Tag Archives: Fighting Falcon

My First Trip to the Canyon

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…

What Am I Supposed to do With This F-16 Ladder?

The Open House at Portland International that the Redhawks held was not the only thing going on that morning.  While we were checking out the F-15s, a bunch of ground crew were at work out on the ramp area.  They were setting up spots on the ramp for some incoming planes.  As soon as I saw the ladders being carried, I could see that they were not for F-15s.  They looked a lot more like F-16 ladders.  The crews carried them out in a variety of manners but this person seemed to have a more relaxed way of moving a ladder around.

F-16 on a Pole

Our overnight stop at Medford in Oregon was close to the airport. I took a stroll towards the terminal which had an F-16 mounted on a pole outside.  This was an F-16A model.  I assume it had been there for quite a while.  There was a time a while back when units would detail bits of their jets with chrome.  A-10 guns would be chromed and F-16s would have the port around their guns chromed up too.  This jet had obviously had the treatment.  The odd thing was that, over the years the paint had become heavily faded.  However, the gun port looked exactly like new.  These pictures won’t really emphasize this since they were taken wide to get the whole jet in but you might just be able to make out the gun port.

Vipers Sneaking up on Strike Eagle

B11I5439.jpgBefore I say anything else, this shot is not original.  I didn’t think of this and I certainly wasn’t the first to shoot it.  Indeed, it is the exact opposite.  This is a shot that I have seen from other people a bunch of times but that I have never achieved.  The recovery for Red Flag has a lot of jets coming home at once.  Jets will break into the pattern and will be turning final when more jets are coming in to the break.  You can get jets coming in overhead directly behind the jet on final turn.  It looks cool but I had not got it before.  This time I got lucky.  I don’t know whether I am pleased with the shot or just glad that I finally happened to get it!

Pakistani Block 50 F-16s

AE7I4452.jpgI have made two short visits to Nellis for recent Red Flag exercises.  The Pakistani Air Force attended RF16-4 but they showed up near the end of the preceding RF16-3 to allow them to familiarize themselves with operations before the next exercise kicked off.  They weren’t supposed to be flying while we were that after their arrival but the F-16s that launched over us clearly had the conformal tanks and it turned out that they were up and flying ahead of the rumored times.  Sadly, it was a brief opportunity and the lighting wasn’t great.

AE7I4414.jpgI did head back for RF16-4 and that trip will get a post of its own.  Enough went on that week to easily fill another entry.  However, staying on track, I did get to see the Pakistan jets as they launched and recovered.  They are a recent build standard and, aside from the conformal tanks, they are also distinctive courtesy of a paint scheme that is different to the normal F-16s camouflage.  I don’t know whether they had a productive time at Red Flag or not but I was glad to catch them while they were over.

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Mako F-16 is a Nice Surprise

B11I6315.jpgI have not seen Mako F-16s very often.  Seeing one taking off from Tucson was quite a surprise and definitely a good one.  It was accompanied by a jet in Texas Reserve markings to so maybe there has been a swap of some jets.

Section Training

B11I5727.jpgIn my previous visits to Tucson International, I have never seen jets taking off or landing as pairs.  It has always been single jets.  This time I had a couple of times when section takeoffs were carried out.  There also appeared to be some arrivals in pairs too.  Nothing too dramatic but a bit of a change from what I have seen there before.

Arizona’s F-16s

B11I6356.jpgThe home team at Tucson International are the Arizona ANG F-16s.  The Iraqi and Dutch jets may be of interest but the local jets are still worthy of attention.  I didn’t get as much time to shoot them as I would have liked but there were still a few chances to catch some of them departing and recovering so here are a few from those times.

Italian F-16 Not Long For This World

AE7I4903.jpgWhile we were out on the ramp at D-M, an F-16 taxied out for departure.  I was curious about the paint finish at first as it didn’t look like a normal F-16.  It was also short of markings.  Then it became apparent it was an ex-Italian Air Force jet.  I was advised that it was on a check flight prior to being sent off for the conversion to target aircraft.  I guess it has been on storage at AMARG and now is going off to modification followed by an uncertain future.  I wonder how long it will survive.

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Dutch Training

AE7I6448.jpgThe Dutch F-16 training unit has been at Tucson for a while now.  It moved from Springfield IL to join the Arizona ANG unit at the International Airport.  I have seen their jets before but it was nice to see them again.  The Dutch F-16s have been through an extensive upgrade program but the airframes are knocking on a bit.  Built by Fokker as F-16A/Bs in the early days of the program, they have soldiered on while the USAF retired their F-16As a long time ago.  I didn’t get a lot of chance to shoot the Dutch jets but managed to catch a few during my time there.