Military Jets Photography: January 2014

2009 06 25 Spotting at ETSN

After the base visit at Lechfeld we went to nearby Neuberg an der Donau to see if we there was any flying activity there.
Neuberg is home to JG74 which flies the EF2000. Unfortunately there wasn't any flying from JG74 when we were there. Only an Antonov 2 made a touch and go and also a German Challenger made a touch and go.
We then tried our luck at Manching where the test squadron WTD61 is based. But even there we didn't had any activity so we continued our journey towards Zeltweg.

An-2 LY-AVI

German Air Force 12+03

2009 06 25 Basevisit at ETSL

On Thursday, June 25, Spotting Group Gilze-Rijen (GRAS) was invited for a base visit on the airbase of Lechfeld in the south of Germany. Lechfeld is the home base of Jagdbombergeschwader 32 of the German air force and is equipped with the Tornado ECR. There are currently about thirty-six Tornado's of this type at Lechfeld.
When we arrived at Lechfeld in the morning, the weather was gray and dull. Not the best conditions to take photographs of the light grey camouflaged Tornado's of the German Luftwaffe. After a short introduction by our guide, we were driven to the shelter camp of JBG32 by bus. After a brief period of silence the Tornado pilots started the first engines and the warming up of the aircraft could start. The first aircraft rolled out of its shelter fifteen minutes after the first engine started up. A total of six Tornado's passed us and they rolled in the direction of the main runway where they waited in the holding area. We were quickly driven by bus to the main runway where we were positioned halfway the runway into the grass. Soon, the first planes took off.
When all these Tornado's were airborne, we would visit a small museum which is located on Lechfeld. Photo presentations and reports displayed the entire history of Lechfeld in this little museum. After we visited the museum, we left to the workshop where the Tornado's were maintained. Inside this building we found an amount of twelve Tornado's and technicians were working on the aircraft. The first aircraft would return for landing to Lechfeld one and a half hour after the last Tornado take-off. We were positioned next to the head of the main runway from where we could photograph the entire recovery. In the meanwhile the sun appeared from behind the clouds and we had a nice summer sun over the incoming Tornado's.
After our tour in the morning at Lechfeld our visit was over. We went back to the main entrance of this German base by bus. On our way back to the entrance we passed another maintenance hangar. We asked our guide if it was possible to see the Tornado's inside this hangar. There were three additional Tornado's inside the building. It was a very nice visit to a great base of the German Luftwaffe

Tornado IDS German Air Force 45+38

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+27

Tornado IDS German Air Force 45+38

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+24

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+41

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+53

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+37

Tornado ECR German Air Force 46+24

2009 06 19 Luchtmachtdagen at EHVK

The Luchtmachtdagen (Air Force Days), were held at Volkel AB again this year. During these days a variety of aerobatic teams, solo displays and historical flights could be seen.
The air force paid much attention to a spectacular air show and static display with aircraft, helicopters, guided weapons and a varied exhibition. Participants of the air show came from the Netherlands and abroad and formed a complete and interesting day program. Included were demonstrations from Patrouille de France, the Red Arrows, Patrulla Aguila, Marche Verte and the Turkish Stars. Also several solo displays were shown during these days. These displays were the Spanish EF-18 Hornet, the British RAF Typhoon, the Belgian and Dutch F-16 and a Polish MiG-29 Fulcrum. The Avro Vulcan was for many spectators the highlight of the air show besides many other interesting participants. The Avro Vulcan comes from England and is the last still flying one out of 134 ever built.
The show was opened by a replica of the Wright Flyer which was built by the Wright Brothers in 1903. They were the first people ever who made a motorized flight in Kitty Hawk, US. Only the light stuff would fly during the morning hours. One fighter was scheduled in the morning, this was the Typhoon of the RAF. The pilot of the Typhoon gave an excellent demo in which he showed what this particular aircraft can do. Around noon, there was the annual airpower demo. In this year's event as many as 18 F-16s took part. All the vipers went airborne in couples with much noise. After the airpower demo 'Sheik' flew his demo with the bright orange demo F-16 followed by the PC-7 demo. Later in the afternoon was for many the highlight of the air show, the British AVRO Vulcan went airborne. This former RAF bomber of the V-Force was together with the Victor and the Valiant the backbone of the British Bomber Command. The large wing-shaped Vulcan came loose after a relatively short run. The final demo of today's air show would be flown by the Polish Mig-29. This machine gave us a very loud demonstration.

A-10A USAF 81-0962/SP

L-39ZA Slovakian Air Force 4707

Mirage 2000D French Air Force 133-AS/653

Gnat T1 Gnat Display Team G-TIMM

F-16D Hellenic Air Force 609

Gulfstream IV Netherlands Air Force V-11

Wright Flyer III Association Sarthé Aero F-PMAN

Alpha Jet E French Air Force 314-LW/E82

AT-16ND KLu Historische Vlucht PH-MLM, PH-IIB, PH-TBR

Strikemaster Mk80A Team Viper G-VPER

Hawk T1 Royal Air Force XX245

Typhoon F2 Royal Air Force ZJ925/QO-R

CAP232 Moroccan Air Force Marche Verte

NF-5A-2000, NF-5B-2000 Turkish Air Force Turkish Stars

Tornado GR4 Royal Air Force ZD716/084

NH90-NFH Italian Navy CSX81579/3-03

F-16AM Netherlands Air Force J-008

KDC-10 Netherlands Air Force T-264

CH-47D Netherlands Air Force D-106

AS532U2 Netherlands Air Force S-438


CH-47D, AS532U2, AH-64D Netherlands Air Force D-106, S-447, Q-22

Alpha Jet E French Air Force Patrouille de France

EF-18A+ Spanish Air Force 15-01/C.15-14

C.101EB Spanish Air Force Patrulla Aguila

Hawk T1 Royal Air Force Red Arrows

Vulcan B2 Vulcan to the Sky Trust G-VLCN

MiG-29UB Polish Air Force 15

2009 06 18 Spottersday Luchtmachtdagen Volkel

This year the Air Force Days (Luchtmachtdagen) were held at Volkel AFB. Spottinggroup Volkel had arranged that 400 people could enter the base prior to the airshow to see the arrivals and rehearsals.