Gents,
The Tyndall jets deployed to the UK in the last couple of weeks were still carrying AIM-9Ms. Those were FY 04 and 05 jets if that means anything.
Gary
Hi,
UK enthusiast forums had these as two Lynx AH9's out of RAF Odiham. If they're from the Lynx unit based at Odiham then they would be 657 Sqn machines (still a AAC unit despite being based on a RAF station). 657 is a special forces support unit and keep a very low profile.
Gary
Gents, I've photographed RAF Typhoon and previously Tornado F-3 <acronym title="Johannesburg - Rand (Germiston) (QRA / FAGM), South Africa">QRA</acronym> configured jets at Coningsby many times (most are on here). They virtually always fly with a full load of 4x AMRAAMs and 4x ASRAAMs. Even going ba...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/notaxonrotax" class="quote" target="_blank">notaxonrotax</a> (<a href="#4" class="quote">Reply 4</a>):<br/><i>Any more news on how this accident...
Jump to postGents,
It is 86-0182, one of the two D models with the 493rd FS, apparently being flown single seat. I only photographed it last Friday.
Gary
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/mpsrent" class="quote" target="_blank">mpsrent</a> (<a href="#6" class="quote">Reply 6</a>):<br/><i>C-GVRA landed safely at RAF Coningsby at 14:...
Jump to postGents, As GDB above says, it's always been like that at RAF Waddington. The runway is very close to the fence at that end, and the main A15 to Lincoln road runs right alongside it. I haven't been to Waddington for a few years now, but would never stand directly inline with that approach. The idiot i...
Jump to postHi, I think your culprit was probably a US<acronym title="Air France">AF</acronym> <acronym title="Cargolux (Luxembourg) and Air Chathams (New Zealand)">CV</acronym>-22 from the 7th SOS/352nd SOG out of RAF Mildenhall, UK. In the last couple of months they seem to have built up enough confidence in ...
Jump to postHi,
Both this C-47 and another US based example (N74589/coded 1D) were at the D-day anniversary airshow at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK over the weekend. They joined two UK based C-47's for a display involving four of the type. Very nice they all looked too!
Gary
Gents, Sad news this from one of my local airfields. The 56th <acronym title="Oman Royal Flight">RS</acronym> tends to get forgotten about as it's co-located alongside three F-15 Squadrons as part of the 48th Fighter Wing. It only has an establishment of five aircraft and the 'Jolly's' mostly operat...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/rc135x" class="quote" target="_blank">rc135x</a> (<a href="#32" class="quote">Reply 32</a>):<br/><i>Here is the open boom ARR receptacle on the ...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/par13del" class="quote" target="_blank">par13del</a> (<a href="#25" class="quote">Reply 25</a>):<br/><i>Seems to imply that the capability is al...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/kanban" class="quote" target="_blank">kanban</a> (<a href="#22" class="quote">Reply 22</a>):<br/><i>Either I'm mis understanding the point or go...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/par13del" class="quote" target="_blank">par13del</a> (<a href="#20" class="quote">Reply 20</a>):<br/><i>I believe I saw an article a while back ...
Jump to postGents, Not really bothered about the colour scheme but I gather the RAF have only just found out that they can't work from Waddington with a full fuel load as the runway is not long enough. That limits the options considerably although it may also explain why there is major runway work planned at Wa...
Jump to postHi Peter, Glad you got the Saudi's at Coningsby. Just got back from a day up there myself yesterday. Also you did well if you got one of the Ospreys in one visit. It took me half a dozen trips before I bagged one, and I'm less than an hour away! They should get some more delivered this month and the...
Jump to postPeter, I'm a military guy who's local to Mildenhall/Lakenheath. The good news is that following the virtual standstill with the 48th <acronym title="Canarias Regional Air (Spain)">FW</acronym> at Lakenheath following the budget cuts earlier in the year they're back upto a reasonable amount of flying...
Jump to postGents, I was a few miles away at Coningsby that day when that Typhoon departed and went to Waddington. The approach into Waddington over the A15 is notoriously low and the fence/hedge has been clipped by fast jets on more than one occasion. As GDB says above, they're no breaking any rules, so they c...
Jump to postGents, That was the Coningsby <acronym title="Johannesburg - Rand (Germiston) (QRA / FAGM), South Africa">QRA</acronym> Typhoons (two aircraft) that were cleared to Mach 1.2. The local paper has a quote from an MoD spokesperson saying this was just "normal, routine military flying"! Yeah right...and...
Jump to postGents, 48th <acronym title="Canarias Regional Air (Spain)">FW</acronym>/492nd <acronym title="STAF Argentina">FS</acronym> F-15E 91-0304 in 2010, lost the following year over Libya. <br/><center><font color="#EEEEEE" size="1" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva"><a href="/photo/USA---Air/McDonnell-Dougla...
Jump to postGents,
He has one of mine, so have also followed the Flickr complaint procedure.
Gary
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/MD11Engineer" class="quote" target="_blank">MD11Engineer</a> (<a href="#10" class="quote">Reply 10</a>):<br/><i>I´ve seen this thing in Kandahar...
Jump to postGents, As I understand it, NASA currently operate two WB-57s (926 and 928). 926 transited through RAF Mildenhall, here in the UK homeward bound only a couple of weeks ago. Both aircraft have been taking it in turns to support BACN operations in the Middle East. Not sure where, but I've read somwhere...
Jump to postGents, Followed this thread with interest. Although I don't wish to get involved in any 'which is the best' discussion, there is a couple of points that I don't think have been mentioned yet. The Luftwaffe itself acknowledges that it's <acronym title="Far East Air Transport (Taiwan)">EF</acronym>-20...
Jump to postGents, I don't have any detailed knowledge of the V-22 but I clearly remember talking to one of our Army Air Corps Apache pilots about them last year. It was shortly after his Apache squadron had returned from Afghanistan and at the same time as the US<acronym title="Air France">AF</acronym> had dep...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/KC135TopBoom" class="quote" target="_blank">KC135TopBoom</a> (<a href="#17" class="quote">Reply 17</a>):<br/><i>Is there a reason for "Sneezy" b...
Jump to postGents, ZH105 is indeed the aircraft withdrawn, infact it's been gutted and will never fly again. It was in the static park at the 2010 Waddington airshow (which is when the above pic was taken) with many parts missing and taped up, engines removed. As of last year even the radome had been taken off....
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/ThePointblank" class="quote" target="_blank">ThePointblank</a> (<a href="#14" class="quote">Reply 14</a>):<br/><i>Well, considering state of the...
Jump to postHi, If the Tornado only had a AAM rail fitted to the inside of pylon that carries the drop tank, and the two options are RAF F-3s and Luftwaffe IDS, then it's very likely to be the Luftwaffe IDS. However you can't be 100% sure just from that because RAF F-3s have sometimes been fitted with only the ...
Jump to post'02-4452' was in the UK again today, at RAF Mildenhall and has since departed.
Gary
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/GDB" class="quote" target="_blank">GDB</a> (<a href="#3" class="quote">Reply 3</a>):<br/><i>I thought they had been changed to Tranche 3's, with...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/GDB" class="quote" target="_blank">GDB</a> (<a href="#1" class="quote">Reply 1</a>):<br/><i>Let's just hope our wonderful Prime Minister ('You d...
Jump to postGents, These two 227th <acronym title="Sofia (- Vrazhdebna) (SOF / LBSF), Bulgaria">SOF</acronym> 757's tend to turn up here in the UK quite often, usually at RAF Mildenhall. This is the other one, marked '02-4452', arriving at Mildenhall back in early 2008. <br/><center><font color="#EEEEEE" size="...
Jump to postGents,
The original quantity is correct. 15 Tranche one airframes were delivered to Austria (7L-WA to 7L-WO inclusive). The order was dropped from 18 to 15, not 15 to 12.
Gary
Gents, I see today that that most notorious of all UK tabloids is again on about the Prince and the Apache, having found out about the standard Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract (SERE) course that UK military personnel - including all <acronym title="Air Algérie (Algeria)">AH</acronym> aircrew - un...
Jump to postGents, I tend to spend a lot of time on the fence at Wattisham photographing <acronym title="Air Algérie (Algeria)">AH</acronym>'s, and since the Prince turned up I've half expected to fall over the paparazzi hiding in the bushes, etc... Although there's been no sign of them yet. I've already had on...
Jump to postGents,
Sea King HAR3A was ZH540 from 'B' Flight, 22 Sqn at Wattisham, Suffolk. I photographed it upon departure (now in the queue!). Aircraft was flown by OC 'B' Flight and was not from the Prince/Duke's own flight at Valley (despite what the BBC and the rest of the media say).
Gary
<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/GDB" class="quote" target="_blank">GDB</a> (<a href="#8" class="quote">Reply 8</a>):<br/><i>What a way to run an Air force.</i></font></td></tr>...
Jump to postGents, It is a terrible state of affairs and appears to be getting worse. The sale to Saudi, while good for BAe and the Eurofighter consortium, has also added to the Typhoon's woes with the RAF, with support and spares going there, and the RAF having to accept second priority. The infra-red sensor t...
Jump to post<table border="0" align="CENTER" width="95%" class="quote"><tr><td><font size="2" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva" color="#9A9DA0">Quoting <a href="/profile/ebj1248650" class="quote" target="_blank">ebj1248650</a> (<a href="#2" class="quote">Reply 2</a>):<br/><i>And can you tell me which airplanes ar...
Jump to postGents, I'm familiar enough with Mr Page's previous work to know the sort of selective, agenda led pieces that he has put out in the past, which relies on the readership swallowing it without thinking how the 'facts' have been slanted. However, and I really do hate to even be seen to be agreeing with...
Jump to postHi, That airframe has been delivered to the RAF and is at RAF Coningsby. It hasn't appeared since delivery and has been listed as one of the growing number stripped and stored for parts. I don't believe anything official has ever appeared about Typhoon's destined for Oman, although it seems to be a ...
Jump to postHi, I've been running a 550D for about six months now, with a 100-400L fitted and am very happy with it. Previously used the same lens on a 350 and 400D, also with no problems that I can think of. In all cases I've used a battery grip with that lens, which helps the balancing greatly. The quality of...
Jump to postGents, Us locals who frequent Mildenhall tend to end up at the same spots. <br/><table align="center" border="0" width="500"><tr><td><center><font color="#EEEEEE" size="1" face="ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva"><a href="/open.file/1813824/L/" target="_blank">View Large</a> <a href="/open.file/1813824/M/" t...
Jump to postHi,
RAF Typhoon's have also been affected, and do not appear to have flown since tuesday. I don't know what seats they have, but RAF Tornado's were certainly operating yesterday as normal.
Gary
Gents, Having used a 350D and a 400D body for a number of years, I decided to upgrade last week and bought a new 550D body. As the two previous bodies shared batteries, grip and CF cards I left it a while, knowing the new body would require a new set of everything. I haven't been able to use it on a...
Jump to postThe aircraft previous to ZK300 (ZJ950) was the first Tranche Two jet that lacked the PIRATE system, and I believe all new build deliveries since then have not been fitted. I remember being a little suprised when I photographed the jet at Coningsby in July last year that it was not installed. I think...
Jump to postHi, According to the UK enthusiasts sites there's a bunch of Tornado F-3's stuck (I bet!) in Bermuda enroute home from a Red Flag. They're apparently expected back at Leuchars on either Sunday (today) or Monday. No mention of any Harriers although a bunch of RAF Harriers have been at Red Flag as wel...
Jump to postI certainly agree the Spey engined aircraft were better at low level, that certainly seemed to be the opinion widely held at the time. The RAF F-4J's were completely smoke free though, and were even better than the Spey engined jets, which still smoked a little. You certainly knew right away if it w...
Jump to post74 Sqn's F-4J's were based just a few miles away from me at Wattisham during their short spell on this model. I can remember seeing some documentation (can't remember what it was nowadays) sometime shortly after they arrived that listed these as Phantom F3s, which I always assumed to mean that they ...
Jump to post