Pictures Of The Week
Week 26, June 2010
Clockwise from top left:
We kick of this Week in Pictures with what may well be a first on UKAR, photos of an airborne F-35 from a forum member. Melchior Timmers was on a visit at Edwards AFB when the JSF departed, along with two F-16 chase planes, and was able to grab this shot. And a public service announcement from UKAR's resident JSF expert: AF-1 is the first weight-optimised F-35A, as well as being the first F-35 to be produced at a full-rate production speed and is structurally identical to the production F-35As.
Image © Melchior Timmers. Canon EOS 30D, Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L lens + Canon 1.4x Teleconverter
The first of our Biggin Hill heavy selection comes from Andrew McP who captured one of the Red Bull Matadors showing us that smoking is cool and seemingly deciding that aerodynamics is for wimps.
Image © Andrew MacPherson. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
From Bulls to Chickens or 'Thunder Chickens' to be precise, Tony Osborne managed an Air-to-Air with this MV-22B Osprey of VMM-263. Oh and if you're not jealous already his photoship was another Osprey - spawny, very spawny.
Image © Tony Osborne. Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-200mm f4 IS lens
Returning to Biggin we have Damien's shot of the Typhoon/Spitfire pair display which shows us that occasionally shooting into the sun can have its benefits. Do it long enough and you get a free dog too.
Image © Damien Burke. Canon EOS 1DMkII + Canon EF 70-200mm lens
A flock of Falcons takes our penultimate slot here courtesy of Shaun Schofield and his 'upchute' shot taken at, you guessed it, Biggin Hill.
Image © Shaun Schofield. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, a Battle of Britain airfield, a Spitfire cockpit with flying hat and goggles atop. Simples.
Image © Dean West
Pictures Of The Week
Week 25, June 2010
Clockwise from top left:
Eric is a very lucky man! What a great capture of pair of A-4 Skyhawks. Shot from the back of a Skyvan, this air-to-air shot frames the Skyhawks over the German coastline. Shot at a focal length of just 40mm on a full frame sensor, you get some idea of the proximity of the aircraft to the photo-ship!
Image © Eric Coeckelberghs. Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII
Another stunning air-to air here. Neil Jones captures an A-10 'Warthog' over Georgia in this shot. The A-10 was from the 74th FS 'Flying Tigers' of the 23rd FW at Moody AFB. Neil was lucky enough to catch a ride in the back of a HC-130P to photograph this ever venerable and ever ugly mud mover. Great shot Neil.
Image © Neil Jones. Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-200mm f4 IS lens
One of the less familiar display teams of the world here, certainly to eyes in the UK. Menso captures a pair of the Alouette III's used by the 'Rotores de Portugal' display team. Menso spent three days shooting the 'Rotores de Portugal' at the Beja Air Base in Portugal.
Image © Menso van Westrhenen. Canon EOS 40D, Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens + Canon 1.4x Teleconverter
Continuing the international theme in this week's selection, here is a little bit of 'international rescue'. An EC-145B of the Sécurité Civile hovers in front of a spellbinding mountain backdrop. The image was captured at an open day at the Chamonix base in the French Alps.
Image © James Lawrence. Nikon D70 + Nikon 400mm lens
A swarm of mean looking beasties taxi here at Gilze Rijen, in the Netherlands. The shot was taken at the annual Dutch Air Show, this year taking place at Gilze Rijen. The Apaches belong to the 301sqn, the "Redskins", prior to their involvement in a firepower demo.
Image © Richard Pittman. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 300mm f4 IS lens
And finally, after seeing what our foreign friends are flying, in this most patriotic of weeks its left to Fred Martin to "Keep the British end up!". What could be more British than a Vulcan? That's right four Vulcans! Here Fred shows us a truly Golden Oldie, a four ship Vulcan scramble, the last to take place in public. The shot was taken at RAF Finningley's 1981 airshow.
Image © Fred Martin. Nikon FM, 300mm lens + Kodachrome 64 film
Pictures Of The Week
Week 24, June 2010
Clockwise from top left:
We love our classic jets here at UKAR, and they don't come much better than the J35 Draken. This example was being displayed at the Swedish Air Show at Linkoping/Malmen on Sunday 13th June. Kevin chose to go off base to make the most of the light and we can only say that it was the right decision when you see the photos he's produced!
Image © Kevin Martin. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
The annual flypast for Her Majesty's Official Birthday co-incides with several events around the various operating bases and along the flypast route, and this shot of a 5 Squadron Sentinel R1 being thrown around the skies was captured at the RAF Coningsby Families Day as the aircraft returned from official duties in Central London.
Image © Tom Sunley. Canon EOS 5D MkII + Canon EF 300mm f2.8 L IS lens
Our European neighbours have been busy with their coloured paint again, this time it's the French who have brilliantly painted up this Super Etendard to mark 100 Years of the Aeronavale, at the NAS Hyeres airshow held to mark that milestone.
Image © Hans Heemskerk. Canon EOS 30D
Bentwaters in Suffolk was the venue for a warmly received airshow last weekend. Conditions were mostly overcast (as usual!) but there's always an original photo to be found whatever the weather, and Edward has done just that with a cracking creative composition on a couple of the UK's finest classic jets. Interestingly, the F-86 here is thought to be the first of the type back at Bentwaters since they were based there in numbers during the 1950s and 60s!
Image © Edward Bancroft
We're back at the Swedish Air Force Airshow for this topside shot of a SAAB S100 Argus. It's always a terrific sight at airshows to see larger and/or rarer aircraft in the airshow enviroment and the display at Malmen airbase wasn't short in that regard, with plenty of rare classic jets from the Saab stable displaying along with the likes of the C-17, DC-3 and the S100 pictured here. You can see them all in Paul's excellent thread on our forums.
Image © Paul Drabot. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
The Harrier made a return to the airshow 'circuit' last weekend at RAF Cosford, but by the time it was due to display conditions were far from ideal. Full credit to Charles for sticking with it when many others would have packed up though, because he's been rewarded with a dramatic shot of the Harrier doing what it does best.
Image © Charles Cunliffe. Canon EOS 450D + 70-200mm f2.8 L lens
Creative photography is always appreciated on UKAR and Chris posted up a thread of a really high calibre this week. Any of the photographs he posted from the Highland Gliding Club could have been selected for this slot, but in the end we opted for this abstract look at the various gliders and aircraft residing in the hangar. The remainder of his thread comes highly recommended too.
Image © Chris Milne. Nikon D90 + Nikkor 18-105mm VR lens
Pictures Of The Week
Week 23, June 2010
Clockwise from top left:
The Koninklijke Luchtmacht are such fervent supporters of the European airshow scene. Neil Jones caught this stunning shot of their orange F-16 display ship at the 4th Slovak National Air Days held at Piestany airport at the end of May. Shmoking indeed!
Image © Neil Jones. Canon EOS 50D, Canon EF 300mm f2.8 + x1.4 Teleconvertor
Has anyone heard a bad word about the spitfire scheme on this year's RAF Tucano display aircraft? We certainly haven't. The "Spitfire" duo formation was snapped at the RAF Linton-on-Ouse graduation at the start of the month.
Image © Michael Frodsham
Ian caught these two USAFE F-15E Strike Eagles from the 492nd FS on approach to RAF Coningsby last week. RAF Lakenheath's F-15 fleet is currently deployed to nearby RAF Mildenhall, due to Runway repairs at their home base.
Image © Ian A. Scaife
Shot at Perth Airport at dusk, this Pitts S1 belongs to Flt Lt Richard Pargeter who had just performed a practice display on the eve of the Heart of Scotland Airshow 2010. Mark did well to capture some vibrant colours in the fading light.
Image © Mark McGrath. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lens
Taken at Shuttleworth's recent D-Day Airshow at Old Warden. Geoff positioned himself at the far right of the crowdline which gave him a good view down the runway for take off shots. Expertly captured here is the Bristol F.2B with a shutter speed of 1/100th Sec.
Image © Geoff Spinks. Canon EOS 1D MkIII, Canon 300mm f2.8L + 2x Teleconverter
Here two Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force CH-47J Chinook's are seen performing at the Kisarazu JGSDF Open House. Mike explains that the show starts with an impressive mass flyby of JGSDF helicopters of various types.
Image © Mike Leonard. Nikon D80 + Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII lens
We love the Golden Oldies section of UKAR, where some real gems are regularly posted. Mike came up trumps with his selection of the "four turning, two burning" Boeing KC-97L Stratotanker. Taken at the 1974 Greenham Common IAT, Mike believes this to be the last flying display of this type in the UK and the aircraft shown is now preserved at the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
Image © Michael Hall. Praktica L, Hanimex 135mm lens + Kodachrome II 25ASA slide film
