Pictures Of The Week
Week 5, January 2011
Clockwise from top left:
"Wot, another sunset?" I hear you say. Well, if they're this good, it would be rude not to! After spending the day shooting barn owls (with a camera, let's not get the RSPB on his back now), Nigel made use of his local knowledge to note that this week the sun would set almost exactly in line with Lakenheath's runway. A recovery of sixteen F-15s gave ample opportunity for experimentation, resulting in this superb capture.
Image © Nigel Blake
Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII, Canon EF 600mm lens + Canon 1.4x teleconverterFor those who make the journey, Red Flag is an excellent chance to capture some of the world's more serious flying machines in the most realistic war game there is. To prove a point, here's an F-16E Desert Falcon from the United Arab Emirates climbing out of Nellis AFB.
Image © Derek Heyes
Nikon D700Continuing the Red Flag theme, Brandon was present at the Red Flag Media Day and came away with this stunning shot of an Elmendorf-based B1-B Lancer as it powers into the Nevada sky.
Image © Brandon Farris
Canon EOS Rebel T2i + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensThis particular Tornado first flew wearing the scheme you see here on 13 October 2009 - representing the Air Force Pilot Training Center at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, USA, to commemorate 55,555 flying hours.
Image © Alex Klingelhöller
Sony Alpha 700 + Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lensMore used to Tornados, Hawks and Typhoons blasting their way round the Mach Loop, Pete had to run half way down the hill at Cad West to catch this Apache - flying a mere 100ft above the valley floor - at an acceptable distance!
Image © Pete Fletcher
Nikon D300 + Nikon 300mm f2.8 AF-S VR lensThe CASA 101 is an advanced trainer and light attack aircraft currently in service with Spain, Honduras, Chile and Mexico, and perhaps most famous for being the steed of the Spanish Air Force aerobatic team, the Patrulla Águila. Kevin ventured to San Javier, Spain, in order to make the most of the winter sunshine.
Image © Kevin Martin
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWhatever your views are on the MR4.A debacle, as aviation enthusiasts it's surely always sad to see aircraft ready to be broken up and made into Zanussi washer/dryers. Martin went to Woodford to shoot the brace of these 'Mighty Hunters' and they are prepared to be scrapped.
Image © Martin Needham
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 75-300mm lens
Pictures Of The Week
Week 4, January 2011
Clockwise from top left:
It's always good to see the view from the other side of the cockpit perspex. This shot from the front seat of Pavlov's Dogs Apache AH1 on a low level transit whilst returning to Wattisham from Albermarle barracks, after taking part in Ex Lightning Force provides us with this opportunity.
Image © "Pavlov's Dog"
Canon EOS 450 + Tamron 80-300mm lensLaurie Hughes' quite suburb photo of BAE systems TSP Tornado shows that the desert camoflage works just as well above the mountains of Wales as when it is back at home in the Saudi desert.
Image © Laurie Hughes
Nikon D300 + Nikon 300mm f2.8 lensMore Tornado action, this time north of the border at Leuchars. Mark McEwan made the most of the gin clear scottish skies with this spectacular photograph of a 111 Sqn Tornado F3.
Image © Mark McEwan
Michael Lovering proves that even the most mundane aircraft along with patience and talent can make a truly spectacular image, as this photograph of a FlyBe Dash-10 taken at Liverpool John Lennon Airport demonstrates.
Image © Michael Lovering
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensThis shot taken at Sonoma Skypark, California of a Fairchild PT-19 based at Napa, was captured visiting the Skypark for the regular Saturday lunchtime burgers, which usually attracts quite a flock of local visiting aircraft.
Image © Mike Shreeve
Canon EOS 5D MkII + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensNightshoots add an extra challenge for photographers to master. At a very cold RAF Northolt nightshoot Dean successully shot this image of a 32 Sqn HS125 with this low viewpoint.
Image © Dean West
Canon EOS 350D + Canon EF-S 18-55mm lensRecent threads of old photographs have kept us entertained during this quiet season and this image taken through the cockpit of a Hawk provides us with an insight into what was probably the golden days of the RAF when skies were full of nicely painted aeroplanes.
Image © "stickshaker"
Pictures Of The Week
Week 3, January 2011
Clockwise from top left:
Taking pole position this week is Eric Coekelberghs' air-to-air of a pair of Swiss Air Force F/A-18s over the lovely green Belgian countryside. These Skyvan-enabled shots are regular "The Week in Pictures" selections and given what it allows it's no wonder!
Image © Eric Coeckelberghs
Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII + Canon EG 24-105mm L lensCrisper than a pack of McCoys, that's Tom's photography, and with the Dominie's imminent retirement [Now having occurred - Ed] it'd be rude not to include this three-quarter shot of one on finals.
Image © Tom Hill
Nikon D2x + Nikkor 300mm f2.8 VR lensIn a similar vein "DamienB" has carried on the excellent photo-essay work he did on the Harrier retirement with a small Dominie version. Our choice here shows the formation flypast at RAF Cranwell on disbandment day although we could have picked others from his thread, the take-off shots and topsides as the aircraft came in to land are well worth a look.
Image © Damien Burke
Nikon D7000 + Nikon 300mm f4 lensBack to Swiss Hornets now but in their native land, Payerne to be precise. We're quite accustomed to nightshots on UKAR but operational ones of foreign aircraft are a treat so we had to share them with you.
Image © Steve Vonlanthen
Canon EOS 50D + Canon 70-200mm f4 L lensStaying on foreign soil but in another hemisphere is Sam Berry's shot from New Zealand. Combining a wide-angle with into the sun shooting gave this cracking shot of a silhouetted helicopter and its surroundings, showing that the aircraft bit is not always the 'be all and end all' of aviation photography. It doesn't hurt that his subject is one of the sexiest civvy helicopters out there either - the MD 500.
Image © Sam Berry
A quick jump across the Pacific brings us to Paine Field in Washington state and a Me-109 breaking away from an I-16, both of the Flying Heritage Collection which resides at the airfield. When not in the air these aircraft can be found in the museum/hangar which is one of the many aviation attractions around Seattle and well worth a visit.
Image © Christopher Stuart
Canon XSi + Canon EF 75-300mm lensTime for some 'Golden Oldies' to end this week's selection and who better to provide them than Fred Martin? Continuing his "Abandoned Airfields" series with Woodbridge and Bentwaters we were given a visual feast of two-tone 'tooms, Ooh Err!
Image © Fred Martin
Pentax Spotmatic with Kodachrome 64 film
Pictures Of The Week
Week 2, January 2011
Clockwise from top left:
First up this week we have this sinister image of a F14 Tomcat taken by Peter Reoch on his recent trip to the United States. Taken at the USS Hornet museum Peter got down low to capture the Tomcat's beautiful lines. The stunning sunset helps make this photo even more striking.
Image © Peter Reoch
Pentax K20DThe first of three air to air images this week comes from Frank Crébas. Frank was lucky enough to capture the well known Royal Netherlands Air Force display F16 as it flew over the Dutch "Wadden Islands" in June 2010 as it headed to Glize Rijen for the open house.
Image © Frank Crébas
Somewhere over the rainbow. Another air to air image taken in June 2010 comes from Cristian Schrik. A case of being in the right place at the right time the photo was taken during an aerial photo shoot at Bardufoss, Norway where MF-15 Safari aircraft of the RNoAF flight school are based.
Image © Cristian Schrik
Canon EOS 1D MkIII + Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lensPhotos of Japanese helicopters are something of a rarity on UKAR so this photo by Mike Leonard was all the more welcome. Mike took the photo of this trio of SH-60Js after rain gave way to sunshine at the Tateyama Helicopter festival in October last year.
Image © Mike Leonard
Nikon D80 + Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR lensThe third and final air to air photo this week comes from Mark McGrath. Depicting a privately owned T-38 in the markings of the Thunderbirds, who flew the T-38 from 1974 to 1983, Mark was lucky enough to take this photo from B25 "Pacific Prowler".
Image © Mark McGrath
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lensA rather sad looking C130K Hercules XV305 makes her last journey from RAF Lyneham. The journey was a slow one but Rick Ingham's patience was rewarded with this unusual image.
Image © Rick Ingham
Canon EOS 400D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensLast, and by no means least this week, is a fine study of a Royal Netherlands Air Force Lockheed T-33A. The quality of the photo makes it hard to believe that it was taken on October 21st 1969 at Eindhoven/Welschap.
Image © Rob Martaré
Pictures Of The Week
Week 1, January 2011
Clockwise from top left:
Back in May 2010, Dirk had an amazing opportunity to fly in the back seat of a Swiss Air Force F-5F Tiger II, during a 4-vs-4 Beyond Visual Range aerial combat sortie. This would consist of 'Red Air' flight with two F/A-18s and two F-5Fs flying against another two F-5s and two F/A-18s of 'Blue Air'. In this particular photo Dirk has captured the other F-5F of 'Red Air' flight high over Meiringen airbase, as well as the stunning Swiss scenery below.
Image © Dirk Jan de Ridder
Darryl has certainly been no stranger to the Week in Pictures over the past few months. Here he has captured a spectacular sunset as this Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A330-200 makes its final approach to Runway 27L at London Heathrow.
Image © Darryl Morrell
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 70-200mm f4 L lensContinuing the sunset theme, here we see a Tornado GR4 touching down at RAF Lossiemouth. As Chris explains: "The photo was taken during the last rays of sun and as the Tornado passed right in front of the sun but below it cast a lovely shadow and darkened the edges of the frame helping to keep the attention on the aircraft. It was after waiting ages to get a decent sunset shot, so I was very happy indeed!"
Image © Chris Milne
Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6 VRTaken in April 2010 on the day of Polish President Lech Kaczynski's funeral. Due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud only two Russian Air Force Il-96's were able to make the journey to Krakow from Moscow by flying Visual Flight Rules. Bartosz was able to get this impressive close-up of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's aircraft.
Image © Bartosz Bera
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensOnce again, the Golden Oldies section on the forum has come up trumps. Chris took this image somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean in late january 1984 during Exercise Ocean Safari '84. Seen here taking off from HMS Illustrious, this particularly Sea Harrier FRS1 XZ498 of 800 NAS, was shot down over the former Yugoslavia ten years later, with Pilot Lt. Nick Richardson able to safely eject and avoid capture.
Image © Chris Wood
Canon AE1 + 300mm manual lens, scanned with a Nikon Coolscan 5000The beautiful Swiss landscape features once again this week. Philippe was able to arrange an air-to-air shoot with an Extra 330. Despite being the pilot of the cameraship, he brought a co-pilot along so he was able to take some photos along the way. As Philippe puts it "The weather was perfect, nice light and smooth air."
Image © Philippe Rey
Nikon D300 + Nikkon 24-70mm f2.8 lensWe're certainly grateful to Tom for his recent trawl through his slide collection to allow us to see photos of Vickers finest in airline service. This British Airways example is seen here taxiing at Manchester airport. Sadly, this particular aircraft in question, G-ASGO, was the victim of a failed hijacking attempt at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport in 1974 and as a result was damaged beyond repair. It's certainly a timely reminder about the RAF VC10 fleet - get them while you still can!
Image © Tom Gibbons
Zenith B + 50mm manual focus lens
