Pictures Of The Week
Week 26, June 2016
Clockwise from top left:
No stranger to our Picture of the Week, Rich went out to cover the 50th Anniversary parade of the Spanish Army FAMET. A massed flypast of helicopters including this glorious day glow Cougar got up close and personal, making photography irresistible!
Image © Rich Pittman
Russian helicopters are a rare sight in UK skies, so to see a Kamov KA-32 visiting Fairoaks was a real treat indeed. We can't make sure if this shot is pure luck or excellent timing, but catching a rare helicopter at the exact moment a bolt of lightning struck in the background. Wow.
Image © Westleigh Bushell
The HM Coastguard have to regularly train with Mountain Rescue in order maintain the skills to rescue individuals that need their help in often terrible conditions. It's an aspect of rescue training rarely captured, which is why we have chosen this shot of the training taking place to feature in our Pictures of the Week.
Image © Joe Ruscoe
On Wednesday in the damp evening gloom history was made, arriving at RAF Fairford were three F-35Bs marking their first ever international deployment. Even more significant, one of these were BK3, an RAF aircraft. Showing exceptional skill in the conditions, Laurie caught the historic moment an RAF F-35 arrives in the UK for the first time.
Image © Laurie Hughes
We have quite a rotary theme this week. Not only did we have a KA-32 in the area recently, a Ukraine Helicopters Mi-8 also visited Norwich. Local airfield stalwart Matt was on hand to capture this cold war beast whilst it visited the area.
Image © Matt Varley
We rarely here about warbird activities in Australia, so when a post appeared on our forums recording the recent fly in at Echuca, Victoria we had to check it out. Bird Dogs are interesting little aircraft and this interesting colour scheme peaked our interest.
Image © 'GeorgeP'
Anchorage is a busy airport, known for quite a busy cargo terminal. Amongst the regular cargo jets and civilian Hercules was this lovely DC-6 showing that the old girl can still cut it with the best of them.
Image © Ivan Voukadinov
Pictures Of The Week
Week 25, June 2016
Clockwise from top left:
Astonishingly we have not one but two specially schemed RAF Hercules' this year, and they haven't just been token efforts either. This particular airframe commemorates the 100th anniversary of 47 Squadron, and quite a smart design it is too. We've said it before but it's really refreshing - not to mention surprising - to see so many RAF special schemes coming out of the woodwork, especially when they're great efforts like this. In Liam's thread you can also catch the second paintjob which isn't half bad either.
Image © Liam Daniels
We suspect everyone reading this knows that a trio of B-52Hs - AKA The BUFF - were based at RAF Fairford for a handful of weeks this year, for the annual NATO BALTOPS exercise. Radleigh was lucky enough to spend a day with them when they held an "Enthusiasts' Day", and on his birthday to boot! They may not be pretty but they certainly look like they do the job, and it's brilliant to see the USAF opening their doors to the community during these deployments.
Image © Radleigh Bushell
Remember when the UK had camouflaged aircraft...? You might have to travel to see a camo'd up bird these days but they're out there, and this Turkish Air Force Cougar is one that caught our eye. Primarily used for Combat Search and Rescue, 20 Cougars have served Turkey since 2000, this one attending the semiannual Anatolian Eagle exercise at Konya Air Base.
Image © Hans Antonissen
There's something very menacing about the C-17, which shows itself really well from this angle. Matt caught this rare visitor to Stansted airport hailing from the United Arab Emirates, which has operated six of the type since 2009. One odd thing about this is the totally greyed out markings - it's hardly an inconspicuous aircraft so one wonders why that is necessary...
Image © Matt Varley
Alistair has provided us with some great catches from Malta in the past, and this Italian Air Force TH500 certainly fits the bill. Rarely seen outside of its home country, the "Flying Egg" provides basic helicopter training for AM pilots as well as those from other air arms across the globe, and has been in service with the Italians for 26 years. It's great to see training aircraft still painted up in camouflage!
Image © Alistair Zammit
Another great catch here, certainly a rare one to British eyes, is this CH-149 Cormorant of the Royal Canadian Air Force. A development of the very familiar AW101 Merlin, the Cormorant acts in search and rescue and aeromedical evacuation roles, as evidenced by its loud paint job! This one looks particularly picturesque against that background and in that light. That whole set is worth viewing for some rarely seen Canadian hardware.
Image © Derek Heyes
Now this is a shot from yesteryear if ever there was one...this pair of "SHAR"s performed at RIAT 2002, which doesn't seem all that long ago until you remember what isn't around any more. This dramatic shot really is a great reminder of what used to be, and few displays were as evocative as those of the Harriers. Good times indeed.
Image © 'BlgClick67'
Pictures Of The Week
Week 24, June 2016
Clockwise from top left:
Resplendent in it's new paint scheme, Hangar 11's P-51D Mustang was captured here at Biggin Hill from the flat roof of a house no less.
Image © Paul Drabot
Following its recent appearance at the KLu Open Days, the F-35A has gained a number of new fans around Europe. Popping flares and creating shock cones, the pair of F-35's showed that they had personality. Caught here by Dries running in for another fast pass.
Image © Dries Embrechts
During their recent visit, the KLu F-35A's undertook a number of local missions. Some lucky enthusiasts even got to photograph them during air to air refuelling sorties. Here, the stealthy shape can clearly be seen breaking away from the tanker.
Image © Jan Dijkstra
There's nothing like the smoke put out by the 8 jets of a BUFF and recently we were lucky enough to have three operating from RAF Fairford. Shaun was on hand to catch this shot of Icer 02 returning from yet another BLATOPS sortie.
Image © Shaun Schofield
Kadex 2016 is a little known event held at Astana International Airport, Dan recently travelled to the airfield to witness it's wonders. When it comes to big fast jets, the Flanker is hard to beat.
Image © Daniel Reeves
NATO Tiger Meet 2016 was blessed with some lovely paint schemes. Non-less than this Marine E-3 Hawkeye that showed that even large aircraft car look awesome in tiger stripes!
Image © Richard Wake
The Anatolian Eagle exercises attract both European and Middle Eastern air forces, it's just a shame it's such a hard airfield to get to. Kev made the long journey to Konya in order to bag the action including this Italian Tornado ECR launching on another mission.
Image © Kevin Daws
Pictures Of The Week
Week 23, June 2016
Clockwise from top left:
Top spot goes to Chris this week, for his shot of The Fighter Collection's much-loved F8F-2P Bearcat at The Shuttleworth Collection's Fly Navy Day, which judging by conditions, participants and quality of display flying, may prove to be one of the most popular shows of the year. Putting on meaty display full of power and noise, the Bearcat didn't disappoint, and Chris captured it perfectly, once again making fine, fine use of his non-DSLR setup.
Image © Chris Low
Panasonic DMC-GX80Keeping us at Shuttleworth, Barrie's excellent shot of Terry Martin's Westland Wasp, which is making a very welcome return to a number of airshows this year. In addition to great composition and excellent use of colours, Barrie's shot is the best we've seen making use of the grass-clippings being blown around rather violently on landing.
Image © Barrie May
Canon EOS 80D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensMaking three for three on Shuttleworth's Fly Navy pictures in POTW this week, Peter's shot of the venerable de Havilland Sea Vixen really caught our eye. Now belonging to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust, engineers have worked around the clock during the off-season on the complex machine to ensure her attendance at Old Warden, and the world's only flying Sea Vixen produced a sterling display, and Peter made excellent use of the topside opportunity provided.
Image © Peter Cox
The RAF has produced some pretty commendable special schemes on their aircraft lately, including 27 Squadron, which Kevin caught in Devon recently. Fondly known as "Nellie", the machine is named after the prominent elephant featured as part of 27 Sqn's motif, which pays homage to the Sqn's first aircraft, the Martinsyde G100 Elephant.
Image © Kevin Wills
The RAF's special-schemed Typhoon ZK349, fondly known as "GiNA", made a sterling commitment to UK airshows in 2015 as part of the RAF's well-received Synchro Pair. Despite rumours to the contrary, GiNA appears to be very much alive and well, and Pete managed to catch the beast on a rare foray into low level training in the Mach Loop. It's refreshing to see something other than grey jets powering their way through the Welsh valleys.
Image © Pete Fletcher
Nikon D500Piotr's shot features next, from Pardubice, from the Czech Republic. The shot features Classic Trainers' Harvard II N696RE wearing South African Air Force colours, in a close-up and in-your-face composition, making use of the machine's dayglow colours to add vibrancy to the image.
Image © Piotr Kostur
Rounding-off this week, Adam's shot of a rare brace of Mountain Home AFB-based 366th Fighter Wing F-15Es travelling through RAF Lakenheath. Given their extensive mission marks, they appear to have been made great use of in recent conflicts. The Idaho-based Strike Eagles are very rare sights outside of the US, and especially in the UK, and we liked this composition from Adam, composing both machines well with the familiar RAF Lakenheath backdrop.
Image © Adam Duffield
Canon EOS 7D Mk.II + Canon EF 100-400mm Mk.II L IS lens