots.  Others were using the flashes on their cameras or flashlights to look at stuff which made things blow out.

Once we were all cleared from the ramp, one of the FHCAM crew came out to talk about the aircraft.  He was the one that would carry out the engine runs and he ran through the test procedures that would be followed for the engines.  People had the chance to ask questions and get a good understanding of the plane and how it is operated.

Then came the fun.  The engines were fired up in sequence.  Then they were run through the test program.  The blue flame from the exhaust stacks could be clearly seen in the very dark conditions.  When the mag checks were carried out, the flames were even more conspicuous.  I moved around a bit to get some different positions.  I was quite surprised to see how blurred some of the shots were.  The aircraft clearly moves a lot despite being chocked and so some of the shots were totally unusable.  This was a lesson learned.  In future I would focus on shortening the exposure times a lot to minimize this issue which I hadn’t anticipated.

I also shot a bunch of video while the runs were underway.  The edited video is below.  It was a fun evening and thanks to FHCAM for holding it.  It would be fun to do on another type.  It might be nice to have a touch more light on the ramp but the dark conditions did have some advantages.  I discovered a bit about shooting in that environment which should hopefully help on future night shoots.

Tower, Requesting a Flyby

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Another shot from the Portland Open House of the Redhawks and a gratuitous reference to Top Gun scripts.  In this case it wasn’t really a flyby.  Instead, the jets were launching off the near runway.  They were all doing a nice job of keeping it low on departure and they ended up pulling up as the passed the ramp and the tower.  A nice view as they pulled up with a few of them getting some vapor is they climbed out more steeply than the average departure from the airport!

Gate Guards

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The 142FW of the Oregon ANG has operated a number of different types over the years.  It was nice to see that the base has preserved some of the jets.  As you come through the main gate, the grass area to your left has an F-15A mounted on a pole looking suitably dynamic and reflecting the current jets used by the unit.

A short distance away is a memorial park with two further jets.  Both of these are in great condition (the F-15 looked a bit weathered from a distance).  There is an F-4C Phantom which is nice but the one I liked the most is an F-101 Voodoo.  The Voodoo is a jet I never saw fly.  I have seen various examples on the ground over the years but there is something about the lines of the jet I just like.  Oh, to have seen them in action.

Missile Load Training

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The open day at the Portland ANG base included a demonstration of missile loading.  A jet had been parked out on the ramp for the morning and there was a rack of missiles also on display.  Towards the end of the morning, a team started to prep the jet for loading.  This was an exercise that had multiple purposes.  It was a demonstration for the guests, but it was also a qualification test.

Apparently, the crews are required to carry out a loading drill every 90 days when they are timed and observed in order to maintain their qualifications.  Therefore, a pair of observers were there to watch the three-person team do their work.  It can’t have been fun to have the public watching and the assessment team overseeing you at the same time.  The crew got to it though and they seemed to be diligently following every procedure which is no bad thing when you are potentially dealing with live weapons (not that these examples were in any way live).

The missile configuration was quite a mix.  They had six AMRAAMS to load, four on the fuselage and two on the stub pylons.  The other two stubs were fitted with an AIM-9M and an AIM-9X.  The Sidewinders were loaded by hand but the AMRAAMs are heavier and required the use of a mechanical loader.  Prepping the plane before the missiles came close took a while and then the missiles were loaded in sequence with things like fins being added at different times such that some were on before the missile was attached and some were added once it was installed.

Once the whole task was completed, they reversed the process and removed the missiles.  There was some choreography involved with getting the loader in place.  It is not a subtle piece of machinery, but it could be placed quite accurately.  Then there is adjustability in the rotation and position of the missile holders to allow things to be fine-tuned into position.  Maneuvering a missile on to the rail or the launcher while not hitting anything else also requires some careful work.  It was a most interesting process to watch.

CAG Growlers

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NAS Whidbey Island is the home for all of the Growlers in the fleet.  It is a fair chance that you will get a bit of Growler activity on a visit and we were not disappointed.  What was really pleasing was to see a bunch of the CAG aircraft in action.  The first glimpses were as they taxied out for departure and you could see the planes coming up the taxiway.  Unfortunately, the heat haze was a bit of a problem while they were on the ground.

Naturally, if they were launching, they were likely to be coming back at some point.  Sure enough, we got them come into the overhead and down the approach.  Even when airborne, the heat haze was a bit of a problem.  Better than on the ground but still an issue.  In a time of gray jets, it is certainly welcome to get something a bit more colorful, even if for some of them that is only black and white.

That Rare Beast, the 109

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The Bf-109 was built in huge numbers but a very small number of them survive.  The Hispano Buchon was a 109 fitted with a Merlin engine and they served after the war and ultimately made their way into collections in bigger numbers but real 109s are a lot thinner on the ground.  They also look so much meaner in my mind courtesy of the thicker nose for the DB engine.  FHCAM has a 109 and it flew during the European Theater Day.

It went out for a run in the morning and I got a couple of quick shots of it then.  It flew again in the afternoon, this time paired with the Mosquito.  Sadly, there were limited times when they were alone and the Mosquito was a priority for me that day so the 109 did not get my focus.  I did get to shoot a few frames of it and, with a sunny day bringing out the camouflage nicely, I was quite pleased with the results.  Obviously there are better conditions to shoot it but I had very few 109 airborne shots before this day so I expanded the collection quite a bit.

If You Can’t See Where You Are Going, It Is Your Fault!

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We relocated to the other end of Boeing Field for the return of the Blue Angels.  They ran in across the field trailing white smoke.  Unfortunately, with little wind, this meant a pall of smoke was now hanging over the airport.  As they broke into the downwind and then turned onto final, it was sometimes hard to see them at all.  A healthy boosting of the contrast makes some of the shots a bit more visible but, in truth, the viz was really awful.  I only hope they had a slightly better view of the ground than we had of them since their being able to see was slightly more important.

Finally I Get to See the Mossie

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I last saw a Mosquito in flight in the early 1990s when the BAe operated example was on the air show circuit prior to its loss at Barton.  I had assumed at that time that I was unlikely to see another one fly.  I never saw Kermit Weeks’ example fly and it has been on the ground for a long time.  I hadn’t counted on the recent interest from collectors in getting rare aircraft rebuilt.  The Mosquito has been a popular project and there are a couple now flying in the US and, I think, another one in Canada.  It is great to see people with the available funds getting these aircraft back in the skies (even if these are pretty close to totally new builds).

One of the Mossies is part of Paul Allen’s collection and the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM).  It had flown a few times since we moved to the area but I had not seen it fly until they held their European Theater Day.  I was determined to see it this time.  I had forgotten just how large an aircraft the Mossie is.  It flew with a bunch of other fighters and included a number of passes with a 109.  The Mossie is huge when next to the 109 and it really has presence.  It is a bit of a pain to photograph because the color scheme has camouflage upper surfaces and black undersides.  With the sun high in the sky, this makes for a very contrasty subject.

I probably got a little overenthusiastic photographing the plane.  It was parked on the ramp before and after the flypasts although not well positioned for the light in either case.  That didn’t stop me though.  When it was flying it got my maximum attention – a little bit of a compromise since the 109 it was partnered with was also something worthy of some shots.  I did get a few of them and they will be in an upcoming post.  It is nice to have finally shot a Mossie though after all of this time.  I look forward to seeing it again, particularly on its own and in more of a display format.