Tag Archives: USAF

A C-146 But Only in the Distance

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This shot won’t win any prizes.  I only show it for relative rarity value (although one of my friends has caught a lot of these near his home).  The US Special Forces have their own choices of equipment and the Dornier 328 turboprop has been something they have found a use for under the designation C-146.  This one showed up on the downwind for Nellis during a break in Red Flag.  It was rather far away from me but I wasn’t going to miss taking a shot of it given that it is the first I have seen.  I didn’t even change the camera settings so it has frozen props.  I think the artistic failings are the least of the problems when shooting something this far away!

Building But Not Delivering – The KC-46 Story

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The tale of the USAF’s quest for a new refueling tanker has been long and drawn out.  People went to jail, awards were made and overturned.  None of that matters now.  The contract is with Boeing to produce a variant of the 767 as the KC-46 Pegasus.  The program has not been smooth.  Technical and production issues have caused delays.  The in service date has slipped and Boeing has incurred a lot of overruns.

While all of this has been going on, the production process has not stopped.  Consequently, while testing still continues, there are production airframes coming off the line.  If you go to Boeing Field, there are a bunch of test airframes on the flight line.  If you go to Paine Field, there are a bunch more that remain to be finished.  It appears that Boeing is building the airframes, sealing them up, not fitting high value items like engines, and parking them wherever there is space.  A few years ago, Paine Field was covered in undelivered 787s.  Now it is as if time has turned back because the Dreamliner’s predecessor is the type parked all over the place.

Some Raptors Because, Well Why Not?

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The 1st FW at Langley AFB was the source of the Raptor contribution to Red Flag this year.  They weren’t the only F-22s I got to see though.  Some of the based aircraft were busy before and after the Red Flag missions so there was plenty of Raptor action.  Not much of a story to tell on these.  Just a chance to gratuitously show a variety of photos of F-22s because, from the right angle, they look pretty cool!

Stalking the Jollys (Or Are They Stalking Us?)

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A combat search and rescue element is usually included in Red Flag.  The HH-60 Pave Hawk is the usual resource used whether from the locally based unit or from a visiting outfit.  When you are set up for the jet action, the helos don’t tend to come anywhere near you.  They depart perpendicular to the runways and then head off on course.  Two things were different for me on this visit.  At one point Paul and I were checking out some other areas when the Hawks launched.  We were pretty much directly in the flightpath so we got a good look at the pair as they flew over and headed off to the ranges.

The other change was that on both days we were there, they turned early and flew out directly over our location at the Speedway en route to their exercise are.  I hadn’t seen this before.  I was surprised the first time and even more so the second.  I assume this was good luck on our part to have them come so close but maybe they were actually following us rather than the other way around?

Late Gear Down for One Warthog

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The normal operations at Nellis continue even while Red Flag is on.  The local units try to fly their missions at times that fit between the larger exercises.  A four ship of A-10s launched in the morning and they were recovering shortly before the Red Flag launch.  Rather than run in and break, they flew a straight in approach to runway 21R.  Strangely the first jet came passed and it was still gear up as it came close.  I have no idea whether they were just keeping it late or had got a call from the tower but the gear came down alongside us.  The following three jets were gear down a lot earlier.  Let’s say it was deliberate…

Head to Head With the Aggressors

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Shooting at Nellis always requires choices to be made.  Aside from determining which end you will go to, there is the question about how far up you will go at the Speedway.  Some jets turn very tight, others turn long.  Some departing jets flex, some flex more tightly than others.  Where to go?  Paul and I headed up near Gate 7 to see whether we would do alright.  As it happened, quite a few of the jets were flexing right overhead us.  This didn’t provide the sort of shots we had originally envisaged but, as it turned out, I was rather pleased with the different look.

I was getting some very head on shots of some of the aggressor F-16s as the turned towards the ranges.  There was even a bit of moisture in the air and the vortices over the root extensions were showing up.  That angle has a very dynamic look, even though the lighting in that location is not great for such an angle.  The other benefit was as they had passed overhead.  You got a close look at the top side of the jet from behind as they flew away.  It might not have been what we intended but I was rather pleased with the outcome anyway.

A Lot More of the Talon Hate

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I got some shots of the Talon Hate jet on a previous visit and posted about it here.  On this trip to Nellis, not only was it very active but it managed to come our way whenever it flew.  Whether it was views of it flexing on departure or tight approaches to bring it passed us on the speedway, it all seemed to work out well.  I love the F-15 anyway but getting this special one was a lot of fun.  I’m sure the wingman in the F-15D knows that the single-seater is the one we are looking at but they certainly made a good effort to be in position for us to get some good shots of them too.  Here are a few of the two of them including a very nice two-ship run in and break.

Some Spare Oxygen – Just in Case

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There have been quite a few Raptor posts recently.  I guess seeing a bunch of them at Nellis triggered a few things of interest to me.  One was as I looked at the jets after they had passed me by on their approach.  A few years ago, the F-22 fleet was grounded by some issues with the oxygen system.  Like most modern jets, the F-22 doesn’t carry bottled oxygen but instead generates it onboard for the pilot.  There were some issues with the oxygen being generated that resulted in pilots feeling unwell and, potentially, losing awareness of what they were doing.  As you can image, this is not a good thing in a fast jet and was believed to have contributed to loss of an aircraft with its pilot!

A backup oxygen system was implemented to provide the pilots with something in the event that they felt symptoms of the problem recurring.  Not so much of a solution as a fallback plan.  As I looked at the jets, I saw green tanks behind the ejection seat.  These are pretty big tanks and seem rather unsubtle in the way that something that has been added after the fact often is.  I wonder whether these are the spare tanks for the pilots to breathe should the onboard generation system cease to be reliable.

I’m Glad He’s Waving Because the Alternative…

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I was directly under the flightpath of an HH-60 Pave Hawk as it headed out on a mission.  Looking up at the helo as it passed over, it was possible to see the feet of the crewman/gunner.  What I didn’t realize until I looked at the photos afterwards was that he was waving at me!  I wish I had waved back.  Given the large weapon mounted to the side of the airframe that he uses in action, I am glad that waving is what he chose to do!

Lots of “Daves” to See

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If you ask Nancy about a name that I think has good comic potential, it is Dave.  It is not that the name Dave is strange in any way but, if you asked me to name something, my first choice would be Dave.  It has something that just works for being offbeat.  Apparently, I am not alone in this (which will come as a great disappointment to Nancy who will now know I am not alone and will never stop).  The online forum for aerospace, PPRUNE, has apparently decided to call the F-35 Lightning II the Dave.  Tornados are Tonkas, F-16s are Vipers and now F-35s are Daves.  I love it!

Red Flag 17-1 was the first of the Red Flag exercises to which the USAF brought the F-35A.  The Marine Corps had brought the F-35B previously but they tended to go out in pairs.  This time the Air Force took the jets out in significant numbers.  Consequently, I was able to get lots of shots of the jets.  Whether it was groups returning as four ships, individual jets departing or odd Daves in formation with other jets, there were plenty of options.  They also turned in really nicely on approach for the spot I had chosen so some nice close top sides were also possible.

I won’t yet say that I have grown to like the look of the jet but I am certainly starting to thaw.  Since they are all new and spotlessly clean, the colors (is that right given how variations of gray are what we are talking about) really come out nicely in the low light.  There are some nice lines to the jet.  It may be a bit chunky but it doesn’t have the same problems as the F-22 with angles at which it looks positively uncomfortable.  Hopefully, the time will come when the operators are able to move away from the purely gray and adopt some nice colors on the jets.  We shall see.