"Fluff and ribbons"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.