Military Jets Photography: July 2014

2010 06 25 Arrivals meeting de l'air Cambrai

On friday 25the of June I witnessed the arrivals of the meeting de l'air at Cambrai. The organisers kept one big suprise hidden as suddenly a Slovakian MiG-29UBS arrived. This one was followed by an An-26. Could it be that they had a Fulcrum in the flying display?! Of course both squadrons are Tiger squadrons so this could be the reason why the Slovakian Air Force attended this airshow.

Rafale C French Air Force 113-IN/110

Alpha Jet E French Air Force Patrouille de France

F-15E USAF 96-0204/LN

Mirage 2000B French Air Force 115-OV/522

Mirage 2000C French Air Force 115-KB/94

F/A-18C Swiss Air Force J-5017

F-16AM Danish Air Force E-194

Mirage F.1CR French Air Force 112-CD/638

TB.30 French Air Force 313-WL/69

MiG-29UB Slovakian Air Force 1303

C-160R French Air Force 64-GB/R202

Alpha Jet E French Air Force 120-MA/E35

Mirage 2000N French Air Force 116/BL/306

T-28 Aero Fox F-AZHR

An-26 Slovakian Air Force 3208

2010 06 18 Luchtmachtdagen Gilze-Rijen

This year the host of the Airforce days was the DHC, short for Defense Helicopter Command, which is based at Gilze-Rijen Airbase and de Kooy. The helicopters included are the AH-64 Apache, Alouette III, NH-90, Eurocopter Cougar, CH-47 Chinook, AB-412 Agusta Bell SAR and Westland Lynx. Operations of these helicopters vary from attack missions to search and rescue.
The static line was pretty packed, some highlights included the British VC-10, the Polish Su-22 and MiG-29 and a German Cougar. As far as photo opportunities on the static line goes, you could basically take a photo from any angle, one disadvantage is that you could have other people in your shot.
The airshow itself was pretty busy too, unfortunately alot of low/flat-shows on the friday due to the cloudy weather with the occasional rain drop.
Some of the highlights of the show. First up, the Eurofighter Typhoon, which unfortunately couldn't do the high show. The sequence started with a climbing turn just after take-off. The show includes plenty of afterburner and shows the agility of the Typhoon. The next highlight was the airpower demo, it is a re-occurring event, but still makes for a very spectacular show. The show starts with the bombing of the airfield by 8 F-16's. Explosions on the left and right. After which the helicopters swoop in to secure the area and let the soldiers rapel down the rope hanging out of the Cougar. The field is secured by the soldiers, the Apaches take out some more targets on the ground. At the end a big formation of all helicopters under the DHC command and the 8 F-16's in an opposite pass.
The Apache demoteam must get a special mention, it is the only AH-64 Apache demo in the world and they did a great job. The C-17 demo was my personal favourite, the plane is huge, but can take off from a runway of only 3000m. The short take-off was spectacular to say the least, airborne in no time. Despite landing and taking-off on short runways, it's turning capability was astonishing.
Despite the very cloudy weather I really enjoyed the show.

F-16BM Netherlands Air Force J-066

AS532U2 Netherlands Air Force S-445

L410UVP-E20 Slovakian Air Force 2718

AS532U2 German Air Force 82+03

MiG-29UB Polish Air Force 28

AT-16-ND

F-16AM Belgian Air Force FA-110

SH-14D Netherlands Air Force 283

CH-47D Netherlands Air Force D-666

NF-5A-2000 Turkish Air Force Turkish Stars

Jas-39C Hungarian Air Force 41

SA.316B Netherlands Air Force A-247

AS532U2 Netherlands Air Force S

Netherlands Air Force

AH-64D Netherlands Air Force Q-09, Q-16, Q-21, Q-24

KDC-10 Netherlands Air Force T-264

Hawk T1 Royal Air Force Red Arrows

AH-64D Netherlands Air Force Q-19

Hunter F.6A Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation G-KAXF

EC120B Spanish Air Force Patrulla Aspa

F-16AM Danish Air Force E-194

C-17A USAF 05-5145

Jas-39C Czech Air Force 9240

Hawk T1 Royal Air Force Red Arrows

NH90TTH Finnish Army NH-202

Typhoon FGR4 Royal Air Force ZJ916/QO-U

2010 06 17 Spottersday Luchtmachtdagen Gilze-Rijen

The day before the Luchtmachtdagen (air force days), there was a spottersday held that was organised bewteen the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Netherlands Air Force) and the local spottersgroup, Gilze-Rijen Aviation Society. This was very well organized and the weather was also much better then during the public days (report will follow later). The only downside was the all helicopters flew directly to their spot and some support planes like the Czech and Hungarian An-26 needed to take an early exit off the runway, this way not passing by the spotters.