Military Aircraft: airshows, operational, whatever, lets see what you have!

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Viper28

Viper28

Dec 12, 2013
124
23
Who's the daddy? well down low for shear weapons load the F15E is hard to beat. Heavy crop but this F15E of the 494th FW is loaded for bear. 6xGBU-10 LGB, Centreline GBU-24 LGB, AIM-9, AIM-120 and targeting pods! All at 500-feet, 500-knots and pulling G.

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dhr90

Aug 1, 2013
307
1
Viper28 said:
Hesbehindyou said:
dhr90 said:
I love this thread! I need to get to a low fly zone someday. Are schedules of flights taking place in these in the UK posted? Or is it luck/knowing personnel from an airbase?
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Search for "mach loop". It's in Wales. RAF low flying route that draws in aircraft from all over the country. They've got other routes elsewhere in the country but the beauty of this one is that there are 'pinch points' that force the aircraft close to the valley sides (how close? close enough that a 300mm lens is fine), along with easy access for the likes of us to hike up and get level with, or even above, the aircraft.

The two points that most recommend going to are The Bwlch (good visability means plenty of warning of approaching aircraft) and Cad West (shots of aircraft banking onto their side). Both are easy to get to with nearby carparking.

They publish schedules. These bear no relation at all to what happens. Useless. Ignore them. Weather, maintenance, the whim of whoever is in charge... who knows. Note that they only fly these routes on weekdays.

This summer I unknowingly rented a lovely holiday cottage right underneath it. Hawks, Typhoons, Tornadoes and F-15s roaring over us at 250ft throughout the week. Best was the Hercules, banked at near 90 degrees 250ft above me. Absolutely awesome. Luckily the baby wasn't bothered at all by the noise.

Was a family holiday (with a new baby) so I had little chance to get any shots - spent one day up on a mountainside (with three other poor photogs) but that was the one day that nothing went up the valley ::)
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Basically what he says. The original C130 pics I posted are from the Bwlch (exit) and the Harrier ones from Cad West. The Mach Loop is part of the Low Fly Area-7 (LFA-7) in mid-Wales it covers all of Snowdonia but the north loop is a compression point. In the Lake District you have LFA-14 and there is another in Scotland (LFA-27 I think).

There is no published schedule for the LFA (the ones on line are for LFA-T which is different), it purely depends on operational requirements and weather. Usually flying is weekday daylight hours but they are also used at night (C130's in particular). What you see (if anything) is pure luck most of the time. Its a 200-mile each way trip for me (plus the climb) so I don't get there as much as I'd like
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Looks like a 250 mile trip each way for me, so would probably go for a day or two as part of a holiday in that general area.

Hesbehindyou - Sounds like a great cottage to rent!

Shame about the lack of a confirmed schedule, but with that landscape around I wouldn't be short of things to look at or photograph!

Now to work out how to get a bit more focal length, been pondering a 1.4 or 2x converter. The only 300/400mm lenses I could afford would be the f4 or f5.6 respectively, and not for another year I think. I could rent, but I'd feel very annoyed if I did that and the day or two I spent there were the days no flying took place.

If planes are flying, do they just make one or two passes through, or is there a good few hours of flying?
 
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Viper28

Viper28

Dec 12, 2013
124
23
dhr90 said:
Now to work out how to get a bit more focal length, been pondering a 1.4 or 2x converter. The only 300/400mm lenses I could afford would be the f4 or f5.6 respectively, and not for another year I think. I could rent, but I'd feel very annoyed if I did that and the day or two I spent there were the days no flying took place.

If planes are flying, do they just make one or two passes through, or is there a good few hours of flying?
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Nope this is the hobby from hell. By the book they are only allowed to pass the same point TWICE on a sortie (that's a bit flexible but few planes do more than two). It takes a Hawk about 3-minutes to get round the loop (its a one way flowed route). At most locations it will be in view for about 20-seconds and photographable for about 5-seconds. These days with the depleted RAF if you get 10 passes in a day your doing well. So for 8 hours up the hill (+ drive and climb time) you might see 2-minutes of action!

On a cropped body 300mm is fine for most locations, 400mm on a FF. If you stay low on Cad West or the lower shelf of the Bwlch you can get away with a 200mm on a crop

This is a 40D+200/2.8L from Cad West
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dhr90

Aug 1, 2013
307
1
Viper28 said:
dhr90 said:
Now to work out how to get a bit more focal length, been pondering a 1.4 or 2x converter. The only 300/400mm lenses I could afford would be the f4 or f5.6 respectively, and not for another year I think. I could rent, but I'd feel very annoyed if I did that and the day or two I spent there were the days no flying took place.

If planes are flying, do they just make one or two passes through, or is there a good few hours of flying?
Click to expand...

Nope this is the hobby from hell. By the book they are only allowed to pass the same point TWICE on a sortie (that's a bit flexible but few planes do more than two). It takes a Hawk about 3-minutes to get round the loop (its a one way flowed route). At most locations it will be in view for about 20-seconds and photographable for about 5-seconds. These days with the depleted RAF if you get 10 passes in a day your doing well. So for 8 hours up the hill (+ drive and climb time) you might see 2-minutes of action!

On a cropped body 300mm is fine for most locations, 400mm on a FF. If you stay low on Cad West or the lower shelf of the Bwlch you can get away with a 200mm on a crop

This is a 40D+200/2.8L from Cad West
3569182115_116bb2c6b2_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Is that photo cropped?

I highly doubt I would spend 8 hours on the hill. I haven't got the patience! I suspect airshows are more my scene, although the proximity you get on the Mach loop is highly tempting.
 
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TexPhoto

TexPhoto

Apr 15, 2011
1,287
91
San Juan, PR
Viper28 said:
Axalp is a yearly firepower demo by the Swiss airforce, primarily over two days. If your willing to climb up to the range at 2500m your welcome to watch. The first pair of F/A18's come in like that dropping flares, to warn that the next pair (already popping up) are coming in with live rounds to strafe the targets, you literally have 20mm cannon rounds going over your head:
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They are making Swiss Cheese out of that target.
 
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ajf

Mar 29, 2013
13
0
This shot might not compare with many of the images that have been posted, but it has a nice story behind it. My mother-in-law was a flight mechanic in WW2, and has a thing about Spitfires. For her 90th birthday, we put her up in a helicopter alongside one. This is the pilot waving at her. (The shot is my son's, not mine.)
 

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Valvebounce

Valvebounce

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Apr 3, 2013
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Hi ajf.
First I would like to say I think it is a good picture for a couple of reasons, first the back story is fantastic, second the aircraft is pretty nicely exposed, and crisp enough to see the pilot waving most imprortant, the exhaust following a spiral course across and down the fuselage and that the pilot either had full right stick, unlikely, or full flaps so the chopper could keep up, more likely..
I hope you got a really good rate for your mother in law to do this as we owe so much to ladies like her who put themselves at risk to get the planes back in the air, often taking no more precaution than putting on their tin hat when most other civilians would be taking to a shelter, I'm pleased to hear that at the great age of 90 she was well enough to take to the air to see such a sight.
Do you know where it was done, and is the pilot called Charlie Brown?

Cheers Graham.

ajf said:
This shot might not compare with many of the images that have been posted, but it has a nice story behind it. My mother-in-law was a flight mechanic in WW2, and has a thing about Spitfires. For her 90th birthday, we put her up in a helicopter alongside one. This is the pilot waving at her. (The shot is my son's, not mine.)
Click to expand...
 
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ajf

Mar 29, 2013
13
0
Thanks, Graham.

It was at Lydd in Kent. Charlie Brown was on the ground, talking about Spitfires, but he didn't fly this one. I'm afraid I can't remember the pilot's name.

Valvebounce said:
Hi ajf.
First I would like to say I think it is a good picture for a couple of reasons, first the back story is fantastic, second the aircraft is pretty nicely exposed, and crisp enough to see the pilot waving most imprortant, the exhaust following a spiral course across and down the fuselage and that the pilot either had full right stick, unlikely, or full flaps so the chopper could keep up, more likely..
I hope you got a really good rate for your mother in law to do this as we owe so much to ladies like her who put themselves at risk to get the planes back in the air, often taking no more precaution than putting on their tin hat when most other civilians would be taking to a shelter, I'm pleased to hear that at the great age of 90 she was well enough to take to the air to see such a sight.
Do you know where it was done, and is the pilot called Charlie Brown?

Cheers Graham.
Click to expand...
 
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Valvebounce

Valvebounce

CR Pro
Apr 3, 2013
4,549
448
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Isle of Wight
Hi ajf.
Thanks for that, funny thing is, I was looking through all my car show folders last night looking for pics of a friend, and found some pics of this aircraft with I think Charlie Brown on the ground at an airshow at Sandown Isle of Wight where we also had a car display. I spent a while talking to Charlie Brown about Spitfires, and found him to be a very pleasant person to chat with, he also showed interest in our cars, we got talking about our Spitfire, of the Triumph variety and how they advertised the car with "the Spitfire". He said that if we could get permission from the airfield he would love to recreate the add with us, needless to say I couldn't find anyone from the airfield with the authority to allow this!
I intend to post some of my pics to various posts if I can work out an easy way without having to resize every image.

Cheers Graham.
 
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