Tag Archives: US Navy

Night Launches

wpid13242-C59F8185.jpgWhen the daylight flying activities are over, there is still the night and Red Flag has a night mission that is flown on most days. Therefore, after dinner, you can head up to a spot north of the speedway where there is a great view over the base with Las Vegas in the background. It is dark up there so there are not many good chances for shooting the jets but you can sometimes get some shots of stuff flying over if it lights itself up.

wpid13240-C59F7969.jpgHowever, you can get some shots of the base with the launching jets showing up either from their afterburners or from the heat distortion they leave behind.

wpid13238-C59F7906.jpgThe other thing is to run a time lapse and see the jets moving around on the base and then streaking off into the sky. I ran a couple of them over two nights. Below is the result of one of them. Two things to note. First, the launch was very spread out. The main jet launch was actually quite late and I was tired and cold so cut short the sequence while they were still heading out. The second is that a weird optical effect shows up in the video. It is a movement of the image a bit like heat haze. However, since the shots are taken over such a long period of time, you would think that would not be an issue. Something is going on though so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to comment with your thoughts.

Red Flag Launches

wpid13296-C59F9722.jpgI 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.

wpid13278-C59F8554.jpgStanding 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.

wpid13294-C59F9557.jpgThe feature has many more shots but here are a few to give you an idea of what was there.

Looking forward to El Centro

One of the benefits of the blog being relatively new is that I have the opportunity to dig up stuff from the past and turn it into a post.  I will shortly be heading to El Centro in California for a shoot at the Navy base there.  Last year I made a similar trip and I thought I would remind myself and prime you for some of what might be there.

What will show up on a given day is hard to predict.  Last time we had some T-45s that had made the trip across from Meridian TX.  Whether there will be any this time, we shall see.  Hornets may drop in from other bases to use the facilities and last time some Canadian Hornets were in to use the ranges.

It is the luck of the draw what you get but one thing you can, hopefully, rely on is the weather.  El Centro has sun most days of the year.  I have had bad luck at some locations with weather but I am hoping this one will behave.

What might I try differently this time?  Last time I used a variety of lenses and positions.  The heat haze is a big issue so looking to far back up the approach is problematic.  Getting ahead of, beside and behind the touchdown location mixes things up a bit.  Getting the aircraft and the hold is also worthwhile and I may spend more time there.  I am also going to try and mix in more video this time too.

We shall see how it goes and what I can get off base before and after as well.  Wait to see what we get!