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Pictures Of The Week
Week 18, April 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Jan's thread of 'Norwegian Golden Oldies' is a tour de force of beautifully captured vintage and rare aircraft. One of the many highlights is this P-3 Orion releasing a shower of decoy flares.
Image © Jan Jørgensen (Nordic Airpower)
Nikon D300 + Nikkor 80-400mm lensWith the 100th Anniversary of the Russian Air Force being celebrated this year, Tim takes us back to MAKS 2011 with this fine shot of the Sukhoi Design Bureau's own Su35 Flanker '901 Black'.
Image © Tim Laurence
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 500mm ƒ4 L IS lensMaking the media headlines across the UK this week was Boeing's 787 Dreamliner prototype's tour of British airports, as captured here in this eye catching image taken on its stop at Manchester Airport.
Image © Charles Cunliffe
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ2.8 L lensYou might think that the recent inclement weather would deter people from putting a foot outside their front door. However those hardened aviation enthusiasts never let a spot of rain get in the way of a perfect picture. Peter was lucky enough to have a tour around RAF Cranwell which included the black Jaguars of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering, still earning their keep years after the type was withdrawn from operational use.
Image © Pete Fletcher
Nikon D300 + Nikkor 18-70mm AFS VR lensLaurent was at Payerne Airbase in Switzerland to record some of the action from Exercise Epervier 2012 where the local F-18s were in battle with visiting French Mirage 2000s.
Image © Laurent Baudillon
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ2.8 L IS lensNot many people have a view like this out of their office window. Chris used it to his advantage to capture this Boeing 747 of The Arab Emirates Royal Flight on a recent visit to this country.
Image © Chris Lofting
We return to Switzerland for our final image of a Eurocopter EC635 of the Swiss Air Force taken during the preparations for Patrouille des Glaciers, which is a world famous ski mountaineering race. The use of a super wide-angle lens almost makes the viewer feel as though they are sitting in a snow hole.
Image © Philippe Rey
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 16mm Fisheye lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 17, April 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Our featured image this week comes from Søren Nielsen's colourful and varied thread from NAS Fallon in Nevada. In amongst the various camoflage schemes applied to the aggressor aircraft of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) was this F-16A in various shades of grey; not the most striking of the liveries, but certainly a striking photograph.
Image © Søren Nielsen
Canon EOS 1D MkIV + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ2.8 L IS lensChris Milne's keen eye for a photograph has made him one of UKAR's premier talents and a POTW regular. His original style and creative editing skills have been on show for the duration of the recent Joint Warrior exercise at RAF Lossiemouth, where he's covered the movements in excellent fashion from both inside and outside the wire. This shot of a Lakenheath based HH-60G Pavehawk was taken on-base, during the enthusiast's day.
Image © Chris Milne
Nikon D80 + Sigma 70-200mm ƒ2.8 lensDarryl's airliner photos have consistently impressed us and this latest photo is no exception. Taken in the golden evening light, it's a fine study of a SriLankan Airbus A330 landing on London Heathrow's runway 27R.
Image © Darryl Morrell
Canon EOS 1D MkIV + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensOur Polish photographers always have something unique and interesting to share, and Bartosz Bera has posted a fine thread of photos to earn himself yet another POTW spot. He was fortunate enough to spend some time recently with the Polish Police forces at Rakowice-Czyżyny airfield in Krakow as they exercised with colleagues from Warsaw ahead of the Euro 2012 football tournament, during which Krakow will host thousands of fans as well as the Italian, Dutch and English football teams.
Image © Bartosz Bera
Canon EOS 5D MkII + Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ4 L lensThere's been a lot of attention on Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" in the last week whilst one was on the UK leg of a promotional tour. Kevin Sullivan caught it taxiing for a photoshoot alongside a Thomson 737-800 shortly after landing back at the airport from 90 minute flight.
Image © Kevin Sullivan
Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWe're back to Poland for our final image this week. Slawek is no stranger to these pages and he returns with a corking photo of the Polish Air Force's MiG-29UB demo team during rehearsals for the 2012 airshow season. Slawek informs us that the 303 Squadron logo, which is proudly carried on the upper surfaces of the display jet, will be seen above the UK when the team arrive to display their marvellous MiG at RAF Fairford this summer. We look forward to that immensely!
Image © Slawek Krajniewski
Nikon D300 + Nikkor AF-S 500mm ƒ4 lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 16, April 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Taking pride of place this week is this fantastic shot of a DC-3 Dakota taken on the practice day before the War Birds of Wanaka airshow, New Zealand. Keith has done a great job using a low shutter speed to get a full prop disc on this classic transport aircraft whilst keeping the 'Dak' sharp. The DC-3 served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) for over 65 years. This particular aircraft was later purchased by New Zealand Warbird's group and restored with RNZAF "NZ3546" markings. Originally delivered to the USAF in October 1944, she had a varied life with Philippines Airlines, PATAIR, Bush Pilot Airlines and Queensland Airlines then onto "Gooney Bird Tours" also in Queensland, Australia.
Image © Kieth Meachem
Canon EOS 1D MkIV + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWe've had a lot of posts on UKAR from the recent RAF Northolt NightShoot XI. With these organised events it's becoming more difficult to get that 'different' shot. The positioning of the helmets in relation to the Alpha Jet caught the eye of photographer Leon and he's come away with a really unique image. Organised by Phillip Dawe to raise funds for the restoration of the Battle of Britain Operations building at RAF Northolt, the night shoots have become a welcome and popular addition to the sadly shrinking UK events calendar. UKAR really appreciates the efforts of Phil & team at Northolt. Long may they continue.
Image © Leon Loberman
Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 18-200mm VR lensA quiet day at Brize Norton suddenly got noisy! On his way to the Northolt nightshoot, Rob wanted to catch a few aircraft on short finals at the Oxfordshire airbase with a wide angle lens and positioned himself on the approach. He was rewarded with this great photo of a landing RAF Tristar from 216 Squadron. With an out of service date of 2014, time is running out for this venerable Lockheed airliner which originally entered service with the RAF in 1984 - catch them while you can.
Image © Rob Laker
Sony A350 + Sony Zeiss 16-80mm lensMaking the long trip down from Manchester, Charles managed to catch two U-2s during the recent Dragon switch over at RAF Fairford. With the 'traditional' U-2 swap usually happening during RIAT week, it is hoped that one of these rare single-engine, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the USAF might actually stay for the show. Hopefully bringing with them some welcome sunshine as seen in this photo.
Image © Charles Cunliffe
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWe all love golden oldies at UKAR and Fred has posted a cracker here. Photographed overshooting RAF Coningsby sometime in the mid 80's is this RAF Jaguar GR.1 resplendent in the classic camouflage scheme of the period and large full colour 54 Squadron markings. Interesting is the desert pink ARTF (Alkali Removable Temporary Finish) on the under wing pylons which would possibly date the photo after the first Gulf War in 1991. Following disbandment with the Jaguar, 54 (Reserve) Squadron reformed at RAF Waddington on 1 September 2005 as the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operational Conversion Unit responsible for training all mission crews for the E-3D Sentry and the Sentinel R.1.
Image © Fred Martin
Nikon FM + 200mm lens on Kodachrome 64 slide filmFinally this week, adding a welcome splash of colour is this oh-so-close image of Christen Eagle II (G-KLAW) taken at the small grass airfield at Bidford On Avon. Photographer Lloyd adds "after a little bit of flying with (pilot) Ben we landed, I jumped out and he performed a couple of low passes for photos", including this great topside. Over 600 Aviat/Christen Eagle II kits of this aerobatic sporting biplane aircraft have been sold worldwide.
Image © Lloyd Horgan
Nikon D300s + Nikkor 300mm ƒ4 lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 15, April 2012
Clockwise from top left:
POTW top spot this week goes to Mark Ranger, who made this remarkable capture of an Airbus A320 as its path crossed the moon. We felt that the detail caught in the surface of the moon itself and the sharpness of the silhouette made it the worthy winner this week - a great demonstration of technical ability.
Image © Mark Ranger
Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ4 L IS lensThis excellently composed head-on image of a Gripen taken during Exercise Lion Effort in Sweden comes from a thread of great shots of Gripens of various flavours - South African included. We felt this was the stand out image, though; lovely lighting, blue skies and well framed with the markings on the ground.
Image © Egon Johansen
POTW regular Tony Osborne makes another appearance this week with a shot from the FIDAE show in Chile. Both the photographer and the subject had covered continents to arrive in the same location for the shot - this being the RoKAF's jet trainer the T-50 Golden Eagle. Tony got a great elevated position to take this great shot.
Image © Tony Osborne
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ4 L IS lensThe Agusta A109 is a helicopter we're lucky to see on a fairly regular basis at UK events. This year the Belgian Air Force have applied a special scheme for the flying display aircraft. Wim caught this newsworthy image as the cab left the paintshop at Koksijde. We look forward to seeing this in the flesh at RIAT this summer!
Image © Wim Houquet
Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 400mm ƒ5.6 L lensOur Golden Oldies forum frequently reminds us of classic airshows and halcyon days of photographing at the fence line, and it's another of these nostalgic photos that earns Rob Schleiffert his POTW debut. In a thread of such a huge variety of enthusiast's favourites, this Swiss Air Force Mirage IIIRS caught our collective eye, making an awesome Rocket Assisted Takeoff (RATO) at Dubendorf in 1984.
Image © Rob Schleiffert
Fujica ST605N + Sigma 200mm lensWe return to the Golden Oldies forum again for our final selection this week, with an image that must be the oldest we've seen yet, at nearly 90 years old. Pieter posted this shot of a Fokker C.1 at Soesterberg in 1925. An historic and personally important image as this also shows his grandfather. Thanks for posting, Pieter!
Image via Pieter Ebbing
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 14, April 2012
Clockwise from top left:
An extreme wide-angle lens isn't often a weapon of choice for aviation photography, but the first few of Waldemar's set illustrates the ability of a fisheye in not only capturing a subject within a confined space, but also to create a striking image in its own right. This F-16 was the centre-piece of a visit to 32nd Air Base, Lask, in central Poland.
Image © Waldemar Piela
On March 30, 2012 EC 1/12 Cambrésis was disbanded during a ceremony at their base BA 103 Cambrai. Carl visited to see them off, and caught this image of one of a number of their Mirage 2000 aircraft that have been given a special paint scheme. EC 1/12 was a member of the NATO Tiger Squadrons, so is no stranger to special schemes. Having operated the Mirage 2000C for nearly twenty years, it is another sad loss to defence cuts.
Image © Carl Brent
Sometimes a stunning skyscape makes the image - with the aircraft a 'mere' focal point - and Robert's photo is a great example of looking for the bigger picture. This FedEx MD-10 climbing out from Fort Lauderdale is seen heading into a multi-layered, variously lit and coloured, angry, yet beautiful sky. Gorgeous.
Image © Robert Starling
Jeff was able to get these images of BA Airbus G-EUOH in the Olympic Livery just before its unveiling to the world. The scheme was designed by Pascal Anson and is part of BA's Great Britons campaign. It took the paint bay team 8 days to complete using gold paint specially mixed for the livery. The design has been met with a mixed reaction, especially regarding any Olympic association, but is nonetheless a striking scheme.
Image © Jeff Garrish
Nigel Blake's F-15 Eagle shots are a frequent selection from the week's images - and always popular on the forum - so by way of a change we have this sunset composition featuring a Lakenheath based HH-60G. The colouring and texture of the sky make this sunset shot stand out. To cap it off, Nigel was just stopping off when returning from a wildlife photography trip to Norfolk!
Image © Nigel Blake
Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII, Canon EF 600mm ƒ4 L IS + 1.4x TCWith the sun sinking fast behind a bank of cloud sitting low on the horizon, this Tornado was the final movement of the day as it lined up just right to give Chris the image he was looking for from his visit to RAF Lossiemouth. The set of images that Chris has posted illustrate perfectly the crisp winter light that makes a trip out into the cold worthwhile.
Image © Chris Milne
Nikon D80 + Sigma 70-200mm ƒ2.8 lensA trip to the 'Mach Loop' - or any low-flying area for that matter - can be very hit and miss. Paul's luck was in as not only did he 'bag' a great selection of low flying multi-service machinery, but also Typhoon FGR4 ZK337 as 'Tarnish 06' flying out of BAE Systems' Warton division still in its un-painted condition. He was also very lucky with the weather, as it has hit the Typhoon perfectly.
Image © Paul Cameron
