Military Jets Photography

2005 06 08 Photo call Kleine Brogel

A special photo call was held because there was a squadron rotation between the resident OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) and the Czech Air Force's 212. Lt. But not only the six Czech L-159A were the reason for this photo call, the organisers managed to attract some other visitors as well. These included the being retired MiG-21MFN from the Czech Air Force, the also being retired French Mirage IVP from the French Air Force and a German F-4F from the training unit FLZ, a unit also to be ritered.
In the afternoon we had a mission involving some local Vipers and the Czech L-159A's. While they were gone doing there mission we still had a lot of action in the form of a Belgian Fouga Magister and a Marchetti, but we also had two French Jaguars A making some missed approaches. These Jaguars were also going to be retired in 2005. After the jets were back from there mission it was time to say goodby to the visitors but they all did it in style. The Phantom made some spirited fly past while the Mirage IVP made a fly by together with the Vipers and L-159A's. Only the Fishbed took off and never came back. But the rumbling from the afterburner was a sound never to forget. At the end of the day we even had a C-17A from the USAF making a landing at Keebee.
This afternoon photo call was a very wel organised and they promised us that the spottersday for the COMAO excercise would be even better. I was looking forward to that one.

MiG-21MFN Czech AF 5603

F-4F Phantom German AF 38+66

Visitors line-up, Mirage IVP, F-4F, MiG-21MFN and L-159A ALCA

L-159A ALCA Czech AF 6049

SF.260M Belgian AF ST-20

Jaguar A French AF 7-HJ/A151

F-4F Phantom German AF 38+66

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-94

MiG-21MFN Czech AF 5603

Mirage IVP French AF 62/CI

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-77

C-17A USAF 01-0186

F-16BM Belgian AF FB-15

2005 06 04 Helidays Bierset

The seventh Belgian Helidays 2005 was organised over the weekend of June 4th & 5th. Unfortunaletly the whole weekend was grey, windy and cool, with a hint of rain threatening the air. Despite these adverse weather conditions over 30.000 people registered to attend and about 110 helicopters and aircraft from eleven countries came to the show.

The organizers did a great job in attracting some nice visitors in the timespan they had. As always there were a lot of A.109s and Alouette II’s present as Bierset is there homebase. Further in the static we saw a Czech Tiger Hind, Dutch Apache, German UH-1D, Irish SA365F, American UH-60A and although being a helimeeting there were also a couple of French Mirages 2000C.

The flying wasn’t as good as it was 2 years ago but it featured some nice participants like the Chinook, the Blue Eagles, Dutch Apache with flares and a nice demo by four F-16’s. Although the flying was sometimes interrupted by the rain it was a goodie to start with.

EC135T1 German Army 82+60

SA365F Dauphin Irish Air Corps 247

MD600N Southern Aircraft N511VA

Bell 412HP Slovenian Army H2-32

EC135T2 Bundesgrenzschutz D-HVBX

OH-58B Austrian Army 3C-OK

A109BA Belgian Army H02

Chinook HC2 RAF ZA707

A109BA Belgian Army H01

Lynx AH7 Royal Army XZ652/T

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-108, FA-115, FA-126, FA-130

2005 04 22 TLP at EBFS

This TLP flying course provided us some Spanish jets. These included the Mirage F.1M, the EF-18A+ Hornet and the EAV-8B Matador. Other participants were Belgian, Turkish and Portuguese Vipers, Tornado GR4 and F3 from the RAF and AMX from Italy.
The local Vipers didn't flew much that day but with a visiting Marchetti, Alpha Jet and a Fouga Magister the morning passed by rather quickly.
The afternoon gave us the promised TLP mission. Unfortunately the Turkish Vipers cancelled their participation for this mission just when they wanted to taxi to the runway. They probably had some sort of warning in the cackpit that couldn't be fixed in time. Still some 17 jets had taken off, which resulted in a nice half an hour of jet noise.
After a bit more then one hour the first jets came back. I tried an other spot then usual so I could get some banking shots. It took me a while to find the right spot becuase each pilot turned differently towards the runway.

At the end of the day I went back home after another great TLP session.

Fouga Magister CM.170R Belgian AF MT13

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-115

EF-18A+ Spanish AF C.15-23/15-10, C.15-31/15-18

Tornado F.3 RAF ZE295/DC

F-16A Portuguese AF 15109

AMX Italian AF MM7198/32-03

Mirage F.1M Spanish AF C.14-56/14-31

EAV-8B Matador Spanish Navy VA.1B-39/27

F-16AM Portuguese AF 15101

2005 03 18 TLP at EBFS

This TLP (Tactical Leadership Program) promised to be a special one because Greece participated with no less then 4 F-4E Phantoms while the Germans provided 6 F-4F Phantoms. Speaking of a phabulous TLP session.
The day started cloudy but after the first batch of local F-16's were up in the air the clouds dissapeared and the rest of the day we had a clear blue sky.
The day was fully booked with flying activities. In the morning we had many local Vipers that made some local missions. When there mission was over they all made several nice touch and goes before landing back at there home base.
Around noon we heard the engines of the TLP participants starting up. The missions was about to begin. With no less then 27 airplanes taking part in the mission it took some time before they all were airborne.
Unfortunately the Spanish Hornets had to came back quickly because one of them had some technical problems. After a little bit more then one hour the first participants came back to Florennes. After one houre of the last take-off, the first jets began to land back at EBFS.

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-120

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-112

F/A-18A Spanish AF C.15-96/46-24

Mirage 2000N French AF 4-CU/362

Mirage 2000N French AF 4-CG/388

Tornado GR4 RAF ZA406/FU

F-4F Phantom German AF 38+48

F-4E Phantom Hellenic AF 01520

F-16ADF Italian AF

F-4F Phantom German AF 38+44

F-4E Phantom Hellenic AF 01529

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-128

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-127

Future articles

In the coming weeks I will post some of my digital pictures that I started shooting from 2005 onwards. With each article I will add a log from that day.
With my first digital camera, a Canon EOS300D, I still had a lot to learn about photography. After each day of taking pictures of the jets I looked at my photos and I tried to understand why the picture wasn't how I wanted it to be. It took me some time to finally understand how I needed to set up my gear. After some malfuncitions of my 300D, I bought a secondhand EOS20D. Unfortunately my 300D stopped shooting pictures when it brooke down during the spring of 2010. And it wasn't over because during fall of 2010 my EOS20D also let me down. Luckily I was able to buy a brand new EOS50D with the 100-400 L-lens.
Here are some examples what you can expect in the coming weeks:
Cazaux 2005: last flights of the Mirage III, Mirage IV and the Jaguar.
Zeltweg Aiprower 2005: the last Draken show
RIAT Fairford 2005 & 2006: last demo year of the Jaguar and the Canberra
NAS Oceana 2005 & 2006: the last TAC demo of the Tomcat and the last airshow appearance by the Tomcat
Coningsby 2007: farewell of the Jaguar
TLP 2005, 2006, ... at Florennes
and many more...

Happy New Year

I want to wish you all the best for 2011.

2010 12 18 Spotting at Ostend airport

When I looked at the site of EBOS spottinggroup I saw that VDA2018 landed this morning at Ostend Airport. With the knowledge that VDA is a flightnumber for an An-124 and that they mostly stay for about 12 houres, I took my chances to see the Ruslan depart. Unfortuanately just when I left my home I started to snow really heavy. When I reached Ostend airport they were in full swing to claer the runway for the departures of the Antonov and the MD-11. While the Antonow was scheduled to depart at 20h, there was still no movement 1h30 later when I left Ostend back home. I did shoot some pictures of the planes in the snow.