Tag Archives: Lockheed Martin

Some Gratuitous Raptor Shots

Unfortunately, I have a rather large backlog of images that I haven’t done much with. This is sometimes the result of having a number of events in a short space of time and other times it is the result of laziness! Last year I covered the Planes of Fame show at Chino for GAR. I got a lot of shots while I was there and I needed a selection to illustrate the piece so I dived in, found some good examples, worked on those and put them into the feature.

Unfortunately, I never got around to undertaking a proper run through of the shoot. I only realized this recently so I have started to go through the images when the time allows. One part of the show I really liked was the twilight show on the Friday. This included a display by the USAF F-22. In the last light of the day, the airframe looked really great.

Running through the shots I found a few of the jet that I really liked. (I found more than will work for this post and some that I like for various reasons but won’t really gel with most people.) As a result, here are a sample of the shots I have been finding. Now I am starting to think about air shows this year for the first time. I might have to go to this one again!

Raptors at Play

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Is the Raptor a good looking jet or not? I still have yet to make up my mind on that one. From some angles it looks pretty cool and from others it looks awkward. Never look at it on the ground because the undercarriage is really not designed to make it look elegant! Either way, it is a striking jet. I have seen them a bunch of times at different venues and, while picking out some shots for a project, I also saw a bunch of F-22s and figured I might have a selection of some of them, hopefully looking at their best.

Thunderbirds With One Extra

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Why is this different and why should I look? Thunderbirds shots are not hard to find online. I have tons of them myself and an appearance by the team at any show is going to result in a ton of shots from the people there. These are shots with a slight difference though. These were taken in Chicago at the Air and Water Show a number of years ago. However, they weren’t taken on the main show days. Instead, they were taken during the Friday practice.

Because it was a practice day, the team carried out their display with a spare aircraft loosely in formation. It was a twin seater so I assume the backseat had a photographer occupying it. (I am not in the least bit jealous of course!) The team flew their normal display routine and the extra jet would position itself around the formation and (hopefully) get some shots of them with some excellent backdrops of the city.

For me, it meant getting pictures of formations that you don’t normally see. I imagine the excess power of the F-16 means there is some scope for the spare jet to position itself well around the formation without running out of energy. It must provide scope to get some cool shots. They had better be cooler than the ones I got that day given the position they had. I am happy with mine all the same.

F-16 Inlet Vapor

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There are some aerodynamic effects that always catch my eye when I am going through images and one of these is vapor forming in engine inlets. The combination of lower airspeed with high thrust settings and moisture can result in puffs of vapor forming in the inlet, either continuously or, more often, as little flashes of cloud. The F-16 can often demonstrate this phenomenon when taking off although the formation is a little way back in the inlet.

On a recent Red Flag, the F-16s were out in force and, since it wasn’t the hottest and driest day that Nellis can provide, they were getting a bit of vapor to show up. Here are a few of the jets squeezing the moisture out of the air (even though it is the opposite of squeezing that makes it happen!).

F-22 Over Chino

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The USAF F-22 Raptor is a popular air show performer but, with a relatively small fleet, they only have one display team and they have a limited number of engagements around the US each year. Chino was one of the shows that had them booked so it was probably the only time I was going to see the Raptor display this year as opposed to flying operationally. It flew twice while I was there. The first flight was a sunset display and the second was to wrap up the main display on the Saturday including the Heritage Flight performance.

I got a lot of chances to get good shots of the plane. The sunset display had great light but both displays included some tight elements that brought the plane well into view. However, I am now going to tread on dangerous ground and say that I don’t think the display is that good. The flight control system design of the Raptor allows it to undertake some unusual maneuvers which the display makes a lot of. While they are certainly not the norm, I don’t think they should focus on them so much. Certainly show off some of the special features of the jet. Just don’t pretend they are tactically useful and spend more time showing people what they like about jet displays. Being low and slow is not a great place to be.

A crowd of people might be mildly amused by a jet coming down flat while gently rotating about its axis. However, turn up the noise and blast into some fast passes, tight turns and some more aggressive vertical maneuvers and your get a lot of crowd reaction. I once watched a Typhoon display being flown by a test pilot. It carried out a lot of high alpha rolls around the velocity vector. A few pilots around me appreciated the technical skill but everyone thought the display was boring.

Maybe, as the aircraft has been on the display circuit longer, they will evolve into a better combination. A little of the unusual stuff but more dynamic performances that show off the bits the public like.

Thunderbirds and the Missing Pylon

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A discussion on Facebook between a few people I know recently turned to a discussion about the USAF display team, the Thunderbirds. While I can’t now remember how ended up the way they did, at some point, there was discussion about the time the Thunderbirds touched in mid-air with one aircraft losing part of the wing tip missile rail. This occurred at the Chicago Air and Water Show and I was there that day.

At the time, not many people knew anything had happened. Indeed, for a while they flew on before pulling out of the display routine and orbiting overhead and then eventually returning to Gary to land. No-one on the ground had any idea what was going on. I did not capture the contact between the jets. However, when I looked through my shots afterwards, I realized I had a shot of the four ship formation with one aircraft missing the rail and another showing some signs of damage on the tailplane where the rail had impacted. Below is one shot to prove they started out intact!

Red Flag Launches

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I was back at Nellis AFB recently for another Red Flag exercise for Global Aviation Resource. Chris Wood and I were there to cover it and the piece we put together can be found at this link. After the last visit to Red Flag when a security issue resulted in all of the media being escorted off base just before the launch, I was hoping for better luck this time. Fortunately, we did pretty well. The launch went well and, while the light was a bit poor for the departures, it got better as the day went on.

Standing between the runways as the aircraft go off each side is pretty cool. We had a lot of USAF assets this time but also some Navy Growlers and RAF Typhoons. An RAF Sentinel was a nice addition – particularly as it was the aircraft with the squadron markings. One unfortunate element was that the launch was earlier than had been scheduled for our visit and the early aircraft off included the B-2s. We were still on the bus when they launched. I managed to get a shot with my phone out of the window but that was it. I do actually quite like the shot so all is not lost.

The feature has many more shots but here are a few to give you an idea of what was there.

Air-to-Air With Some Raptors

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Day two of my Red Flag visit was to involve a trip in one o the KC-135 tankers supporting the exercise. After the troubles of the previous day, it wasn’t entirely clear whether it would go ahead but we turned up at the allotted time and were escorted to the tanker ramp area. A few confused conversations took place with our escort and the crews but it all got worked out and we were briefed on the flight. We were the Blue tanker and were supposed to be refueling F-22s and F-16s, supposedly from Aviano with the Shaw F-16s (which are almost always out of bounds for photography) supposedly going to the Red tanker.

We waited in the ops building for as long as possible before heading out. It was very hot on the ramp but even hotter in the jet. KC-135s do not have any air conditioning while parked on the ground and are painted dark grey. Consequently, the back of the hold (where we would be) is about as hot a place as I have ever experienced. We got there and it was time to sit very still and wait. Also, rationing the water was a good idea since we would be flying for about three hours.

We taxied for takeoff and, once airborne, the cooling started to work and the temperature became reasonable. We agreed a rotation for everyone to get into the boomer’s position to get shots as the aircraft refueled. There are a couple of windows on each side of the jet too so we agreed to allow everyone get a chance with those too. Soon our first traffic appeared. A group of F-22s from Tyndall AFB came into view. Quite an impressive sight they make as they hang on the wing tip of the 135. They then take it in turns to drop under the jet and hook up to the boom before sliding out to the other side and waiting for the rest to finish. With some encouragement, they might make a more aggressive departure from the boom which is nice.

Our next traffic soon showed up. These were the F-16s but not from Aviano. They were Shaw jets and so out of bounds for photography. This was a big disappointment. We could take shots but they would be subject to scrutiny by the security team so would probably be deleted. I took a few but deleted them myself to speed the review process. They were cool to see even so. Lying beside the boomer and looking straight down into the cockpit of the jet below while the pilot looked up at us was an interesting experience.

We had more F-22s while we were there but it didn’t seem that long before we were heading back down again. We strapped in for landing and then had an extra moment of interest as the aircraft had to carry out a go-around. There was a strong tailwind so, as we were looking like we would land long, a go-around was the safest bet. Once back on the ground, we handed in our cards for review. Waiting for them to be mailed back seemed like an eternal wait as I was keen to know whether I had got anything worthwhile. The summer sun was a bit harsh and there was a lot of fluid on the boomer’s window but I still ended up with a few that I am very happy with. Thanks to the team at Nellis AFB for making I work out.

Tucson F-16s

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A trip to Tucson means a chance to shoot the F-16s that operate from the international airport there. This is an Air National Guard unit and it also includes the training unit for the Netherlands Air Force. I have shot there before and posted about it in this post. It is a place for morning shooting. The light is right at that time and the heat has not got too bad. Near the end of the runway is the favored spot and you can get the aircraft just after they lift off as they head straight out. The morning launch is often quite busy so you can get a steady stream of aircraft.

What goes out is usually coming back and the recoveries mean time to move. This time they actually caught us out a bit since some of the early launches came back in less than an hour so were recovering before the others had launched. This actually provided a chance to catch them as they turned off after landing so some ground shots were available although the heat haze was starting to be a problem. I then headed to the other favored spot that puts you inside the final turn. Depending on how tightly they fly the turn, you can either see them a reasonable distance away or they can feel like hey are right on top of you.

Tucson F-16s

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I recently was in Tucson AZ for a piece I was working on for the magazine. Since that is yet to be public, I will have to hold off on putting anything from the visit on here. However, I did have a morning free before my flight home and decided to check out the F-16 operations that take place at Tucson’s international airport. I hadn’t visited the airport before so I checked in with my friend Jay to find out what the options are for shooting at the field.

Jay gave me some suggestions on locations as well as the times of day that things are likely to happen. This was focused on first thing in the morning since it is a little warm in Tucson at this time of year. 105F is not just uncomfortable to be out and about in but it does cause lots of heat haze issues which makes for tricky shooting conditions. Besides, I did have a plane to catch.

I got the the departure end of things and the timing of the first wave of F-16s was pretty much as predicted. While you have a good view of the aircraft on their takeoff run, most shots before they get close are pointless since the heat haze is very strong. That didn’t stop me trying some of course. However, there are a lot of shots of that type that did not make it through the first cull of bad images!

With the first wave away, I moved to the other end of the field to get the recoveries. Not only was Jay’s suggestion well placed for getting the aircraft as they came in but it also provided a measure of shelter from the sun. This was very welcome. Depending on the pilots, the jets turn in very close to you and provide a nice angle that you don’t often get. Some pilots turned a lot further out although I did notice one jet which was a two seater do that on its first pass and it was a lot tighter on the second pass. i wonder what the conversation was like in that jet.

I got the recoveries of the jets that had launched earlier along with a few civilian arrivals before deciding that it was too warm. Then I did a little exploration around the field but that will be a different post!