Pictures Of The Week
Week 5, January 2018
Clockwise from top left:
With the 2017 G20 summit being held in Germany, Michael had the chance to capture a variety of VIP aircraft from across the globe arriving at Hamburg airport. Amongst those was the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, arriving in the ROKAF Boeing 747. With a very picturesque backdrop and a selection of rare government transport aircraft, Michael’s thread is certainly one to enjoy looking through.
Image © Michael Jacksch
In August 2016 came the last chance to see the Cosford-based Jaguars running under their own power. Ian had the chance to capture a detailed image of 'the office' of one of these aircraft during the event.
Image © Ian Garfield
In January, another deployment of B-52s to Europe gave enthusiasts the chance to capture them at RAF Fairford. Stuart's well edited and composed image of one of these arriving during the last light of the day certainly helps to portray the true power of the Stratofortress.
Image © Stuart Freer
Some nice colour in the sky as this US Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon arrives at Mildenhall on Sunday evening, nicely recorded by Matt Varley from the viewing location on Folly Road.
Image © Matt Varley
The Tactical Weapon Meet each year provides a great opportunity to see an assortment of aircraft from all over Europe. Rob's image of a Belgian Air Force Alpha Jet caught our attention thanks to its striking camouflage and appealing topside angle.
Image © Rob Hendriks
Our last image this week transports us back in time to 1989, in the form of a Bell 212 over the Mediterranean Sea. These helicopters are still used by the Italian Navy in the anti-submarine and transport role.
Image © 'BigClick67'
Pictures Of The Week
Week 4, January 2018
Clockwise from top left:
Valhalla formation, featured last week, returns as our main image this week. Duane Hewitt was lucky enough to be invited along for the ride and this image, shot from the lead aircraft looking back across the rest of the formation as they transited between locations on the route, was our favourite.
Image © Duane Hewitt
A Netjets Cessna Citation isn't likely to get many a pulse racing, but this photo shows the importance of being aware of your surroundings as a photographer. The famous Rock of Gibraltar dominates the landscape at the Gibraltar International Airport and is effectively incorporated into Chris Day's composition.
Image © Chris Day
A pair of Air Force Reserve Command A-10s are seen on approach to Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona last November. The DP tailcode is unique to the 47th FS and stands for "Dogpatchers"; an official nod to the squadron's WWII heritage, when they painted characters from the Dogpatch cartoons on their aircraft.
Image © Kevin Bell
UKAR Staffer Tom Jones snapped the second Norwegian AW101 departing the Westland facility at Yeovil in lovely, clear conditions earlier this week, before heading down the road to spend the rest of his day at RNAS Yeovilton. Let's hope this one fares a little better than the Norwegian's first aircraft, which ended up on its side and extensively damaged within a week of delivery!
Image © Tom Jones
Before transitioning to the Eurofighter Typhoon in the late 2000s, Austria leased a dozen F-5 Tiger IIs from the Swiss Air Force as a stop-gap until their new aircraft were delivered. Photographed here at Sion air base during the conversion course in 2004, the Austrians might be in the market for some more gap-fillers soon, as they want to end their involvement with the Typhoon ahead of schedule.
Image © Philippe Rey
Déjà Vu all over again! Kev Wills rounds us out this week, as he did last, with another motley selection of print images captured on the fence at military bases during the 1990s, this time focussing on the RAF at Wyton and the USAF at nearby Alconbury. It serves as a good reminder of just how much variety there used to be for the military enthusiast, though we've chosen one of the locals that was synonymous with Wyton to feature here with this image of a lumpy Canberra T.17.
Image © Kev Wills
Pictures Of The Week
Week 3, January 2018
Clockwise from top left:
Seen basking in the winter sun at Duxford, the Fighter Collection's pair of Corsair and Bearcat make for a very pleasing image, helped by Brian's choice of a low vantage point and lovely rich colours.
Image © Brian Marshall
The retirement this week of the Lynx AH.9A from Army service was marked with a commemorative paint scheme applied to ZG917. One of the better recent efforts from the paint shops of the UK military, it's a shame that the scheme only emerged for the farewell tour, but Valhalla formation tried to visit as many locations around the country as they could. Quite the crowd were gathered at the Museum of Army flying in the background of this image, taken as the formation set off on their travels.
Image © Chris Parsons
The Fighters Weapons School held at Andravida AB last summer was the location for this study of a Greek F-16. Carrying a heavy loadout for a deep strike mission, including AGM-65 Maverick missiles, the ungainly spine of the F-16D variant operated by the Greek Air Force is very evident, as is the fantastically worn and beaten looking camouflage paint scheme.
Image © Savvas Savvaidis
Our next entry to POTW comes from the Air and Space Museum in Paris. With a dedicated display hall for prototype aircraft, this photo of the cancelled Mach 1.6 capable SNCASO SO.9000 Trident caught our eye.
Image © Nick Jennings
Andy Kenyon stopped at Ketchican, Alaska in late August last year to photograph some of the movements at the airport and nearby seaplane movements. This 1952 De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver looks immaculate.
Image © Andy Kenyon
The DC-3 Dakota and its variants have been one of the longest serving aircraft in history, and amongst them, is this highly modified Basler BT-67 used to carry out geophysical surveys. Photographed at Southampton airport by Westleigh, it certainly is a very rare catch.
Image © Westleigh Bushell
To finish off this week we have a little bit of nostalgia, in the form of Kevin's images from his various days out during the 1990s. This photo features a French Navy F-8 Crusader FN variant, designed for the air superiority role before being retired in 2000.
Image © Kev Wills
Pictures Of The Week
Week 2, January 2018
Clockwise from top left:
Captured in stunning sunlight, this image of a Minot AFB-based B-52H kicks off our selection for Week 2 of 2018. This is one of four aircraft recently deployed to RAF Fairford for an exercise. Poor weather has marred their first days in the country, even causing one to divert into RAF Mildenhall upon arrival, but at last the weather cleared to allow Wes this fine view on a cold winter's day.
Image © Westleigh Bushell
RAF Tornados sadly seem to have their days numbered and catching them low level fully swept seems to be the holy grail of Tonka shots. This one was superbly caught during one of John's many trips to 'the loop'.
Image © John Ellison
No sooner had we quipped in Week 1 about how rarely we see Irish contributions to the forums than this thread from Dublin Airport surfaces. A Volga-Dnepr Airlines IL-76 transiting through is the subject of this image.
Image © Don Cashen
Following nine years of development and construction, a beautiful Fokker Dr1 Dreidecker replica took to the air at Felthorpe airfield in Norfolk this week. Matt Varley was on hand to capture the aircraft returning from a test flight in perfect conditions.
Image © Matt Varley
One of only four E-4s in service is probably not something you'd expect to find when visiting a museum, but that's exactly what greeted Nick Jennings when he paid a visit to the Air & Space Museum at Le Bourget. Parked on the airfield just the other side of the fence from the museum, the aircraft was positioned very nicely for photographers during a visit for the 70th D-Day anniversary back in 2014.
Image © Nick Jennings
UKAR staffer Sam Wise gets about a bit, but we're not complaining in the slightest. Riga Museum in Latvia is the latest conquest for our intrepid traveller and this stack of Mig-23s is our pick of a fascinating bunch from this collection of Soviet hardware.
Image © Sam Wise
For many of aviation enthusiasts, the 'off season' doesn't produce much in the way of new photographs, so time is often taken to revisit some older base visits and airshows as Derek has recently done. This BAe Systems Hawk appeared at Farnborough 2002.
Image © Derek Ferguson
Pictures Of The Week
Week 1, January 2018
Clockwise from top left:
Wallace Shackleton took a flight from his local airfield at Scone and lucky for us he had his camera in tow, capturing a host of visitors and residents of the general aviation airfield near Perth. The monochrome post-processing in this image of a based Extra 300 enhances the sense of the biting cold conditions in which it was taken.
Image © Wallace Shackleton
Will we ever get bored of seeing Phantoms in stunning Greek sunshine? We'd like to think not, but we're taking full advantage of them whilst they're still around, here a tooled up F-4 based at Andravida is presented before undertaking some air-to-ground training.
Image © 'Hurk6'
RIAT 2017 was one of the best for many years and has been covered many times on our board already. This thread of a behind the scenes look covering angles and access some of us can only wish for has blown us away, and after a very long time trying to pick a favourite, this image showing the strong French flying participation won the day.
Image © Kev Wills
Threshold.aero have only been around for a short while but their events are very quickly becoming some of the most sought after on the calendar and 2018 is already shaping up to be a great year for them. New to the UKAR staffing team, Nick Jennings presents the Saudi Arabian F.53 Lightning from the Threshold Gatwick Aviation Museum event.
Image © Nick Jennings
Our second French military photo of the week comes from Gary Beale. His round-up of his best 2017 photos shows he had an exciting and productive year behind the lens. A superb capture of a twin seat Dassault Rafale B on a visit to St.Dizier was our pick.
Image © Gary Beale
Ireland is a country we rarely see photographs from, which is a shame if this round-up of 2017's best visitors to Shannon airport is anything to go by. With all sorts of trinkets attached, this German research company G550 that visited last September looks the business.
Image © Paul Nelhams
Is there a more photogenic airfield than Sion in Switzerland? The last entry for the first POTW of 2018 takes us back to 2005 and a 'mini Tigermeet' featuring a plethora of German Tornados. This shot of the machines at rest amongst the scenic Swiss Alps is a cracking way to round off the week.
Image © Philippe Rey