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Pictures Of The Week
Week 5, January 2012
Clockwise from top left:
First up this week, an image from the master of the golden oldies, Fred Martin. This Lightning F6 of 5(AC) Sqn was on deployment to RAF Leconfield while work was done at its home base of Binbrook. Here at UKAR we think that Fred has cracked the problem of time travel because this photograph looks like it was taken yesterday.
Image © Fred Martin
Praktica LTL + Prinz Galaxy 300mm lens on Kodachrome 64 slide filmIf you can stand the cold, some wonderful light can be had. Here Tom has used the conditions at his local base at RAF Lossiemouth to great effect with this super sharp image of two Tornado GR4s departing Runway 23.
Image © Tom Sunley
Canon EOS 5D MkII, Canon EF 300mm ƒ2.8 L lens + Canon 1.4x TeleconverterMore pairs take off action, this time in Switzerland. Philippe shot this flight of two fully armed F-5E Tigers at the start of another combat air patrol over the World Economic Forum being held at Davos. Although wearing the emblem of the now disbanded 13 Squadron, these F-5s are flown by the pilots of 19 Squadron.
Image © Philippe Rey
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm ƒ2.8 VR lensResplendent in the Slovak Air Forces smart new 'digital' camouflage, Mark Stevens took this image of a pristine MiG-29 performing at last year's Sliac air show in Slovakia.
Image © Mark Stevens
Nikon D60 + Nikkor 70-300mm VR lensNow we go to the Arabian Gulf with this shot of a C-17 Globemaster on VIP security duties taking off from this year's Bahrain Airshow at Shakir Airbase, which boasted, amongst many other attractions, a rare performance from the Russian Knights!
Image © Jamie Thomson
Canon 50D + Canon EF 70-300mm IS lensWhen aviation photographers are in Las Vegas they more than likely end up at Nellis, but Vegas has many attractions and opportunities. Chris took advantage and came away with this picture of a Boeing VC-25 with President Obama on board leaving Las Vegas McCarran International airport.
Image © Chris Wood
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ2.8 L lens'Thunder City Veterans' thread of photographs from his Grandfather's album take us back in time to when the skies were full of classic aircraft and there were lots of interesting places visit. This cracking old shot of a Gloster Meteor F8 that came to grief in June 1956 was taken at the former Canadian Air Force base at Langar in Nottinghamshire.
Image © Thunder City Veteran
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 4, January 2012
Clockwise from top left:
We're lucky to see so many stunning images from Switzerland's beautiful scenery on UKAR. Steve captured the Patrouille Suisse performing against the background of the Alps during the annual Lauberhorn downhill skiing Race 2012, which is the longest downhill race in the world. The event attracted some 30,000 people.
Image © Steve Vonlanthen
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ2.8 L lensThis weeks selection has a distinct retro feel about it and what a rarity we have here. After recent events in Egypt who would have thought we'd have images posted of their air force so soon! Here we see a Chengdu F-7B (the Chinese built derivative of the MiG-21) of the Egyptian Air Force. Week in Pictures regular Dino braved the wrath of base security to bring us these rare images – we salute and admire your bravery Dino!
Image © Dino van Doorn
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ4 L lensSadly the mighty Phantom is in the twilight of it's Luftwaffe career. However a pilgrimage to their home base at Wittmund in Northern Germany demonstrates that Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” Squadron (JG71) are still diligently working away. Here one F-4F is seen blasting off to conduct a sortie over the North Sea.
Image © Richard Calver
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ2.8 L lensMalta has certainly had some very interesting visitors from Libya over the last 12 months. Malcolm here captured this Libyan Air Cargo C-130 Hercules at Luqa. The aircraft was bringing over a Libyan General to organise getting two Dassault Mirage F1's of the Libyan Air Force that defected last year, back to Libya.
Image © Malcolm Bezzina
This shot dates back to 1989 when Reinier spent a day at RAF Fairford, photographing USAF tankers and was lucky enough to capture a Lockheed TR-1 “Dragon Lady” passing close to a magnificent sunset. This was of course a few years before the TR-1 fleet was re-engined and ultimately renamed as the U-2S.
Image © Reinier Bergsma
Minolta Dynax 7000i + Minolta 100-300mm lens one Ektachrome 400 filmYou'd have to look long and hard to find someone on UKAR who doesn't appreciate the Saab Viggen. Steve was on an Ian Allan tour of Lulea Air Base in April 2005 when a small number of Viggen's were still operational with the Swedish Air Force.
Image © Steve Screech
To the untrained eye, it's a Dakota with different engines. In reality it's a refitted DC-3 airframe, with a longer fuselage, new turboprop engines, with various other modifications and it's known as the Basler BT-67. This particular example is from the 461 Squadron of the Royal Thai Air Force and is seen landing at Don Muang Air Base in Thailand. This concludes a very retro week!
Image © Mark Rourke
Sony A200 + Sony 70-300mm lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 3, January 2012
Clockwise from top left:
At this time of year, with shorter days and the sun lower in the sky, we are lucky to be treated to sunset shots on a regular basis here on UKAR. This weeks "Picture of The Week" is not so much a sunset shot, but one with lighting that jut grabs your attention. The deep blue of the evening sky and the sun against the Tornado GR.4, makes it take on a golden appearance, and certainly one of the best shots of the current Marham residents we have seen on the boards.
Image © Robert Starling
Not to be outdone, POTW regular Nigel Blake presented us with another thread from Marham that just couldn't be ignored. The orange of the sunset being disrupted by the efflux from the Tornado GR.4 makes this a shot that just demands your attention. Take a look at Nigel's thread by clicking on the thumbnail - it's packed with images just like this one.
Image © Nigel Blake
Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII + Canon EF 600mm L lensThe images produced from the photoshoots of the Aviation Photocrew are now getting well known amongst the aviation enthusiast community. Tom presented a thread of shots from such a flight, which featured air-to-air shots of a Privatair 737. Beautiful sceneic backdrops and superb quality images made this a must for POTW.
Image © Tom Houquet
Martin Needham makes another well deserved appearance in this week's selections. Getting such a good catch of this uniquely liveried C-17 deserves praise, more so when you see the quality of this image. Matin shot the Qatar Emiri Flight's "Moose" (apparently so called due to the noise this beast of an aircraft makes when the fuel tanks are vented) at Manchester airport as it taxied out for departure.
Image © Martin Needham
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWe are lucky on the UKAR forum to see images from Japan, that mecca for military aviation enthusiasts, on a fairly regular basis. Mike Leoanard provided us with some great views of the Narashino annual New Year's paradrop and amongst them was this fantastic shot of a JGSDF Chinook. If you think about the Yeovilton air day commando assault demonstration, mixed with Salisbury plain, all taking place on the other side of the globe, with great colour schemes all round, you'd be somewhere near what this event appears to provide for the photographer. Take a look at Mike's thread and prepare to be envious.
Image © Mike Leonard
Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 70-200mm ƒ2.8 VRII & 1.4x TeleconverterCan you beleive that last November marked the 8th anniversary of the last flight of Concorde? This week, we feature an archive shot of that iconic aircraft. At London Heathrow, just days after ceasing commercial flights, the airframes were waiting for their very last flight, on to retirement. Jeff had the priveleged opportunity to photograph them on his 3 megapixel digital camera. Cameras may have moved on, but Concorde remains that icon of aviation boundary-pushing like no other.
Image © Jeff Garrish
Olympus U300 compact cameraAt this time of year, the photo posts worth keeping an eye out for come under a couple headings. We've already dealt with sunsets, now we come to the "golden oldies". In the mid 90s, Mark made a trip to Sweden that produced this image of 24 (24!) Drakens in a flypast that would make any airshow goer salivate, or at least go weak at the knees. Have a look at the rest of the thread - Drakens, Swedish, Finnish and Austrian, Viggens and Lansens. What we'd give to have this opportunity again!
Image © Mark Stevens
Olympus OM-1n + Olympus 200mm ƒ4 lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 2, January 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Dreams can come true. Bjorn's visit to Arlanda airport, north of Stockholm, for the departure of the gargantuan An-225 on Saturday 7 January - heading for South Korea with some heavy cable drums - resulted in this fine composition, with the winter light well positioned to pick out the giant Mriya (Dream) and the departing SAS Airbus A330 in the background.
Image © Björn Hellenius
Canon EOS 5D MkII + Canon EF 500mm ƒ4 L IS lensJonathan has been looking back through his archives and offered a number of images from his Kemble Air Day photographs from 2008. This one of the Role Demo during the most dynamic section of its routine captures a Tornado GR.4 as it passes through the 'battle zone', and is possibly one of the best images of that oft sought after pairing of fast-jet and pyrotechnics that has been posted.
Image © Jonathan Warner
Canon EOS 40D + Sigma 70-300mm lensThis MiG-21bis Fishbed was photographed by Dirk at Graf Ignatievo airbase (Bulgaria) in August 2011. Bulgaria is the only nation in Europe still operating these classic Warsaw Pact machines, alongside their MiG-29s and Su-25s. Although Dirk's visit was blessed with great weather during the day, it was this night-time image that caught our eye. Dirk explains "It was one of two MiG-21s involved in a nightly air combat sortie against a MiG-29. After the mission was completed the pilots kindly posed for the camera before making their final turn onto the flightline."
Image © Dirk Jan de Ridder
Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ2.8 L IS lensWith skies typical of the location, Soren was on hand to catch this stunningly schemed NP-3D from VX-30 Air Test and Evaluation Squadron, 'The Bloodhounds', at NAS Point Mugu, California. It was carrying out a touch 'n' go at Nellis AFB during a Green Flag exercise back in October 2011. The NP-3D is fitted with a 'billboard' radar capable of over-the-horizon scanning and has been used to monitor NASA Space Shuttle re-entries.
Image © Søren Nielsen
Canon 1D MkIV + Canon EF 70-200mm f ƒ2.8 L IS lensIn typical UKAR outside-the-box style imagery comes this tight composition from Peter Reoch. He explains: "The photo was taken at the Deutsches Museum - Flugwerft Schleißheim (Oberschleissheim). This is Eurofighter DA1 (development aircraft), so the first ever Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon produced and flown. I was trying to avoid the 'normal' museum shots so using my Canon 70-200 F/4 L I focused on the light reflections from the pilots Heads Up Display (HUD) with its green tint". We think it worked.
Image © Peter Reoch
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-200mm ƒ4 L lensVying on the UKAR boards with the stunning digital photography from around the world today - for which it has become synonymous - are the vintage scans offering the chance to see classic aircraft from the past in a quality rarely seen. This image of a Thunderbird's diamond-four when flying the awesome Phantom was taken at RAF Bentwaters' Armed Forces Day in June 1971, and is just one of a great set that Ian has posted.
Image © Ian McLaren
Praktica SLR + 135mm lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 1, January 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Nothing brings a smile to a UKAR staffer's face more than a good firework display. Combine that with aviation, and you're onto a winner. We kick off the new year literally in explosive fashion with an image from the world of radio control model flying, and an event attended by over 30,000 spectators at Donauwörth-Genderkingen, Bavaria last August. Photographer Mathias Grägel is the lensman, and he tells us this was a challenging shot to get, being taken at around 10pm. It may be "only" a model aircraft, but the camera technique shown here means it deservedly makes our weekly selection. Well worth the effort!
Image © Mathias Grägel (GME-AirFoto GbR)
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensWe always welcome new photographers to UKAR. We reckon ours is the largest community of top-quality aviation photographers in Britain, and word is spreading fast, judging by the number of talented overseas members who are joining us. Maciej Aleksandrowicz from Poland is the latest new recruit to these pages, and his debut post has earned him a Pictures Of The Week nomination straight away - becoming the 298th different photographer to be featured in POTW's two-and-a-half year history! The image in question features one of DHL's fleet of Boeing 757 cargo jets, seen here being de-iced, at Warsaw's Chopin Airport. Welcome aboard Maciek - we can't wait to see your next set of images!
Image © Maciej Aleksandrowicz
This time of year is always a popular one for retrospective photo threads on the board, as our members look back at their photographic haul over the previous 12 months. Judging by his thread, long-time UKARian, and aviation journalist Tony Osborne had quite a 2011! For us, the stand-out image was this one, of Space Shuttle Discovery's final touchdown at Cape Canaveral's landing strip. Sadly the chance to get a shot like this has now passed, as the Shuttle moves from outer space, to "inner" museum. Tony tells us it took a very determined hosting Public Affairs Officer some 18 hours of cutting red tape to ensure access, given that his main reason for being there was to write and photograph an article on HH-60s at Patrick AFB. We can't pretend we're not just a little jealous of Tony!
Image © Tony Osborne
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-200mm L lensSome of us get a bit squiffy about the 'Tiffy'. True it's not the most attractive jet in the world, and recent RAF displays of the type haven't exactly got our pulses racing, to say the least, but in the right conditions, it is possible to get a memorable photograph of a Typhoon. From another excellent retrospective thread, the ultra-consistent Stu Freer offers up this tremendous combination of fast jet and fiery sunset. The rest of his thread is well worth a look too.
Image © Stuart Freer (Touchdown Aviation)
Hands up who was at Fairford for the Air Tattoos in 1993 and '94? OK, hands up who wishes they'd been? The appearance of the mighty, though that Bear-ly does it justice, Tupolev Tu-95 has passed into airshow folklore. Will we see them again? Well, one can dare to dream, but for a new generation of enthusiasts, images like these from UKAR staffer Steve Buckby remain the Holy Grail of aviation photography on these shores. Come on Douglas Bader House, you can fill the entire flying display with Tutors, Tucanos and TBM-700s, if we can only have one of these too, even on static!
Image © Steve Buckby
There's something of a retro feel about POTW this week, and for once that's nothing to do with Dan B's dress sense. Next up Dino van Doorn takes us back to 1997 at Point Mugu for a Phantastic trip down memory lane with some delightfully painted US Navy F-4s. The wonderful colourscheme, and shark's mouth on this example works superbly with the jet's classic lines. Those prone to getting over-excited would be well-advised to approach the rest of Dino's thread with extreme caution - there's a rather gorgeous all-black painted Tomcat in there too!
Image © Dino van Doorn
And if a Shuttle, Steve's Bear and Dino's veteran Phantom weren't exotic enough for you, then how about this next one? Yet another gem from our ever-fascinating Golden Oldies section, and a real piece of vintage US heavy metal. The North American A-5 Vigilante has been out of front-line service for over 30 years now, and Rob Martaré took us right back to June 1969 and an open day at Bierset in Belgium. Look at the access! No cones, no ropes, just people left to use their own common sense. The example we see here is in fact an RA-5C visiting from the USS John F. Kennedy. This was posted as the latest update in a long-running thread - and if you've not been following it from the beginning, make yourself a cup of tea, pull up a chair and read it from the start - some simply wonderful images of legendary aircraft, from a bygone age.
Image © Rob Martaré
Werra I + Jena 50mm ƒ2.8 lens on Agfa 18 DIN film
