Pictures Of The Week
Week 26, June 2017
Clockwise from top left:
Could this be one of the rarest machines to have even been posted on UKAR? Caught by Alistair Zammit on finals to Malta Luqa Airport, this AT-802U Air Tractor belongs to 25 Squadron of the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Image © Alistair Zammit
Sometimes it's nice to shift the emphasis in your photography away from just the machines we all enjoy so much, and to focus on the human side of aviation. Andy's post from Tiger Meet shows a lot of interaction between the ground crews and those piloting the jets, and this Italian Typhoon being marshalled out from parking caught our eye as a pleasing composition.
Image © Andy Kenyon
Stu Freer always maintains a high standard with his photographic contributions, and this set from the recent BALTOPS at RAF Fairford is just about as good as any we've seen from the deployment. One of the three B-1Bs present is seen here in early evening light vacating the runway, and looking very menacing from a frontal perspective. Amazing detail and clarity at 1600px resolution.
Image © Stuart Freer (Touchdown Aviation)
The Whirlwind always raises a smile, and the display debut flown recently at RAF Cosford airshow went down very well. More of a search and rescue role demo than a full-on display, it nevertheless offers the audience a good number of views on this lovely old machine and is a very welcome addition to the display circuit. We look forward to seeing it around at a few more shows before the summer is out.
Image © Nick Jennings
Airshows in Germany have been few and far between since the Ramstein disaster, but the German Armed Forces have recently begun hosting smaller events at various locations, to showcase their assets to the public. The display at Fassburg included a variety of flying types, but the highlight was probably a tactical role demo from the German Special Forces that saw troops from the KSK act out a hostage rescue scenario and afforded a rare view of some of their elusive helicopters, including the rather fetching NH-90.
Image © 'BigClick67'
We travel back to 1992 for the last image to feature this week, with a look at the rehearsals for 20(R) Squadron's disbandment flypast at RAF Laarbruch. A fine array of machines, all superbly presented in glorious two-tone camouflage, full colour roundels and high-viz squadron markings; warplanes that really look the part. The clock is running down on the Tornado's Royal Air Force service, and it won't be many years until one of these flypasts will be held to mark the end of a distinguished career for a much-loved type.
Image © Steve Doyle
Pictures Of The Week
Week 25, June 2017
Clockwise from top left:
The Shuttleworth Collection hosted what is sure to be one of the finest airshows of the season last weekend. The returning Evening Airshow format was missed last year, and with perfect weather conditions and several debuts, including star of the show Hurricane P3717, everything came together perfectly on Saturday. This sort of topside is what Shuttleworth is famous for, but in such perfect lighting, it becomes an even more special place.
Image © Darrell Thompson
The NATO Tiger Meet of 2017 hasn't really delivered as many memorable tiger special schemes as we'd might have hoped. One of the better liveries was this Armée de l'Air Rafale C, and Steven's fantastic topside shows you all the detail you could want.
Image © Steven Harrison-Green
The Tactical Weapons Meet at Florennes Air Base has produced some vintage fast jet shots on the forums, but this exquisite topside of a Belgian F-16 is probably the very best image we've seen from the Spotters Day. Catching the light at just the right angle, years of weathering and paint touch-ups are highlighted by the sun whilst vapour streams over the wings. Be sure to visit this thread - the thumbnail here does this image no justice.
Image © Ewald Reinders
The Pardubice airshow in the Czech Republic features a lot of warbirds, amongst them Beech 18 "Southern Comfort". It makes a fine subject in any weather, with the polished chrome brightening it up even aginst flat grey skies. You can even see runway the showground reflected in the metalwork in Piotr's photo.
Image © Piotr Kostur
Aircraft Restoration Company's Hispano Buchon broke cover this week in what we can only describe as a "marmite" paint scheme. Representing Messerschmitt Bf109 E-7 "Black 8" of Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader JG-27 flown by Leutnant Werner Schroer, the good work is somewhat undone by ARCo's decision to add artificial heavy weathering. It reminds us of the "Red Tails" colours Peter Teichman's P-40 wore for a couple of seasons, although the weathering in that instance was to match the look of CGI aircraft in the film. This, seemingly, is just for fun.
Image © Brian Marshall
Star of the Weston Air Festival for enthusiasts was without doubt the AW139 from Italy's Aeronautica Militaire. Although only a static participant, Michael Lovering caught it departing at the end of the show.
Image © Michael Lovering
UKAR Staffer Rod concludes our selection this week, with a shot of a USAF C-17 deploying extensive counter measures during the Joint Forcible Entry Exercise held on the Nellis Tactical Training Range in the Nevada desert. Flares dominate the shot, but unusually, chaff is visible just below the engines too, and further down Rod's thread is the very unique sight of a sky full of strips of metal foil raining down on the desert.
Image © Rod McDonough
Pictures Of The Week
Week 24, June 2017
Clockwise from top left:
There are special schemes, and then there are special schemes. This stunningly painted A-200 Tornado belongs to the Reparto Sperimentale Volo of the Italian Air Force and was seen here arriving at RAF Brize Norton in advance of a scheduled appearance at RAF Cosford Airshow. Shaun's images from the final approach show just how intricate a repaint this is...
Image © Shaun Schofield
...and Ian Garfield's shot from the display at RAF Cosford shows that the attention to detail continues even on the undersides, a sharp pull up with the wings fully swept affording us a good look at the anniversary markings as vapour forms on the upper surfaces. It was a display that won a lot of admiration on UKAR, and with such a memorable livery it's a great way to commemorate 60 years of operations for 311° Gruppo.
Image © Ian Garfield
Also fresh from the paint shop is the BBMF's Avro Lancaster. The overhaul by the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford looks to be an exquisite piece of work, and from this first-look of the finished scheme, the reproduction quality on the nose art is every bit good as the rest of ARCo's workmanship. Several ground runs of the engines have now been completed, and the aircraft is expected to be flying again with the next week few weeks.
Image © Brian Marshall
Exercise Saber Strike continues at RAF Fairford with daily missions flown by the heavy bombers currently deployed there. A number of very early starts is a test of dedication, but one that Rich Pittman has passed with flying colours, already located at the fence in the small hours for these beautiful and atmospheric shots of a B-1B Lancer being crewed at sunrise.
Image © Rich Pittman
Michael Lovering was also on the fence line, albeit at more sociable hours, to enjoy some of the weekend activity last Sunday. The B-52's enormous drag chute makes for a very pleasing image as it vacates the runway.
Image © Michael Lovering
Still looking like something out of Thunrderbirds, the Airlander successfully conducted it's fourth test flight this week and Cardington local Alistair was on hand once again to record the occasion. We loved this image of the huge aircraft soaring above the famous Cardington sheds.
Image © Alisdair Anderson
A low, angled image of the Gnat Display Team's G-RORI rounds out our selection this week. Captured in Saturday's late afternoon sunshine as the team set out to display at a private event, there's a lovely spring-time vibe to this.
Image © Dan Butcher
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 70-300mm L IS lens
Pictures Of The Week
Week 23, June 2017
Clockwise from top left:
Shuttleworth's Fly Navy was a show we all had high hopes for, following such a strong showing last year. Sadly, a number of cancellations and bad weather put a downer on things, and for many the flat lighting led to an afternoon of slow shutter panning shots, like this one of the RNHF Chipmunk from Jakub Zurek.
Image © Jakub Zurek
Chris Low is always keen to try slow shutter speeds, whatever the weather, and once again his work with a bridge camera would shame those with far more expensive setups. The Shuttleworth Collection's DH60X Moth is the subject of this beautifully crisp image.
Image © Chris Low
Our third and final image from Fly Navy is one of the more modern aircraft at the show - the Lynx Wildcat arrived for static display during the morning, when the sun was shining, and Darrell Thompson caught it in fine style hover-taxiing in to its parking slot.
Image © Darrell Thompson
Rarely have we seen a more striking study of an HP Victor. Under brooding skies, Wallace's low front aspect shot of Elvington's "Lusty Lindy" just oozes atmosphere, and the black and white conversion is excellently applied.
Image © Wallace Shackleton
Canada's CF-188 Hornet demo always boats a bold livery, and 2017's is one of the best for many a year. The very patriotic red and white colour scheme across the upper surfaces is shown to great effect during the impressively steep climb out to begin the demo, as seen here at the Wings over Wayne airshow held at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina.
Image © Bogdan Movileanu
Whilst airshows and classic jets in the UK continue to endure tough times, it was very interesting to learn from Giorgio's thread about how airshows and aviation in general are perceived in Italy, with negative connotations to both air events and the machines themselves. Fighting against the tide is the Volafenice Flying Museum at Reggio Emilia airport. Home to a small collection of vintage jet aircraft, the centrepiece is this beautiful Aermacchi MB.326E trainer, with a Jet Provost Mk3 also in airworthy condition and a rare Aermacchi MB.326K light ground attack aircraft also currently under restoration to fly. It's fascinating to see the efforts made to preserve aviation history in little-known collections like this.
Image © Giorgio Varisco
The cute and diminutive Mil Mi-2 Hoplite recently reached the significant milestone of 50 years service with the Polish Armed Forces, and to celebrate an Open Day was held at the 56th Air Base in Inowrocław. Amongst the aircraft present for the event was this Hoplite in a rather fetching special colour scheme.
Image © Łukasz Lipka