Turn and burn

Night Eagles

2012-01-22T11:19:00.001Z

I have been a regular visitor to RAF Lakenheath since the F100 Super Sabres were based there in the 1960's, as I am sure you have guessed I have a big passion for the truly awesome F15 Eagles that currently live there. After so many visits it is always nice to get shots that are different.

So when during November & December the usual pre-flight arming and check area was closed for resurfacing and the north EOR pan was used instead I spent several days photographing the action from so much closer than is usually possible. There were a few run-ins with security at first but once they got the measure of why the plane spotters were there, pressed hard against the fence, it all seemed quite relaxed.

What I enjoyed most was the opportunity to get night shots, the like of which have not been possible previously, as well as some human element, I am especially happy with the second from last shot "Eagle dancer" which shows the marshaller with blurred jets moving around him,, a slow shutter to catch the movement, but his face, the expression of concentration on the job at hand, is needle sharp!

A big thankyou to the guys involved and the friendly MODplod boys too!

A year already...

2011-12-02T16:25:00.001Z

..since the Harrier disappeared from our skies.

The 1 (fighter) squadron association site is now up and running

Typhoons

2011-11-07T15:23:00.000Z

A bit of balancing things up here, I seem to have several USAF aircraft and an increasing amount of airliner shots on this blog, so armed with a shiny new set of steps I headed to RAF Coningsby for some Typhoon action, usually when I visit this base I get cold and wet and come home with a handful of pictures, but this was a full on day with loads of flying.. and a not bad sunset too!

Lots more on my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/

Loud Tonkas, and even louder Strike Eagles

2011-06-29T13:45:00.000+01:00

It's many years since I went to Holbeach Range, a real sign of changing times this was too, once upon a cold war time it was non-stop action here, now its a long wait for very little to happen, however the straffing runs by a Marham Tornado GR4 certainly blew the wax from the ears!

Lakenheath however was about as busy as normal, after very many visits here I was in search of shots that were way different to usual so I got right under the final approach path and used a 20mm lens, the clouds on the day really invited this tactic, I am very happy with the images, but not so happy that I had left my ear-defenders in the car!

Oh no civvies!!!

2011-06-18T06:19:00.001+01:00

I've had a couple of visits to Pinewood and Longcross studios regarding a possible movie job, as these places are a stone's throw from Heathrow it seemed like a good idea to avoid the queues on the M25 and shoot some airliner images, I enjoyed it so much I also had a trip to Luton airport as well!
With the ongoing defence cuts civvie stuff might soon be all thats left for us plane spotters to photograph !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ospreys at Mildenhall

2011-06-18T05:54:00.000+01:00

I have been out and about photographing aircraft quite a bit but have not been able to update this blog for a while so this is a bit of a catch-up posting.
First up is an RC135W that visited Mildenhall, it's an electronic intelligence gathering aircraft that I suspect was here as part of the effort to solve problems in Libya, at around the same time a US Navy PC3 Orion visited, it's late afternoon departure made for some great full-circle propeller blur with the low sun glinting off the blades.
By far the best visitors and big crowd pullers though were the 4 Bell Boeing CV-22B Osprey tilt rotor aircraft of the 20th SOW (special operations wing) from Cannon AFB, a little frustrating to catch up with them flying, but generally about 20-30 minutes before sundown was when they took to the air!
82 more shots of the Ospreys here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/sets/72157626240782571/detail/

Eagle sunset!

2011-02-02T15:38:00.000Z

About six weeks either side of the shortest day there are a few days when the sun sets in line with the runway at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, after many years of trying and seeing great sunsets and no aircraft landing and/or lots of jets but clouds blocking the sun I finally got the shots I was after on Monday, over 400 of them in fact, afterwards I viewed the pictures on the back of my camera, it was a Tourettes moment!

The last days of a legendary jet

2011-02-02T15:14:00.001Z

For 3 days in December I headed up the A1 with a heavy heart, they would be the last days in service of the iconic Harrier; for 40 years this quite astonishing aircraft has, in it’s various versions, been one of the RAF’s most versatile jets, leaping into the air from conventional runways, ships decks, rough fields and well just about anywhere!
The defence cuts spelt the end of it’s career here in the UK, so on the 13-15th of December 2009 the most faithful of British plane spotters gathered to freeze in the winter wet and wind at RAF Cottesmore to pay homage as the crews rehearsed and displayed to mark this sad occasion.
The Monday (13th) was such a slow day, grey weather, low cloud and rain meant delays and at times looked like no flying would happen; however at lunchtime the sky cleared and the whine of Pegasus engines warmed the cold crowd! 17 aircraft taxied out a 2 seater with a photographer in the back seat and the 16 ship formation flight; fortunately they managed to overfly all the sites that the last flypast would entail as the weather on the big day (15th) would be dreadful.
For those of us gathered on the fence the return of the Harriers to Cottesmore could not have been more fitting, a spectacular sunset being the finest of backdrops to see them against.
The 14th and 15th were just as cold, the Harriers flew both days, but sadly not able to do the 16 ship flypast at their home base on either.

Harrier

2010-11-20T13:42:00.000Z

Rumour has it that the Harrier will cease flying operations on or about the 16th of December, what a sad day that will be; with such a time limit set to see them in air I have spent as much time as I can photographing their unique and amazing flying capabilities at RAF Cottesmore, I hope to get them low-level in Wales again before its just a memory!
So here are a few more of many of the shots taken in recent weeks, plus a shot of a French Navy Embraer Xingu that stole the best light of the day when I wanted Harrier sunset shots!

Harrier

2010-10-29T16:54:00.000+01:00

Another of British aviation's finest is now heading for the scrapheap. The Harrier is nearly as old as I am, but it's still a very formidable aircraft, probably one of the best close air support platforms ever and I do not comprehend the logic behind scrapping it!
Design started in 1957, I was 2 and it entered service when I was 14 years old; ever since then it has wowed everyone, not just aviation enthusiasts, a real crowd pleaser, this 'jump jet' and the Vulcan was what my now departed dad always wanted to see on the airshow list.
I remember being totally gobsmacked seeing Harriers for the first time at Farnborough, they just rose up out of the trees at the far side of the airfield during an airfield attack to see off the marauding Sea Vixens (Simon's Circus, 890 squadron display team I think). I am still just as impressed seeing them screaming through the Mach loop in appalling weather piloted by the RAF's finest. I have also spent long hours at various bases photographing them.
RAF Cottesmore has been their home since the departure of the Tri-national Tornado training unit in 1999, I have been there many times and not always seen much activity, so it was joyous that this weeks 'pilgrimage' was like a private airshow for the above average number of spotters gathered for another sad-eyed fix of a favourite jet.
It was the best day I've had at the base, 9 aircraft flew including a 2 seat T10, all the pilots gave a friendly wave before deafening us, the smell of burnt kerosene tingled in my nostrils and a few tears rolled down my cheeks too, my dad would have loved that day as much as I did!

Eagles at last light.

2010-09-20T10:03:00.000+01:00

One of those slow days where nothing seemed to be happening at Lakenheath was lifted by a very posy Little Owl on the fence, I spent a while photographing it and got some nice images, the base however stayed silent, the cloud came over the sky and then the rain fell.. time to go home except one of the other guys there had car problems and I decided to stay at least until the breakdown service arrived!
Some things happen for a reason, without Robert's car failing to start we'd have been long gone when the last rays of sunlight came out and lit the departing F15Es with quality light, an evening that will be long remembered. Loads more images on my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/

Raptors in Suffolk

2010-07-17T06:48:00.000+01:00

I had heard that the 2 Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptors due in the UK for RIAT and Farnborough would visit RAF Lakenheath a day or two before the big airshows, then on Monday I was informed 4 were due in at 7:30 that evening, I dropped everything and headed to the Suffolk base.
Of course I wasn't the only one to get advanced info, the aircraft had been heard by lots of avid scanner listening 'spotters' and excited messages had gone out on various online forums, the area around Lakenheath was packed with aviation enthusiasts.
Some F15Cs launched to go and meet the visitors, cameras were checked and rechecked as the hum of excitement got louder, the F15Cs returned, perfect for some test shots, checking the histogram and tweaking the settings, then in came the Raptors to touchdown at 7:30pm!
Will they go low-level; I doubt it, as it's not necessary for the high level intercept role this stealthy futurist jet was designed for, but who knows, I would love to see these pouring vapour and screaming through Cad or around Corris, but I think it'll only be if I photoshop it!!!

Flying legends

2010-07-17T06:01:00.000+01:00

I am sure it's obvious from the content of my blog that I love jets, the scream of Typhoons and the roar of F15Es around the loop are awesome noises... but the song of Merlins as a 'choir' of 10 Spitfires growl up the grass and into the air at Duxford's spectacular 'Flying legends' show is THE music of aviation.
Legends is the airshow that I just cannot miss, year on year it gets better, 3 hours of beautifully preserved and maintained 'Warbirds' fill the air for such a full on show, you really don't know which way to look.
Apart from the flying there is also the reenactors that surround the airfields parked aircraft and present a picture of wartime, the like of this I have only ever seen 'on set' when I used to work on movies. Photographically it's the combination of people and planes that is the 'icing on an already tasty cake' I took so many pictures I have still to look at and edit many of them.
A fantastic show!

Eagle'y awaited

2010-05-19T09:41:00.000+01:00

After spending some time photographing Siskins on bird feeders it seemed like a good idea to get up a hill (especially with a heads-up that it might be productive), instead of tackling traffic queues on the M54, M6 & M1, a good move it turned out to be too with late afternoon Harrier, Hawk (T1 & T2) and F15E Strike Eagle passes, result!

Airshow heaven

2010-05-19T08:29:00.000+01:00

A great weekend that made a big change from an intensive month of bird photography, the first shot is of the beautifully preserved Westland Lysander at the Shuttleworth collection, flying in the evening airshow, this and many more can be seen on my Flickr gallery.
The other 4 images are from a great day at the Duxford's spring show; a hard days work..not! I would love to get more jobs as utterly pleasurable as this was, the guys from "Photo-Plus" magazine joined me and reader Vince Scott, the brief; teach Vince how to photograph airshows, the feature will cover 10 pages in the July issue, so order a copy at your newsagent now.
I will add a longer report on this in a few days, but you will see in the last image that we met up with the 2010 Hawk display pilot, Tom Saunders, who happily posed with his jet for a load of images.

Run to the hill's

2010-04-25T07:32:00.000+01:00

At long last I made my first trip to the Welsh hills for 2010, it was December when I was there last!
Cad west on the first day saw several passes from the RAF Valley Hawk's that soon got the eye and panning back in shape, then in fabulous late afternoon light we got a Hercules, plus T12 and GR9 Harriers. I packed up at 6pm because the shadow of Cader was lengthening across the pass, true to form I got "carparked" by a GR4 at 6:10 pm.
Day 2 was a great day; I tried a new site that has been in my sight's for several months; it has struck me as being the other best place (to Corris) to shoot F15E's, the LN boy's turned up, did the passes just "as it say's on the tin" and landed Keith Williams and I a Low-fly jackpot win, with the Boscombe Alpha jet, GR4s, 2 Typhoons, a Hercules and several Hawks we just needed a Harrier to complete the set!

Civil stuff at Stansted

2010-04-02T18:20:00.000+01:00

OK its not fast jets down low in the Welsh valleys still, hopefully the weather will coincide with a gap in my schedule so I can get there; but Stansted for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon can be quite good too, the planes are colourful!
NigelBlakephoto is now on Twitter too.

Zero six, perfect!

2010-03-09T12:27:00.000Z

I find it very difficult to drive past Lakenheath and not stop! On Thursday I was there for quite a long time as the weather was good, the wind was from the east and departures were zero six.

Need a fast jet fix!

2010-02-28T13:12:00.000Z

I really do need a fast jet fix, I haven't been up a Welsh hill for ages, a combination of too many other demands on my time, my Barn Owl addiction (see my birds blog), the weather and that it's a long journey to Wales and "The Loop" has been lacking in activity compared to how it was last year.
However I have popped into Mildenhall a few times when I've been out that way, had a couple of visits to Luton airport and shot a few "civvies" and I have also started scanning a vast amount of my old slides too, see the F-111F image below (and lots more SR71, Phantoms etc on my Flickr). Now! I know it's easy to look back with "rose tinted specs" on and bang on about how good the old days were.......... but the old days were just awesome!

Eagles again

2009-12-25T09:03:00.000Z

I've not been out to photograph aircraft as much recently, mainly because its a long way to the "Mach loop" and the days are short, I have had a couple of trips down there though, not much traffic and some pretty dull weather, although a couple of Harriers a Tornado and an F15e or two made it worthwhile!
I also had a day at Lakenheath shooting F15s in their own heat haze, that was a good day.

Lysander and sunset.

2009-10-06T16:32:00.000+01:00

With my time being taken up by a catalogue shoot at the moment I've not had a chance to get to Wales for a couple of weeks, however I have managed to get a few images of some of the Old Warden aircraft.
The Lysander put on a great display in some real nice light.

Corris and Cad

2009-09-26T08:14:00.000+01:00

5 days in the hills (14th-18th) produced a great variety of Images, Monday, Wednesday and Friday being the busy days, Tuesday was a long wait for very little and Thursday was a slow day and what did show up was just a bit too high.
The weather and the USAFE did us proud again, the F15E Strike Eagles from Lakenheath showed up a few times, the passes around Corris on the Wednesday being some of the most spectacular I have ever seen, the moist air produced some serious vapour when the 15's turned.
In all a good mix of jets, some fantastic fast and low Harriers, with the stars of the week being Typhoon's from Coningsby, not seen them for a while, and the Saudi Tonka in a grey paint scheme from Warton.

2 hills, loads of Eagles!

2009-09-13T11:48:00.000+01:00

It was a slow day really, a slow arduous climb to Corris with all my kit on my back; just one Herc and then one pass from the LN boys and a long wait for nowt else until 1:15 when I made the move to Cad west. I missed a Grob tutor on the way up, yes I was that slow!
Afternoon was slow too, two F15Es gave a couple of high passes but a GR-4 did the biz screeching through the notch at perfect height!
Then, just when it seemed like time to pack up and go home, the Strike Eagles showed up again, and again and again in awesome late evening light, fantastic!

The Reds at Dawlish

2009-08-30T17:40:00.000+01:00

Dawlish is the other "must do" sea front airshow, again to the west there is a high vantage point where you can look (and more importantly photograph) down at the action; what I liked most was the number of helicopters as I have not had many oportunities to shoot low-fly images of them.
The stars of the show were the "Red Arrows" (Dawlish is the number-one place to photograph the RAF's red Hawks in action) and that big tin triangle XH558, the Vulcan!

Don't jump theres an airshow on!!!

2009-08-30T17:20:00.000+01:00

There are two "must do" airshows on the UK airshow calendar, usually they are close together at the beginning of August, this is the first of the two; Airbourne at Eastbourne on the south coast is not the biggest of air displays, but its along the seafront, to the west of the town is the mighty "Beachy head" this is a great vantage point!
I was just going to do the Saturday, however the Dutch F16 gave a great show, as did the Red Arrows so I stayed for Sunday as well in order to try shooting from another position, of course there was no B&B available so I slept in the car, but only for about 2 hours at a time in between being woken by either the police or the chaplains that patrol the place to prevent suicides jumping of the cliffs! I drove inland a mile or two to get some peace and quiet!

French visitors in the valleys

2009-08-10T21:53:00.000+01:00

The weather looked promissing and there were Dassault Dornier Alpha Jets from the Armée de l'Air (French air force) at RAF Valley, so all the signs were that the Mach loop in Wales was the place to be!
A good mix of aircraft over 3 days, F15E, Harriers, GR4s, lots of Hawks, a Typhoon that annoyingly shot of up Bwlch-Y-Groes, another valley, but the stars of the show were the French; 17 snappy fast passes on Friday while I was at the low shelf on Bwlch Oerdrwwys, they were still below my vantage point!!!
A great time with lots of good mates on the hills, pretty good weather and I came home with some of my best ever Low-level shots, can't want for more really.

RIAT departures

2009-08-02T06:37:00.000+01:00

I could not get to the show as my weekend was fully booked with other things, very bad planning! However I did get to Fairford for the departures.
A good day marred by the overzealous security, that was frankly utterly farcical and caused long delays and frustration; the sodding about with parking and the dreadful old manky open-topped busses into the grandstand, a fine example of demonstating how terrorism has won, in that we all have to endure (and pay for, in high ticket prices) the expensive charade.

More low level action

2009-07-19T11:58:00.000+01:00

Another few days in the Mach loop produced some great action. The weather was rubbish at times, I got wet and muddy; the thunderstorm late on Tuesday afternoon was scary as hell with lightning striking fence posts around us!
A good stream of jets, more F15E's, once a real bonus catch, but currently a very common sight, I also finally got a T2 Hawk in primer paint, and some lovely passes by Coningsby Typhoons, another good trip in the hills!

Legends

2009-07-19T11:34:00.000+01:00

There is no other show on the UK air display calendar that can compete with "Flying legends" the flightline with re-enctors in period clothing is a photographers dream, the flying is awesome; so much going on you don't know which way to look. A fabulous day out. more images here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/sets/72157621472586619/detail/

Eagles in the Bwlch

2009-07-10T21:24:00.000+01:00

Another fantastic day of action, a hard walk up to the top at Bwlch with the 600mm and all the other "toys", but it was well worth it when "Mugger" flight turned up.

Sunny Mildenhall

2009-07-08T05:12:00.000+01:00

Strike Eagles at Mildenhall while the runway at Lakenheath was being repaired... too good to miss, 3 scorching days of action and sunshine pulled in a bit of a crowd too.It wasn't just F15 Eagles, there were other tranport aircraft and the base tankers in and out all day too, far to many images to put on here but you can find them on my Flickr gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/

And more Eagles down low

2009-06-28T16:08:00.000+01:00

Certainly seem to be having a lot of luck with these of late, F15Es low-level in the valleys, a sight and sound that is seriously addictive, to see these guys generating their own clouds as they speed through Cad is just astonishing!
A big thanks to all the aircrews involved.

Totally Loopy

2009-06-09T07:01:00.000+01:00

A visit to the Mach loop in the Welsh hills is always a bit of a gamble; bad weather, no planes being the risk one takes!
Last week however was a week that all who do Low-fly photography will remember for a long time! Blue skies and a steady stream of front-line jets and Hercs plus a couple of real show-stoppers like the Warton GR4 and Saudi Typhoon (still in primer), mixed in with it all was a Dominie and several King-air's.
A leg aching time visiting 2 different hills per day to make the best use of the lighting direction, I missed an F3 Tornado during one lunchtime cross-over.
I think I saw more RAF Harriers than I have at any other time too!

Even more awesome than awesome!!

2009-05-24T11:25:00.000+01:00

Well it looked like another wet wasted journey, the rain ran down the Dolgellau "Little chef" windows and we had to force ourselves to head off to Corris, cameras in our bags on our backs when a very early Herc came around the valley and lifted the spirit, despite not getting a shot of it.
In place, cameras ready, the sun broke through....... and then all hell broke loose, a day to "out-awesome" all those great days that have gone before, even more remarkable knowing Jamie Smith the "fast jet scarecrow" was round on "Bluebell" hill.
I missed the GR4 pair as I was just packed for the move across to Cad west, this time I wasn't that bothered!!!
A big thanks to Garry, Graham, Martin and all the others on Cad (afternoon), Jamie for the "heads-up" phone calls.
Most of all a very big thankyou to all the aircrews, but especially the Strike Eagle crews who collectively turned a bunch grown men into excited schoolboys for a few hours, what a fantastic day.

Eagles

2009-05-24T11:22:00.000+01:00

Just wow awesome

2009-05-14T18:50:00.000+01:00

It's been a long wait but on Tuesday it finally all came together and I had the aviation photography equivalent of a lottery jackpot win, me on the right hill with all the settings checked and ready on the cameras, the sun in the right place, and F15Es at the right height and at the right time of day, no more boxes left to tick! theres loads more images on my Flickr site.

Cold war jets at Bruntingthorpe

2009-05-05T07:11:00.000+01:00

I nearly didn't bother to go to this event, not an airshow as such, but some lovely old jets being taxied up and down, the main draw for me was the Lightnings and their QRA shed, that brings back memories of some great days at RAF Wattisham with my late Dad.
Well I'm so glad I did go because it was a fantastic day out, the noise and smell of jet engines and the sight of the Victor, Buccaneer and Lightnings, especially when belting along the runway, was wonderful; the weather was good and I got some great images; theres more on my Flickr pages too.

"Fluff and ribbons"

2009-04-09T15:26:00.000+01:00

Eagles at Cad west are the prize for low-level photographers; even when they do show up its not always that they fly either low enough or take the best line through the valley for the best images, and it also needs the weather conditions to be right for the water vapour and wing-tip streamers that add that extra drama to the shot to be produced; yesterday I was in the right place at the right time; it was Awesome!!

Perfect weather and a long wait

2009-03-24T06:27:00.000Z

Gin clear sky and wall to wall sunshine, perfect weather for fast jets an lots of Low-level action... yeah well you would think so!
Day one was a long wait up on the top of Bwlch for 2 Hawks, (one of them was too high really) and a KingAir which happily gave us 2 passes.
With the sun setting we headed down to the cars parked below and just when everything was packed away the "Goldstars" special tail Tornado screeched up the valley and over our heads!

Day 2 held more promise, right up the top at Cad East we scanned empty skies for hours on end, but we had an awesome pass by one of the Valley Hawks, another KingAir and late in the afternoon a Hercules powered through the pass; it really was worth the wait for the Hercules and the Hawk passes particularly.

Supporting cast

2009-03-08T07:56:00.000Z

Thursday's excitement at the F15E arriving was added to by the rest of the days aircraft, 3 GR4 Tornados, one went round twice, a Wittering based T10 twinstick Harrier and several Hawks, meant we averaged nearly 3 aircraft an hour!
Friday was spent at Cad west, a much slower day; rain stopped play by mid afternoon, but with the Navy's 100th anniversay scheme Hawk, a couple of other Hawks and a KingAir giving us a few passes it wasn't a blank day.

F15E in the Bwlch

2009-03-08T07:48:00.000Z

Having been gutted at missing the big F15 show a couple of weeks ago the last thing I would have expected on thursday was that the first jet around Dinas corner would be a twin finned beauty. It had been a toss-up between Cad west an Bwlch too, lucky that the right choice was made as the jet went high over Cad and came around to give us a second pass before going off up the valley to Bala.

Cad west

2009-02-28T19:41:00.000Z

It had all the makings of being a good day, the rumour mill had F15s and a newly painted Navy Hawk on the menu, but the day got off to a slow start, nice light and no jets for quite some time. However patience was rewarded, two special paint job Hawks, and the F15s showed up, but way too high; The Hercules though gave us two stunning passes and so did a GR4 Tornado and a Typhoon; not a bad day at all in the end!

Cold Corris

2009-02-13T04:13:00.000Z

With a rumour of F15s likely to be low-level the next day popping up on e-mail at 11:45p.m. I dropped everything and dashed off to Wales, 2 hours kip in a lay-by refreshed me enough to continue to Corris corner and the hard slog up the hill overlooking Tal-Y-Llyn lake, and blimey it was cold up there!
First jet through was a Typhoon, a great pass in not very good light and a fair amount of fine snow, the sight of the "Tiffy" warmed me up; at least it wasn't a "blank" day.
The Hawks from RAF Valley kept me on my toes, several of them came down the valley from Cad..... but as the time for F15Es got closer the fine snow turned to a raging blizzard and we heard the guys RTB on the scanner, disappointing, I've still not had Strike Eagle's at Corris.
The snow got heavier and wetter and it seemed like a sensible option to head back down to the car; with all my kit packed in the rucksack and comfy on my back 2 Tucanos rumbled past, a really good photo-pass too........ oh well, all good reason to go back there again.
On the way home an excited Mike Astles shouted down my phone that I had a Harrier image on the cover of AFM, and sure enough I do, one from Wittering taken Cad west, cheers Mike.

A Spring-like day on cad east

2009-02-01T17:44:00.000Z

With forecasts of snow, frost and high winds it was perhaps foolhardy to venture to the top of a Welsh mountain, but the day turned out to be like a mid March spring day with no wind and wam sunshire, not quite shorts and T-shirt, but a fine day and some even finer passes by a good variety of jets.
As always the Hawks from RAF Valley made up the majority, but the new Boscombe based Alpha jet in it's black and white paint-job stole the show, great passes from a Wittering based T12 Harrier and a GR4 from RAF Marham, and a slightly eccentric pass behind the hilltop from a herc too, I can't wait to go back.

B-1Bs at Mildenhall

2009-01-24T23:35:00.000Z

2 Boeing North American B-1B Lancers 86-0124 "Penetrator" and 86-0109 "Spectre" 28th Bomb Squadron, based at Dyess AFB depart Mildenhall in Suffolk after a brief stopover, a great sight on a grey day.

Winter sun Eagles

2009-01-15T10:41:00.000Z

A few hours of sunshine at Lakenheath when everywhere else was shrouded in mist made for a good days photography.

Winter in the hills

2009-01-07T07:52:00.000Z

OK I accept that perhaps there is a bit of madness involved, but if your properly equiped it's quite spectacular in the Welsh hills, I did enjoy the hailstorms and snow, it was amazing to see the weather sweep across the landscape and leave it white.!
Amazing light and great backdrops for the aircraft that show up, some GR4's and F15E at Cad west and Bwlch.

USA meets LFA

2008-09-26T20:36:00.000+01:00

It was some months ago that I was at the forest gate at Lakenheath photographing F15E's launching out of the zero six end, always a treat for those of us who photograph planes, when an American accent announced "Man there's no better way to see F15's"
......... "weellll actually" I said (without trying to appear too smug) "you ain't seen F15's properly until you've seen 'em in the loop!"
"oh man, I have to see that" was the reply that came after some explaination of what the Mach loop is all about.
Now that James' wife is safely home from serving as a nurse abroad and he's not tied to looking after the family we headed for the hills.
There were some long waits between aircraft, but we saw Harrier's, Tonka's, a couple of Hercules, the Boscombe down Alpha jet, Typhoons and Hawks........ sadly no F15Es, but that can be next time, we have another Low-fly addict; a new "rock rat" has joined the fold.

Tea-time Typhoon bagged

2008-09-11T18:01:00.000+01:00

A very slow day at Cad West today (10th Sept 2008) a slow hard slog up a muddy and very slippery path, a very long wait for any aircraft with the first Hawk pair through at 13:40, and then another pair of Hawks about at 16:00.
The slow and very windy day was brightened by the company on the hill, Lozza, Garry, PeteB, and a Belgian Von-smallhousen, et all; thanks guys it was a good laugh.
Eventually a real smile appeared on several faces when the Boscombe Tucano popped out of Bwlch and headed our way, but it was the crew of "Bravo Kilo" the boy's in the Typhoon that really made the day special and I'd like to thank them for a very memorable and noisy show (didn't sound like my 'Dyson' this time), truly awesome! we all suffered a touch of "excitement tourette's" after that last pass and climbout!
The guys that left early will be gutted to see what they missed....

Awesome Catalina

2008-08-16T16:54:00.000+01:00

The Duxford based Consolidated PBY Catalina G-PBYA appeared at the seafront show at Eastbourne and the chance to get this aircraft Low-level with the sea as a backdrop was too good an opportunity to miss. It was a long wait while it showed off to the crowd some two miles away, I was on the lofty perch of Beachy head waiting and hoping she would fly past close enough and low enough........ she did!

Turkish AF back via Mildenhall

2008-08-05T12:22:00.000+01:00

A rather good day yesterday that proves that a bit of planning makes for results.
I spent most of the day in Norfolk doing some wildlife photography, then back home via Mildenhall to catch the 5:30-6:00 p.m. arrival of the Turkish air force's F16s, they have been at Nellis in the USA, and have a rest stop in Suffolk.

Low-level, Cad and Bwlch

2008-07-28T05:10:00.000+01:00

Seeing all the pictures together on the screen makes it look like a busy trip, but 4 days for a handful of Hawks, a Hercules, the Boscombe Tucano and ex 9 sqdn Tornado GR4A, made for a slow time up on the hills. The F15E started the week with the hollow promise of excitement; the truth being several long 3 or 4 hour waits between aircraft; many of them being too high when they did arrive!

F22 Raptor

2008-07-16T01:13:00.000+01:00

Having not seen the Raptor properly displayed at RIAT (RAF Fairford) due to the weather cancellation of the show, I ventured to Farnborough airshow to catch it on the first day of the trade shows prior to it going back to the USA. This is one seriously impressive aircraft the manoeuvrability and controllability is quite phenomenal.

Flying Legends

2008-07-16T01:00:00.000+01:00

Duxford "Legends" is the jewell in the crown of UK airshows, and it gets more polished each time its on view!
What a fantastic day out with a full-on flying display that is well paced and packed with the noise, smell and nostagia that only 'warbirds' can generate.

Fairford arrivals

2008-07-11T14:10:00.000+01:00

A day of sunshine and showers that turned to downpoors and mud; however there was also a steady stream of arriving aircraft interspersed with a few departures and several rehearsals.
The stars of the day for me were the F22 Raptor, the Greek RF-4E Phantom and the Canadian F18 Hornets, Charlie Matthews tried very hard to dry out all the rain with the Typhoon's burners, awesome it was too!, and the Turkish stars twinkled brightly against a the dark storm laden sky. Lots more here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/

Waddington 2008

2008-07-07T09:21:00.000+01:00

With the weather forecast for the weekend looking very dodgy indeed it seemed that the arrivals and rehearsal days would be a better option for photography, and as always its the only chance to photograph the static show participants in the air, blue skys, towering "candyfloss" cumulus clouds and great light made it perfect for great images!
XH558 the only flying condition Avro Vulcan was the star of the show, but the tooled-up Typhoon and the Spanish F18's were a great sight and subject to photograph, despite sounding like hairdriers the Patrulla Aguila, Spanish AF team in their Casa C101 Aviojets put on a good show too..... RIAT at Fairford next!

HDR Typhoon

2008-06-18T09:26:00.000+01:00

Could not resist reworking these images to High Dynamic Range (HDR) they involved 5 convertions from the RAW file at 1 stop increments, (from -2 to +2 stops) images then tonemapped and combined to form one image, with further processing in CS3.

Terrific Typhoon

2008-06-17T19:14:00.000+01:00

Over the past 45 plus years I have seen lots of amazing aircraft at "lord knows" how many airshows, but I have to say that the Eurofighter Typhoon just blows me away the more I see it, part of that has to be down to the way that FLT LT Charlie Matthews chucks this jet around the sky, eardrums and car alarms wake-up to the noise and spectacle of this awesome plane doing its thing. I take my hat off to this pilot, fantastic!

Kemble in the sunshine

2008-06-17T19:03:00.000+01:00

A fantastic day at RAF Kemble in sunny Gloucestershire this weekend, a well organised and slick show, the highlights being the Role demo with some serious pyrotechnics by the RAF and the truly awesome Typhoon display. Other aircraft that were well shown off included the Venom, Gnat and the P51D "Jumpin Jaques"

CBY in some sunshine.

2008-05-30T15:44:00.000+01:00

I slept through my alarm yesterday; I had planned on going to Corris in the Mach loop but with such a late start I would not have got there until lunchtime and that is if the traffic was not a problem...... in hindsight I'm annoyed with myself because I now know I missed out on "Shiny two" in the loop, a much wanted aircraft in Low-level!
However it was not such a bad day, I went to Coningsby, not a regular haunt for me, and was lucky enough to get 2 Spanish Typhoons departing, a few other goodies included the Quinetq Tornado F2A ZD902 a couple of Kingairs, several of the resident Typhoons and the BBMF Hurricane, all in nice light as well and without the need to hike up a big hill.

Awesome

2008-05-24T07:11:00.000+01:00

Awesome is the word, two utterly amazing days in Wales, Tuesday at Bwlch pass, Wednesday morning at Corris and the afternoon at Cad west, there was of course the usual black painted Hawks whizzing around the loop, but never have I seen so many front line aircraft, Typhoons, Tornado GR4s, Harriers and big Hercules transports all low down in the valley, and in perfect weather and great light too!
Bwlch was a hard slog to the top shelf, but there were a few others at the top, some good company and more pairs of eyes ensure nothing gets seen too late to be ready with the camera. After a few Hawks we were treated to GR4 Tornado, the Saudi Tornado from BAe Warton, six passes from 4 Harriers and a spectacular fly through by a Hercules.
It was my first visit to Corris, many thanks to Garry Ridsdale for guidance up this hill, hard walking with a heavy rucksack full of big lenses etc, but what a stunning view out across Tal-y-Llyn, this lake makes for a superb backdrop if the aircraft are at the right level, two Typhoons within 15 minutes of getting there, followed by some Hawks one of them had two GR4 Tornados on its tail.
The walk down from Corris and climb up to Cad west at lunchtime was knackering, done at a fast pace for me , we managed not to miss any aircraft.
Cad was as usual fantastic, more very low Harriers and then the most amazing two ship Hercules pass, thanks to Simon all the other crews for such a great show.

Duxford spring airshow

2008-05-19T14:01:00.000+01:00

The airshows at Duxford are always a great day out, and the Spring Airshow yesterday (18th May) was no exception. Lots of Warbirds, a few 'cold war' jets, and bang up to date with an astonishing display routine a 29 squadron Eurofighter Typhoon, awesome!
Loads more images are here on my Flickr gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/

Two days on a windy hill

2008-05-16T12:10:00.000+01:00

Another Low-level fix in Wales, very disappointed to have missed the French Alpha Jets, the usual steady flow of Hawks just to keep the panning technique honed, and a couple of Hercules plus two GR4 s, one of them I missed as after it woke me up I did not have a chance to get a camera on it..... fortunately it was one I have photographed well in low-level before!

Tebay Tucano

2008-05-11T08:41:00.000+01:00

I went to photograph the "trip" of Dotterel at the top of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, that was easy, a brisk walk up, nearly tripped (hence the group name maybe?) over the birds and blew away 8 gig in no time, Tebay seemed like a good place to go for some Low-fly action as I was near the area.
The hill by the aerial is a site that overlooks the M6 and I have seen some great images of front-liners taken here, but my near 7 hours in bright sun and howling wind was just unbelievable... one Hawk, missed that as I had nodded-off with shear boredom, and then a Tucano a few hours later; fortunately this was a good deal slower and I had time to wake up and brew a cup of tea between it's first showing and when it passed by, another day that had me questioning my sanity!

Fogging hell

2008-04-25T06:10:00.000+01:00

With a big exercise going on and the chance of some foreign visitors, Tuesday after getting up at 2 a.m. and driving 200 miles I struggled the 600 feet up to the top shelf at Bwlch pass with a very heavy "Lowpro" bag full of cameras and lenses, my watch chimed 8 a.m. just as I put my heavy load down in some sheep poo.
I had some company today albeit on different parts of the hill, we could shout conversation, it meant that with several pairs of eyes nothing should be missed.
It was a lovely day, the scanner crackled to life, callsign "Tiger" and foreign accents, F16s maybe......
It was a slow day, lots of traffic above, but no one low-level, I sat down on a rock and had a drink and...... I was there in the back seat of an F15; the hills reaching to the sky either side as I screeched around the valleys holding on for dear life and trying to keep my breakfast where it was........ well I didn't hear the shout but the engine roar stirred me back to life as the Hawk rolled around the valley end towards Bala, my dreaming finished at 11:39, a long wait for some action today!
3 Belgians joined Gareth, Jamie and I, it was their first time, excitement grew as Tornado's, Typhoons and F15Es went high over the top of us, but it was an agonizing 5 hours and 4 minutes before the next Hawk came through, and in a short space of time we had 3 more passes from Hawks, the Belgian contingent "chimped" their shots and chattered gleefully and talked about how good it must be to see a big Hercules coming down the narrow valley.
It was nearly 6pm and a few people made their way down, the Belgians were off to Valley the following day and despite my saying that there might be a late surge of action while there was still some light they said goodbye and set off downwards, and just as they climbed the style to the car park a Herc came around the valley... as always the best plane of the day arrives when you get back to the car, sods law!.
The forecast was great for the next day according to the telly, we had dinner in the pub and I was in bed by 9 ready for an early start.
7 a.m. in the Bwlch car park the bottom of the cloud hugged the fence posts! as it started to lift I set off for the top, it would take 50 minutes climbing, the fog will have cleared by the time I get there.. it hadn't!
RAF Valley was closed by fog, those Belgians really had got bad luck with them this trip, and by lunchtime I was on the verge of packing in and heading home, when a Hawk came through, the weather cleared and we had glorious blue skies.
Finally some excitement; 2 F15Es headed our way but climbed out just before us and went over too high for photos, then there was 2 more and they went low, but up the valley to Bwlch y Groes, then 2 more went the wrong way for us, but finally we had a good low pass, and when I looked at my images the world was a better place, those few minutes of action made the whole two days of hard climbing, cold, boredom, disappointment, and fog all worthwhile..... and yes, I can't wait to do it all again!

More of the Vulcan

2008-04-17T21:08:00.000+01:00

Some more shots of XH558 as she departed Cottesmore. I could not resist going back to Cottesmore to see the Vulcan leave. The distinctive growl and howl from the four Olympus engines was music to my ears.

Harriers at Cottesmore

2008-04-17T08:19:00.000+01:00

Some Harrier action at Cottesmore added to all the Vulcan excitement, the aircraft with the heavy loads of tanks etc had just arrived back from Cyprus.

Cold, wet, windy and wonderful!

2008-04-15T02:12:00.000+01:00

A day to remember today, many thanks to those 'in the know' posting info on the various internet aviation sites I was able see the Vulcan back in the air today, if only my old dad was still alive to see it too, it was his airshow favourite, so for me its not just a reminder of "cold war" aviation history, in conjours up memories of many happy days of childhood airshow and base visits with my dad.
After the mad dash up the A1 and lugging all my camera gear across a field it really was a slow day, as the hour of the Vulcan drew nearer the blue sky and photogenic cumulus cloud submitted to a glowering black storm laden darkness and increasing winds. Although suitably equipped with wet weather clothing I took shelter behind a tree as the heavens opened and hail and wind hammered the bleakness.
As the skies cleared the howl of the Vulcan high above stirred memories, it was airbourne again for just the second time after 14 years of restoration; a couple of Harriers buzzed around the airfield doing "touch and go's", but it was while before the news of the V bombers approach reached the assembled crowd.... and it was bad news, a fire on the aircraft meant it was headed back to Bruntingthorpe, its home base, and many grown men who'd made the pilgimage to this windswept field looked sad and disappointed.
However with what could have been a major emergency and Cottesmore having the better fire/emergency cover at the base the Vulcan headed our way.
Then there she was, hanging in the sky and trailing four distinctive plumes of grey-brown smoke, she clung to the air as if not wanting to give up the gift of flight, she sunk into the mirror mirage of haze at the far end of the airfield and rolled toward us at the 2-2 end with an ever growing throng of red and white emergency vehicles flashing blue and amber chasing her along the runway.
The Vulcan and crew back on the ground safe and sound with what was just a faulty warning light responsible for all the concern...
Its good to see her back flying!

Cold day Duxford

2008-03-24T11:05:00.000Z

Easter Sunday I had planned to meet up with one of my oldest workmates, a great friend Robbie Scott (who I was involved in the UFO hoax with! http://ngbsfxmodels.blogspot.com/ ) we spent the day at the Imperial war museum at Duxford.
The big advantage of going to Duxford when its a cold day is that there are less people about and that makes viewing and photography so much easier, I have had an idea for images of the memorial to all the US airmen and aircraft lost during WW2, and this visit the clouds and lack of crowds was perfect for the shot I had imagined... I also did some HDR shots and an interesting available light, long exposure shot up the tailpipe of the F4J Phantom.

On display

2008-03-23T09:54:00.000Z

OK its not a new image, but the reason for puting it up here is really to plug my Flickr gallery where you can find an ever increasing selection of my work, and some of my older images that have been reconverted from RAW files and re-edited, you can find them all just here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelblake/

More Low-level pictures

2008-03-21T10:28:00.000Z

A few more images from recent trips up the hills

Tornados and Typhoons

2008-03-19T08:39:00.000Z

A couple of days in Wales, big mistake on Monday was going to Cad East and watching loads of stuff coming out of Bwlch low and entering Cad far to high, the F15Es being the real pain, although I've done them to death anyway! Did get a nice Kingair and Dominie and with very different backgrounds to that thats available from the Bwlch shelves, so not a complete failure by any means.
Tuesday however was a far better day at Bwlch middle shelf, a long slow morning with the first aircraft through at nigh on midday, F15Es, both way up too high though. Two passes from the Saudi Tonka and a couple of Typhoons bought some wide smiles to the assembled faces on the hill, and some spirited passes from the RAF Valley Hawks enabled me to do some even slower shutter speed panning shots, and once I'd thawed out I decided I'd really had a good time!

Eagle heaven

2008-03-04T13:14:00.000Z

After the excitement at Mildenhall I went to Lakenheath to kill a couple of hours until an AWACs was due in, but the 'heath was busy and I stayed there missing the E3 when it arrived at the 'hall.
Yet again it was the top man in 0133 that gave all the best photo passes, whoever that pilot is, thanks very much for some great images, much appreciated!

Pigs do fly

2008-03-04T13:02:00.000Z

Every time I see a C5 lumber slowly skywards I struggle to believe what my eyes are seeing, the size, the mechanisms that fold away all those wheels, and four engines that just don't look big enough. It's so big the Wright brothers first flight at Kittyhawk could have taken place in the cargo hold with room to spare... I wonder how much all that grey paint alone weighs!

Bone idle weekend

2008-03-04T12:46:00.000Z

Got there in time for the arrival on Saturday, Rama75 a B1B Lancer had diverted to Mildenhall! the rumour mill suggested a departure on Sunday, a long cold vigil interspersed with a West Virginia ANG C5 and a tanker proved fruitless the B one stood idle.
Monday at 9 a.m. however was perfect light from the right direction, wind straight up the tarmac, and with fire in the pipes the Bone headed home on a wake of shimmering heat, leaving Mildenhall to a fanfare of car alarms set of by the engine resonance, totally awesome!

Shaken awake

2008-02-27T22:47:00.000Z

I would have liked to get down to Wales today.... but a little judder between two of the surface plates that make up the crust of my home planet at 00:57 a.m. this morning mean't a tiny plastic loop on the back of my kitchen clock broke; not a great deal of damage for a 5.2 Richter scale earthquake you may think, however the clock descended rapidly into my sink where 2 of last nights unwashed dinner plates and a dessert bowl wallowed in tepid soapy water. The resulting crash and splash caused me to almost jump out of my skin, my PC screen shook and the doors and windows rattled and the lights fickered.
I settled into bed... waking at 7:25 am and swore, that event in the early hours glitched the electric and messed up my alarm, it had been set for 3:30am and it was now far to late to get to my favourite Welsh hill, Lakenheath and Mildenhall would have to be the destination today, actually it was a good day too, a great sunset, a Bone parked in an impossible to photograph place at the 'Hall, and a fair bit of F15 action too. A few of todays pix in no particular order below.

Grey on grey

2008-02-26T00:33:00.000Z

Despite a bright'ish start the day soon got dull and grey, the action though was red hot.
Spent some time at Mildenhall at first, chatted to James ( check these slide shows of his out http://www.jamesorear.com/slideshows.html ) for some time and saw just a couple of movements, but in the north sky F15Es screeched out of the 'Heath, it seemed a good idea to get over there, I arrived to see four C models being last chance checked, but before they launched several E's recovered to base.
There were a few very spirited touch and go's, and from my perch on a pile of logs that enabled me to shoot over the fence I managed a shot of an F15E at the instant the wheels 'smoked' the runway.
One of the 135s from Mildenhall did a few circuits too.

Hercs at last!

2008-02-15T08:22:00.000Z

3 whole days of glorious sunshine loads of Hawks, a GR4, a T12 Harrier and a GR9, but at long last Hercules, not just one but 5 passes in total during the my time at Bwlch top shelf and Bwlch exit, the fourth day held the promise of F3 special tail (paint scheme) Tornados but the weather put paid to that! Great company on the hill with Meirion, Jess, Paul, Rob, Eddie, Keith and all, I can't wait for another trip.

Jess, Rob and Eddie with a Hawk passing the Bwlch exit.

Eagle Wednesday

2008-02-08T16:31:00.001Z

Monday may have been a bit of a bad day, but blimey Wednesday was just blistering, it was a long slog up the hill because I took all my kit, 600mm f4 Is and 300mm f2.8 and 3 bodies made for a heavy bag, flask of coffee and sarnies too added even more weight.
The day started off a bit bad as I really do want Hercules through the valley, two came down from Bala and turned in through Cad, I excitedly checked the camera settings and waited but they must have gone straight down over Tal-y-Llyn, I was gutted as I just cannot get a Herc in low level!
I chatted to several others including Meirion, Gareth, Jess, Lozza and Colin, all internet names without faces until this week, we all watched the skies and waited; then the Eagle action started and the assembled gang forgot about feeling cold.
What a fantastic day it was, the F15Es gave us some stunning camera passes, there was a couple of RAF Valley Hawks whizzed through, and the 'icing on what was already a very tasty cake' majestically cruised up the valley, red, white and blue in afternoon sunlight, the Empire test pilots school Andover.

Back to the hills

2008-02-05T08:55:00.000Z

My first day in the hills this year, despite a promissing forecast (the day before) the weather was pretty dire. A 3am start from home, unfortunately I got held up on the M6 for over an hour and then caught slow traffic for the rest of the trip, arriving in the layby on the A470 at 10:20am.Met Jess Wright at the top shelf at about 10:50am, he had seen just one Hawk since arriving much earlier.We got 'machine gunned' by what felt like white ball bearings in a hail blizzard, it was a white out with zero viz for quite a while, but after a long wait we had a Tornado through at 12:51 , that was followed by several Hawks.Not a great day, but it was made better by having some good company, Wednesday looks like better weather, so I'll be back for another go!

Hectic 'Heath, coat required!

2008-02-02T07:32:00.000Z

Due to an appointment first thing I didn't arrive at Lakenheath until late morning, but what a frantic few hours it was. There was a very cold, strong gusty crosswind that meant a good few of the F15's 'tucked away the dunlops' and went around again, a few circuits from a KC-135R the 100th ARW commanders Boeing, and some very odd crosswind approaches from the MC-130P, it seemed it almost hovered at one point.
In all it was a great day and I also had the pleasure of meeting Mike H (UKAR) and Paul (Loveitlow, Warplane forum), great company and full CF cards, it don't get much better!

Copying Coppola

2008-01-26T19:28:00.000Z

I spent some time at Lakenheath and Mildenhall this week lots of 135s doing circuits, but nothing very spectacular photographically as the light was "pants" most of the time. Thursday evening though the sun broke through for a good while, but not much was flying then, other than the Pave hawk and who can resist a bit of "Apocalypse now"

Hercs at "The Hall"

2008-01-13T00:32:00.000Z

A very wet morning at Lakenheath proved to be fruitless, bar the C5 That departed on 06 at 10:20 am, that was hardly airborn before it faded to grey in the low cloud.
Cold hands and feet, but warm company to exchange tales of even worse weather and missed jets made the morning pass quickly.
Tea and burgers at "Walkers" and then off to the trailer in the campsite at Mildenhall west end, the grey murk lifted to a broken sky with some sunshine, saving the day! A KC10 taxied out and sat waiting to roll onto the runway for about 35 minutes before backtracking to the ramp.
Late afternoon a setting sun gave the sky some texture and colour, and eventually the Hercules in the circuit flew through the good bits of sky.

More zero six departures

2007-12-21T23:49:00.000Z

I think I need a change of scenery, although they are some seriously awesome aircraft, and it looks like the Cs and Ds will be back in the air very soon after Christmas.

Fire in the sky

2007-12-14T07:08:00.000Z

A collection of recent images from Lakenheath, the F15 C and D aircraft may be grounded, but the F15Es are still flying very regularly, it was good to see some dusk launches, frustratingly some didn't stay low enough or keep the burners on long enough when the colours in the sky were at their best, but it was still pretty awesome!!

Lakenheath

2007-12-14T07:02:00.000Z

A Belgian F16 visitor was a surprise this week, the E's were quite busy, it was good to get them on the base leg turn again, and even better to get them departing from zero 6 with a nice blue sky and good light!

More Eagles

2007-12-04T09:18:00.000Z

In search of some different angles I walked miles on the blue cycle track around Thetford forest, the light was perfect and I found a great place where the F15s turn on the base leg. All taken with Canon EOS 1Ds MkII and 600mm f4 IS.

Thetford forest thunder, F15Es

2007-11-30T00:02:00.000Z

An early start with a promise of fine weather from Dan Corbett on the telly; my target for today being the Snow Buntings and Lapland Buntings at Salthouse on the north Norfolk coast.
The routes I take generally pass either Marham or Lakenheath, today I headed up past "little USA" and there was loads of action on the tarmac at 'the Heath' it was just to good to miss.
After it all went quiet at about 11:45 I headed up to Salthouse, lots more flying there, though nowhere near as noisey. At Salthouse there were several hundred Lapland and Snow Buntings, often just a few feet away, posing to be photographed, 18 gig later I headed back home and passed by Marham on the way, a few Tornados arrived in the last light of a very productive day

Tornados again

2007-11-23T18:28:00.000Z

Another visit to RAF Marham today, not a lot of movements but great light and a few more images.

Tonka toys

2007-11-22T21:04:00.000Z

Gagging to get back in the hills for some low-level, but the short days and long distance make it a bit hit and miss at this time of year. I have been concentrating on 'work' photography, but the trips out and about have meant that I have been past RAF Marham a few times. Usually when I am near Marham its less active than a morgue, I have struck lucky recently though and seen a few Tornados, a couple of Tucanos and a Dominie, pretty good as the F15s at "the Heath" have been inactive after a tragic crash in the USA lead to them being grounded for structural checks.

The Vulcan has risen!

2007-10-18T16:49:00.000+01:00

This is an old picture scanned from a slide, but today is a special day in aviation history because after 14 years on the ground the big aluminium triangle is back in it's rightful place, long may she ride the skies! Congratulations to all at TVOC you deserve this day for all of your fantastic efforts.

Another fix for a low-level addict

2007-10-11T11:35:00.000+01:00

Its been a few weeks since I managed to get down to Wales, and with a one day window of opportunity and a pretty good forcast yesterday (10th Oct 07) seemed like it would be a good day. Sadly you can't trust the weather man, and the blue skys and 17C weather failed to materialise. The action was a bit slow to happen, but the day turned out 'not bad' with a couple of passes from the display Hawk XX205, and a couple of GR9s, took about 70 shots and kept over 50, and I'm looking forward to another visit soon!

All images taken with Canon EOS 1Ds MkII and Canon 600mm f4 IS lens hand held, 320 and 400 ISO, RAW conversion Breezebrowser pro, levels, resize and sharpening with Adobe CS 3.

Little Gransden, a grand day out!

2007-08-27T08:25:00.000+01:00

A fine airshow at Little Gransden on Sunday 26th August, well done to the organisers for getting a fine and varied collection of aircraft together for the show, the CP140 Aurora being the big crowd pleaser, plus some nice old 'Warbirds' and the Cambridgeshire 'Copper chopper' all added interest to a lovely sunny day.

Low level highlights

2007-08-24T08:48:00.000+01:00

A few days on the top of Bwlch in very sunny Wales this week, at times it was a long wait between aircraft coming through, but well worth it, I got a tan as well!

Gone loopy in Wales

2007-08-14T18:30:00.000+01:00

A full day on the high shelf at Bwlch in the Mach loop on the 13th, no front-liners but a few Valley Hawks to work with, got wet and felt a bit cold but a great day with some good company. All images taken with Canon EOS 1Ds MkII + 600mm f4 IS hand-held.

Turkish delight

2007-08-12T20:57:00.000+01:00

Some recent visitors to Lakenheath being Turkish air force F16s who were returning from "Red Flag" exercises in the USA.

Lakenheath, big boys toys!

2007-08-12T20:44:00.000+01:00

Some recent Lakenheath action, F15Es at home, and the A10 Thunderbolts (Warthogs) over here whilst the tarmac at Spangdahlem was being relaid.

Over the hills and fast away.......

2007-08-12T20:34:00.000+01:00

The two seat Jaguar from Boscome down and a Harrier GR9 from RAF Cottesmore, low over the Welsh countryside.

2007-08-12T20:31:00.000+01:00

A BAe Hawk from RAF Valley, seriously close, and fast.

2007-08-12T20:28:00.000+01:00

A Panavia Tornado F3 from 111 squadron flying low in the Welsh valleys.