Jump to content

gary1701

Members
  • Posts

    317
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by gary1701

  1. Hi Mark, good to hear from you again, hope all is well. Not done to much on the AH this year yet. Weather has been so poor I just haven't been chasing them around the airfield, they don't seem to keen on coming near the fence much at the moment. I'll try and make up for it in the rest of 2012. Mike, The link to the Britmodeller reference topic and my own personal site has all my best pics on, but if you do take the project on and want any in a bigger size for reference just let me know and I'll see what I can do. Gary
  2. Gents, Some pics from during the week. Wednesday evening at Lakenheath, followed by a late trip upto Coningsby on Thursday. On both I was gambling that the evening light would come at the right moment, and luckily it did. First Lakenheath, shot from a stepladder on the Northside. Then Coningsby, shot straight down the runway from the 07 end in the last light of the day. Even got a rainbow. Note that an outline of the 1435 Flt Maltese Cross remains on ZK300 as it catchs the light. Gary
  3. Very, very nice and like everybody else, how I would love the chance. I did notice that in the close up of the 6 Sqn jet plugged in, the pilot is wearing the new helmet (HMSS), the first time outside 17 Sqn I've seen it in use, so it must now be reaching the frontline. I didn't notice anybody wearing it at Coningsby last week though. Gary
  4. Gents, I don't think I've quite seen anything as bad as that Puma. I did hear a story that one of the RAF Chinook's intheatre (don't recall if it was Iraq or Afghan) a few years ago did not have the performance that it should have done, and engine checks showed that there was no problem there. It was rotated back to the UK and was apparently found to be all the extra weight from the sand that had built inside the aircraft. Back to the bone, and I gather it was moved back to the centre of the airfield for engine runs yesterday, but has now moved back to the same stand again. Could have made a nice backdrop to Mrs Obama's visit today! Gary
  5. Copied over from a post in the aviation photography section for reference. 3(F) Squadron 100th Anniversary scheme for 2012. Typhoon is ZJ936/QO-C. This is a standard Tranche one jet that has been through the block 5 upgrade and is now fitted with PIRATE. Gary
  6. Thanks gents. Interesting query on the Islander. The Army and RAF do operate quite a number of Islander/Defenders between them, with the majority flown by the Army. The RAF have three, flown by the rather vaguely named Northolt Station Flight. These guys have a similar role to the Army aircraft and have a low profile, surveillance role. They're in the same grey as the above pic, but completely unmarked besides roundels and serial. 651 Sqn at Aldergrove have about a dozen, mostly configured with a imaging turret under the nose, the aircraft I photographed above, is the single training example which doesn't. There's also a few surplus aircraft in storage at Shawbury. Gary
  7. Gents, The follow up to my earlier post with other pictures taken at RAF Coningsby earlier this week besides the 3(F) Sqn special. Twice '931 came down on Tuesday, I guess after a crew change, and both times the pilot cycled the brake. Nothing much on the visitor front, this AAC Islander was on the deck for what must have been 10-15 minutes before departing. Gary
  8. Gents, This post is going to feature just one aircraft I'm afraid. I've just spent two days of scorching temperatures (pure luck that my annual fixed holiday started this week!) and blue skies on the fence at RAF Coningsby, my first visit this year besides the enthusiasts do. My number one target was to try and capture Typhoon FGR4 ZJ936 as I haven't seen the jet since it gained the 100th anniversary markings earlier this year. Got rather lucky, as they flew the thing four times over two days, allowing me to capture it from every possible angle. Slightly disappointing that none of the pilots who flew it would cycle the airbrake while taxiing, although some of the guys flying the grey jets did so. ZJ936 has some markings on the top of the airbrake that can only be seen when deployed. Hope this is not overkill on one jet! 'The third shall be first'. The markings on the brake can just be seen. 3(F) Sqn battle honours. The fin. Not sure which side lost the badge a month or so ago but it's back now on both sides. Leading the posse down from the shelters. Didn't get the airbrake but at least he waved! Returning on 25. Finally, turning off the far end. Not all shot on the one sortie I must add! I'll edit up some more general shots from the two days and will put them up soon as well. Gary
  9. Hi again, Thanks. I was fortunate to photograph it in some decent light and I think I would have got similar results if I'd shot it without sunlight. Certainly the few pics I took of it on a cloudy wednesday evening were pretty poor. I don't know if they are scorch/heat marks or not. I posted the pics up on the US ARC site hoping for some insight and somebody suggested sand blown back from the engines and stuck to the airframe by hydraulic/oil leakage which does seem to follow bearing in mind it was heading home after a Middle East deployment. Also the comms that were apparently heard when he came in suggested a 'avionics' issue, and as although the B-1 DAS system is in the tailcone, I can't see how the external marks here would be caused by the quoted problem, there appears to be no panel damage or ports in/out of the airframe so perhaps the guy on ARC is correct. Gary
  10. Hi, It's still here as of this morning, and still in the same place as well. You could hardly park down Folly Road this morning and that was on a morning when nothing flew at all! I did hear it is expected to be about for a while, but can't vouch for that. Gary
  11. Thanks guys. That Westover C-5 was sitting there the Wednesday evening, I did hope he would go then. It seems that there is a regular thursday run by a cargo 747 into Mildenhall, very rarely does one fail to turn up on that day. So the 48th FW marked jet flew on the thursday, that sounds about right. All these years I have been going over there and besides one families day at Marham I have never been in a position to get a decent pic of it. I'm sure it knows I'm coming... Gary
  12. Gents, Having been without a serviceable motor for a few weeks, espically over the main shows, I was desperate to get out and see something this week, despite the weather. I chanced a couple of hours over at nearby Lakenheath one evening, hoping to catch some jets returning in the late sunlight. Sorry they're all rather similar, but there isn't really much scope for variation in these shots. The RAF E-3 that can be seen on the Mildenhall circuit behind was still about when I left Lakenheath so got one approach out of him in good light. Gary
  13. Gents, These four went into Farnborough about a fortnight ago for RIAT and the Farnborough show. One has gone into Mildenhall as of early this morning and was about to fly a sortie with a USMC C-130 but has just blown a tyre. He's now apparently stuck... Gary
  14. Not that one I'm afraid, she's been out for a while. I recall when the book - interesting read by the way - came out somebody on the army forum who knew her said that she was taking a commercial helo qualification (or whatever it's called). She could be one of the East Anglian Air Ambulance pilots that I've heard on the box recently. Gary
  15. Hi Ed, Glad to be of help and nice to see it coming out okay. I don't know if it's the pilot below, but there's at least one lady Apache driver on the frontline at the moment - heard her in the Wattisham circuit the other day while listening on the box. Gary
  16. That explains it then, and is probably why it's gone back up. I remember somebody on friday saying something about the sqn crest. I wonder if it came back later for the families day on Saturday? Gary
  17. Hi, It left Coningsby early yesterday morning (before the enthusiasts day started) for Leuchars to have it's paint work 'touched up', so it'll be around for a while. It better be, I haven't photographed it yet! Heard a couple of Marham callsigns wednesday evening on the box make some rather rude comments about it when they sighted it - must have been 2 Sqn with a bit of banter... Gary
  18. Gents, I also made the run upto the enthusiasts day at Coningsby yesterday. They last held this in 2010 and I was keen to see how it compared. I thought it was pretty good, and thankfully the weather wasn't nowhere near as bad as forecast although I don't think the static displays were to the same standard as last time. Not opening a hangar up for undercover displays this time was a slight problem when the heavens did open and it was a shame that none of the more interesting Typhoons (LGB marked and the 3 Sqn anniversary bird) were put on display, or any of the static aircraft were carrying interesting loads. Although the afternoon downpour prevented most of the flying display, the inclusion of a small display line up this time was a nice touch. Here's couple of pics. I've avoided repeating Mark's post as much as possible, although I couldn't resist the Hawk! I managed to run down to where I figured the II Sqn anniversary jet was going to be parked and managed to get it before it clouded over again. Now that's how to display an aircraft... After the downpour the light was quite nice. And that Hawk... Gary
  19. Hi Mark, I was on yesterdays visit as well. As you say it was a nice trip and luckily a little different to the weather forecast despite the downfall in the afternoon. I managed to get in position just as the 2 Sqn special taxied in. I'll put the pics up on a different thread. Gary
  20. Hi, I can probably help with some pics if you're looking for a specific airframe as I tend to be over at Lakenheath quite frequently. SNIPER has certainly been alot more common recently, there's been days when I've seen nothing but SNIPER fitted to Lakenheath 'Es, although LANTIRN is still a common training fit. They still carry the older AIM-9M, not the newer AIM-9X that the 493rd uses on the C/D model. Lakenheath E crews have recently started using the Helmet Mounted Sight. Gary
  21. Gents, Passing the Belgian F-16 stand at Duxford a little while ago and decals were already there. They should be displaying with flares as well. Gary
  22. Gents, I gather the new Belgian solo F-16 display scheme has only been revealed in the last couple of days but it arrived at Mildenhall today - along with a standard spare - for this weekends Duxford show. I couldn't get to there in time for the arrival but when they've been here before for Duxford they've normally flown a practise on the friday afternoon so waited, and sure enough... Look forward to seeing it again on Sunday. Gary
  23. Hi, On the 17th, they launched six with two acting as spares that returned, the others getting away okay with the single serviceable KC-10. Yesterday (18th) they replaced the still broke KC-10 with two 100th ARW KC-135's and the remaining six also departed with two again acting as spares. All eight are now away but I don't know if the two spares returned to Mildenhall or went straight back to Poland. I gather the plan on the first day, was for all eight to go across and the spares to route directly home. Also finally found out for certain where they went, it was never going to be Nellis but wasn't Cold Lake either. It was Red Flag Alaska, which is usually held at Eielson AFB. They're due back sometime in June, don't know if that means another stopover at Mildenhall. Gary
  24. Hi. Tell me about it! I was one of the extremely annoyed photographers on the mound as well. You wouldn't believe that every jet from three separate flights spaced 10/15 minutes apart would fail to find a decent sized gap today. At least it's only a 45 minute run for me, not like some of the poor buggers there today. Going through the pics, I was a little suprised to find one further down the runway with a little light on and at a decent angle. I'll add it here if okay as it seems pointless starting another thread for one image... Oh forgot. The local rumour is for departure tomorrow morning sometime around or after 10AM, as they have a airspace reservation later on. Might be worth a look (I can't) but difficult to photograph fast jet departures on 29 at Mildenhall at that time of day. There seems to be some debate as to where these guys are actually going, as the next Red Flag at Nellis isn't for over two months. Maybe Canada (Maple Flag?) or Alaska perhaps? Edit: Maple Flag at Cold Lake starts on 28th May. That fits in with routing North as well. Gary
  25. Gents, I understand your thinking and I don't disagree but I wasn't really thinking of range to intercept an inbound threat. Obviously that's going to be heading in but I was thinking more along the lines of endurance once up to maintain coverage until relief is available. It's standard practise for a returning QRA pair at Coningsby to have one aircraft hold off until after the first has been recovered and turned around - I've seen the routine several times. It's also usually SOP to have the ready VC-10 come up out of Brize when a QRA sortie is in process, even if it turns out the aircraft is not needed. The margins are going to be a lot tighter if they're not working without tanks or have not planned to have AAR available near the capital. I just wonder if the lack of tanks is through choice or a necessity of using the Northolt runway. As far as I've seen, Coningsby QRA has always departed in A/B when launching with twin tanks and 6 to 8 warshots. I checked a bigger pic of 'Delta Delta' and the banding indicates inert rounds. Gary
×
×
  • Create New...