Military Jets Photography: November 2016

2014 06 19 Spottersday Luchtmachtdagen Gilze-Rijen

First arrivals for the show arrived on Wednesday, like the Greek F-16's and Patrulla Aspa, but the majority of the aircraft came on Thursday. They were witnessed by about 400 spotters that attended the spottersday organised by the Royal Netherlands Air Force and Gilze-Rijen Aviation Society.. Thursday was a cloudy day with a fresh wind from the northwest and even rain in the late afternoon. The fixed wing aircraft nicely landed in front of the audience on runway 28, but most helicopters sneaked in from behind and landed directly at the static area at and near runway 02. In between the arrivals various rehearsals for the airshow took place.

L-159A Czech Air Force 6054

Bo105P1 German Army 86+49

MiG-29UBS Slovakian Air Force 5304

C.295M Portuguese Air Force 16706

MiG-29GT Polish Air Force 4110

F-16C Hellenic Air Force 519

MiG-29AS Slovakian Air Force 0921

F-16AM Netherlands Air Force J-002

F-4E Turkish Air Force 73-1020

F-4E Turkish Air Force 73-1046

EMB121AN French Navy 67

TB-30 French Air Force 315-XR/101, 315-YI/118

2014 05 20 and 23 ILA Berlin

ILA (Internationale Luftfahrtausstellung) is the German national aerospace trade show, which is held bi-annually at Berlin - Schönefeld. It has been struggling to find its place in competition with other traditional and larger trade shows, in particular Le Bourget and Farnborough, as well as with shows emerging more recently like Dubai, Singapore and others.
Despite the less than ideal photo conditions, a particularly attractive range of military participants from various air forces made ILA 2014 an interesting event for the military aircraft enthusiast.
ILA has traditionally been one of the rare events, where the German armed forces not only show their whole range of assets in static display but also give a demonstration of their combined operational capability. The name of this year’s demo was Willfire 2014 and it combined a total of four Tornados, two EF2000s, two Tigers and a single Lynx, CH-53, Transall and A310. A civil-registered PC-9 was used to simulate a target for interception after airspace violation. The Willfire demo was nice to look at, but photography was difficult. All aircraft participating in Willfire, with the exception of the helicopters, operated from their home bases.
For each ILA a partner county is selected. This year it was Turkey, resulting in a number of attractive Turkish military aircraft participating. Two F-4E-2020s from 111 Filo, one with a special colour scheme, a B737AEW&C from 131 Filo, a T-129A ATAK, and the SoloTürk display team including Transall support aircraft.
Traditionally, US armed forces have always sent attractive participants to ILA, in the past including the F-117A, B-1 and B-52. This year, in the light of severe budget constraints, the large presence by the USAF and US Army was particularly welcome. After, initially, a pair of MV-22’s had been announced, these were replaced by a single A-10 from a detachment of the Indiana ANG to Spangdahlem. Other rather rare show participants were an AH-64D, a UH-72A and a UH-60A.
Other military participants with multiple aircraft were the Polish and Czech air forces. The Polish contributed their MiG-29 to the flight displays and the Czech added the Mi-171Sh and Mi-24V. It was the first time I saw the Czech display by two Mi-171Sh helicopters.
The presence of two A400M aircraft, one prototype and the production aircraft N°11 with flight test number EC-401 in Armée de l'Air livery, was an indication of the production gaining pace. The first example for the Luftwaffe is due before year end.
Finally, other more regular ILA participants were also present including the RAF with two Tornados and a Hawk T.2 and the Armée de l'Air with the Rafale C.

T-129A Turkish Air Force BG1001

F-4E-2020 Turkisch air Force 77-0299

F-4E-2020 Turkish Air Force 77-0258

F-4E-2020 Turkish Air Force 77-0258, 77-0299

Boeing 737-7ES AEW&C Turkish Air Force 13-001

Bo105C DLR Flugbetriebe D-HDDP

C-17A USAF 96-0006

UH-60A US Army 88-26075

CH-53GA German Air Force 84+45

Bo105P1M German Army 87+76

Lynx Mk88A German Navy 83+18

EC135T1 German Army 84+64

NH90-TTH German Army 78+04

AS332L Bundespolizei D-HEGD

Do24ATT Dornier D-CIDO

AS532U2 German Air Force 82+02

Tiger UHT Grman Air Force 74+15
Tiger HAD French Army 6003/BJC

NH90-NFH Italian Navy MM81586/3-10

Me-262-1c Messerschmitt Foundation D-IMTT

HA-200D Messerschmitt Foundation D-IWMS

MiG-29A Polish Air Force 56

A400M Airbus Military F-WWMS

A350-941 Airbus F-WZNW

Mi-171Sh Czech Air Force 9868

Jas-39C Czech Air Force 9240

MB-326E Privately owned I-RVEG

PWL106QR/2M Gehling Flugtechnik D-FOAB

Tiger UHT German Army 74+15

CH-53GA German Air Force 84+45

A310-304MRTT German Air Force 10+27
Tornado IDS German Air Force 43+26, 44+23

Lymnx Mk88A German Navy 83+19

Tiger UHT German Army 74+14, 74+15

Do.28D-2 German Armed Forces D-IRES

A-10C USAF 78-0707/ID

N-2501F-3 Association Le Noratlas de Provence F-AZVM

2014 03 27 Spotting LMSP

With the withdrawal of the Mirage F1 from the French Air Force I went to Payerne to see them one last time when they paid a unique last visit to the base.
Payerne AFB is the home of two F/A-18 squadrons namely Sqd17 Falcons and Sqd18 Panthers, the militia F-5E Tiger II Squadron 6 Ducks, and of the Transport squadron LT1. Payerne operates also as alternate airport for the airport Bern-Belp for foreign government flights.
The last French unit to still be equipped with the Mirage F1, was the Escadron de Reconnaissance 2/33 Savoie, home-based at Mont-de-Marsan, flying the latest version of the F1CR. The unit's primary mission was tactical reconnaissance, with a secondary mission of ground-attack. Because of the unique missions of the 2/33, their unofficial motto among the pilots has become, "Find; Identify; and Photograph or Destroy.