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Pitts Special
Photographing Biplanes seems to becoming a habit
lately. Last year saw us head up towards the Elan
Valley, in Mid Wales to shoot a Christen Eagle, this
year we were at the same location but photographing
a Pitts Special, flown by display pilot, Lauren
Richardson. On February 17th we headed over to Craig
Goch reservoir, a fantastic location looking over
one of the four Dams that are situated in the Elan
Valley. It was another early start, a heavy frost
the night before meant that the day started
extremely cold, but with blue skies and unlimited
visibility, it was perfect for photography. Lauren
turned up at just gone 10am, the superb whine from
the engine echoed through the valley, she put her
aircraft through its paces, and due to our high
position on the hillside, lots of shots with a full
water backdrop could be captured. |
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AgustaWestland AH-64 Apache
January
22nd and this time it was a trip up to North Wales
to photograph Army Air Corps, AH-64 Apache
Helicopters. We'd originally planned to do the
shoot, which would also include AAC Lynx
Helicopters, up at Ffynnon Llugwy, a small lake
situated in the Snowdonia mountain range.
Unfortunately low cloud first thing in the morning
never looked as though it would lift so we decided
to head down to a location just above Llun Ogwen,
which runs along the A5 road (also referred to as
the A5 Pass). By the time we arrived there were a
pair of Apaches working the area. They based
themselves at RAF Valley for a week and luckily used
the A5 Pass on most days. We had two pairs do a
couple of sorties during the day, which meant we had
plenty of time to swap over to the opposite side of
the valley so that the sun would be behind us in the
afternoon. The Lynx, which were based at Caernarfon
airfield, also made an appearance, so it was a Helo
filled day with not a single jet in sight. Photos
will be added to the Low Level section very soon. |
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Red
Arrows - Low Level
May 12th, 2014 was spent up on the Bwlch in the Mach
Loop. The Red Arrows were flying in to RAF Valley as
the crews needed to perform simulator training. 2014
marked the 50th anniversary of the Red Arrows, and
to mark the occasion they sported a superb specially
painted tail. We didn't know for sure whether they
would fly low level, but we did know that the Reds
do like to have their photos taken ;). It wasn't too
long before we caught sight of a Red Hawk enter Cad
from Barmouth. We hoped it would show up a few
minutes later but it seemed they headed further
south. Not long after another Red Hawk was seen,
this time we were lucky and they came around past
the Bwlch. For the next couple of hours we had a few
passes from different Reds, all supporting that
fantastic new tail design. Unfortunately they only
kept the tail design for the 2014 season, I would of
loved it for them to have kept it for longer, if not
for good. |
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B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber
On June 8th 2014 two B-2
Stealth Bombers from the 509th Bomb Wing arrived at
RAF Fairford for a two week deployment. Little is
knows as to what the deployment entailed, but one
thing was for sure, I was going to make the most of
it. An early Sunday morning phone call stating that
both aircraft were due into Fairford at around 2pm
meant I had little time to prepare. It was a mad
dash to get camera batteries charged and memory
cards sorted before the 180 mile drive, all to be
done in under 4 hours. I got there just in time to
catch both B-2's land and taxi in. Result!. |
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Latest News
- Finnish Hawk Mk51's
On the 2nd of September, six
Finnish Air Force Hawk Mk51's from Kauhava Airbase,
in southern Ostrobothnia arrived at RAF Valley. We
managed to photograph them low level around the Mach
Loop on a few occasions. Although we're used to
photographing Hawk aircraft, it was something
different photographing a grey Hawk, which also had
external fuel tanks attached. They spent a week at
RAF Valley before returning to Finland on the 9th.
As well as the Hawks we also had some Tornado GR4's,
from RAF Marham and some Typhoons from RAF Coningsby.
It was also nice to see some F15E Strike Eagles low
level too. These have been pretty rare for the last
few months. Pics to folllw. |
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Latest News -
Christen Eagle II
The early bird catches the worm, or in this case a
Christen Eagle II over the reservoir in the Elan
Valley. Summer months aren't the best for aviation
photography IMO. The sun is high in the sky which
can result in harsh shadows as low level aircraft
bank over. This means the only time the light can be
any good is either first thing in the morning or
late afternoon. On the 4th of June we headed to the
Elan Valley, which is situated in Mid Wales. Its a
stunning location for helicopters and smaller
aircraft but gets very little fast jet action as the
turns are a little too tight and the valleys narrow. Everything
was planned for an early shoot, 07:15am to be
precise. The early morning sun worked well, lighting
up the aircraft beautifully as she flew around us.
We were all done by 08:30, so it was time for some
breakfast before heading back to the Mach Loop.
We had a photo shoot planned with a 9 squadron
Tornado GR4 later in the afternoon, luckily this
would take place at around 17:00, which meant the
light would be spot on at Cad West. The Tornado
turned up at 17:15, coming straight in from Bala
with its wings fully swept. A fantastic sight and in
stunning light. All in all a great days shooting. |
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BBMF
Lancaster at Derwent &
Civvies at Manchester
On May 16th I
spent the morning at Derwent Reservoir to photograph
a flypast of the BBMF Lancaster bomber. It was the
70th anniversary of the famous Dambuster raids of
WW11. The Lancaster was joined by a BBMF Spitfire
and two Tornado GR4's from 617 squadron. Derwent
reservoir was one of the practice sites used before
the top secret mission back in 1943.
After the flypast at Derwent I headed back to
Manchester airport. It was gone 4pm so traffic was
back using runway 23L, making it good for photo
opportunities. We stayed until 7pm before packing up
and heading home. |
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Saudi
Air Force - Mach Loop
On April 19th we had another
chance to photograph the Saudi Air Force Tornado
IDS, which is based at Warton. This would be its
last test flight in the UK before heading back to
Saudi. I've shot this aircraft a few times over the
last couple of years, but you can never get tired of
seeing a camo Tornado flying low level. We also had
a Saudi Eurofighter Typhoon pay us a visit. This was
a twin stick version (two seater). The weather was
hit and miss. It was great for the Tornado, they
came through just as the sun popped out from behind
a cloud but we weren't so lucky with the Typhoon. |
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Latest News -
Dambusters in the Loop
Low level activity has reduced dramatically over the
past 6 months due to one thing or another. F15's are
extremely rare, there's a few Tornado squadrons that are
away, and Hawks from RAF Valley don't seem to be flying
the Loop as much as they used too. This has meant my
loop visits have taken a back seat with only two trips
in the last few months. However, on the 28th of February
I decided to have a day out and headed up towards the
Snakepit which is located just below Cad East. It was a beautiful
sunny day but still pretty cold
and a
little breezy. Our first visitor was a Tornado GR4
from 617 squadron. It had come down from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and
did two circuits of the loop. 617 Squadron are celebrating their 70th
anniversary this year. In May 1943 the specially formed
617 Squadron executed arguably the most daring and
innovative precision air raid in World War Two by
attacking three defended dams in Nazi Germany. We don't
get many 617 squadron jets through the loop, so this was
a welcomed visitor and a stroke of luck to photograph
her in superb light. Not long after we had a pair of 41 squadron
Tornado GR4's from RAF Coningsby, one being the
Olympic special tail. It was my first time
photographing the special, I always seemed to miss it in the
past. Two
Hercules C-130's and a single Tornado GR4 late in
the afternoon rounded up our
day.
Photos are now online and can be found
here. |
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Army Air Corps - Westland Lynx
A couple of days were spent up in Snowdonia to
photograph AAC Westland Lynx Helicopters perform
mountain training on the 23rd and 24th of January.
They were meant to have been based at RAF Valley for
a week but the recent bad weather meant their trip
was cut short. The only location we could manage to
get to was at Fynnon Llugwy which is a reservoir
near the Ogwen Valley.
Our first day was very challenging with low cloud
and heavy snow showers. We had almost 2 miles to
walk to get to the main location and the snow was
over 2 feet deep in places. The first wave arrived
at 11am, one Lynx came in and circled us a couple of
times before hovering just feet away. Another wave
arrived in the afternoon but the weather closed in
and we had to leave the mountain and head back down.
The next day (24th) was much better with wall to
wall sunshine. The lake and snow covered hills
looked stunning, what a difference from the day
before. We caught sight of a Lynx heading out of the
Llanberis pass around 10am and it wasn't long before
they headed for our location. The crew did a fantastic
job in positioning their Lynx feet above the water
whilst we got some shots. A couple of circuits later
and they headed off back to RAF Valley.
Unfortunately they decided to head back home due to
more bad weather being forecast so we never got to
see them again. We did however get a lovely pass by
a 'Defence Helicopter Flying School' Squirrel later on
in the afternoon. High
Definition video and photographs can be found
here. |
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Civvies at Manchester - December 2012
After recently purchasing the
new Nikon D800E dSLR, it was time to put it to work. On
the 12th of December 2012 I headed up to Manchester
airport to shoot some Airliners. It was a beautiful
day but very cold. The runway had frozen suddenly and
everything came to a standstill for half an hour
whilst the de-icers went to work. Once everything
was up and running it was time to find out how the
new camera would perform. The D800E is very similar to my D3
so most settings were set exactly the same. The
cameras performance was excellent and the new AF
system is just amazing. Its a huge leap going from
12MP to 36MP and the file sizes are huge compared to
my D3, but the image quality is simply fantastic. Photos can be found
here. |
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Jaguars at RAF Cosford
July 31st was spent at RAF Cosford, the home of the
Sepecat Jaguars. These Jags no longer fly as they
were retired from service back in 2007. They are now
used as training aircraft for engineers. Most of the
airframes are still in full working order and would
probably still be able to fly but unfortunately
their flying days are well and truly over. Thanks to
Flt Lt Andy Donovan we had the opportunity to spend
the day on the base to photograph a pair of Jags (one
being the spotty GR3A XX119) perform test taxi runs.
It was a fantastic sight and sound and as I never
got the opportunity to photograph them low level it
was my first chance to get some photos of these aircraft. We were shown around the hangers in which we got the
chance to sit inside some of the cockpits, push a
few buttons, flick the odd switch and get a sense on
what the pilots felt when being strapped into the
cramped space.
A big thanks to all the crew and staff that went out
of their way to make us feel welcome. Photos from
the day can now be found
here. |
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Royal International Air Tattoo 2012
Another year has flown by and it was back to
Fairford for the 2012 Royal International Air Tattoo
(RIAT). This would be my third year and I wanted
something different to my previous trips. I decided
to concentrate on the arriving and departing
aircraft so spent a couple of days (Wednesday &
Thursday) at the East Park & View for the arrivals
and again on the Monday for the departures. The main
attractions for me this year were the USAF B-2
bomber, German Air Force F4 Phantom and the Republic
of Korea Black Eagle Display Team.
To get a good spot at the fence line meant an early
start. We started to queue at 5am and sat there for
two and a half hours until the gates opened at
07.30. The weather was far from great, a few showers
plus low cloud made the conditions a little
difficult but we did get a little sunshine at times. |
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I missed the B2 and F4 Phantom arrive on the Friday
as the weather was extremely wet, but I did manage to get them on their departure
on the Monday. There was a superb selection of
aircraft at this years show but the stand-out for me
were the Republic of Korea Black Eagles. Their
display was fantastic and the T50 aircraft they fly
looks superb in its black and yellow paint scheme. I
managed to shoot a load of stills from my few days
but also managed to shoot some video too. The video
is now online and can be downloaded
here
(270Mb). There's also a Youtube version on
our new Youtube channel. Photos will be added to the
Gallery section soon. |
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Lightning QRA day - Bruntingthorpe
On the 15th of July I attended
Bruntingthorpe in Leicester to witness the first QRA
Scramble of the English Electric Lightning since 1988.
There are two Lightnings based at Bruntingthorpe but
only the one performed the QRA and the high speed taxi
runs. Both of these aircraft are in fantastic condition
but unfortunately are not allowed to fly. They do
however perform taxi runs on a regular basis along side
other aircraft which are also based there including
Hunters and Buccaneers to name just a few. Photos coming
soon. |
USAF HH-60 Pave Hawks
In May this year three USAF
Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk Helicopters from RAF Lakenheath
based themselves at RAF Valley for a week to perform
insertion and recovery training in the Snowdonia
mountain range. On the 24th of May we decided to make
the long walk and climb up towards the Ogwen valley to
photograph them before catching them again on their way
home on the 25th in LFA7.
The Sikorsky MH-60G/HH-60G Pave Hawk is a twin turboshaft
engine helicopter in service with the United States Air
Force. It is a derivative of the UH-60 Black Hawk and
incorporates the US Air Force PAVE electronic systems
program. The HH-60/MH-60 is a member of the Sikorsky
S-70 family.
Photographs can be found in the Low Level Gallery and a
HD video can be downloaded
here
(150Mb). |
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Cad East - 16th April 2012 Another trip to the loop
saw me head to Cad East for a change. I'm not a huge fan
of the East side as aircraft usually bank away from you
and you can be left with a bland underside but the 16th
of April was a little different. The weather was superb
with hardly a cloud in the sky but the afternoon was due
to cloud over. Just after 10am a pair of USAF F15-E
Strike Eagles made an appearance. They took a strange
line by banking left towards us very late after exiting
the Bwlch. This meant they'd have to do a few twists and
turns before heading through the narrow gap between Cad
West and Cad East. Both aircraft looked fantastic as
they banked from left to right leaving behind ribbons of
vapour. After they flew past us they headed down towards
Tal-Y-Llun before taking the sweeping left hand turn at
Corris Corner. Three minutes later and they appeared
again, you really can't beat the sight and sound of
F15's when they're low level. All together we had three
passes from each aircraft before they RTB'd back to RAF
Lakenheath. An hour or so had gone by when a twin stick
Eurofighter Typhoon came through, my first twin stick
for many months. Things went a little quiet for a while
and the forecast had been spot on as the clouds started
to roll in resulting in a pretty dull afternoon. Just
after 4pm two 31 Sqn Tornado GR4's popped out from the
Bwlch Exit and headed straight in for Cad. Both aircraft
were nice and low but the wingman was swept in the 67
degrees position. |
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Mach Loop 27/28/29th March 2012
A few days spent around various locations at the Mach
Loop. We didn't get a great deal of RAF frontline
aircraft but what did get certainly made up for it. The
27th of March was spent up on Bluebell where we had two
BAE Eurofighter Typhoons on a test flight from Warton,
one being still in its primer paint scheme. The 28th and
29th was spent at Cad West and again at Bluebell. USAF
F15E Strike Eagles made their presence felt when they
could be heard on the scanner asking for low fly in
LFA7, 500ft at 500 knots. It wasn't long before a 4-ship
came hurtling round the corner making 2 passes before
heading north. |
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More Civvies from Manchester
March 10th and I was back at Manchester Airport.
I've recently purchased a new Panasonic HD Camcorder
so wanted to see how well it performed at filming aviation.
The day started out very dull with low cloud and
mist covering everything until around 9am but
fortunately this soon cleared. I managed to shoot
some video as well as stills and was very pleased
with the footage from the new HD TM900. I needed to
alter quite a few settings and work in Manual mode
to get the best out of it but the video quality is
very impressive from such a small camera especially
when compared to the Canon XHA1. As this video
camera shoots in 1080/50p I've had to use different
software to render the video. This latest video is
saved in the Mpeg4 file format unlike my other
videos which are saved at WMV. The video is 95Mb in
size and is saved at 50fps. Click
here to download. |
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6 Squadron Typhoon -
Low Level At Last
My first low level trip of 2012 and I was fortunate
to catch a rare visitor to LFA7. On the 8th of
February I made my way up to the Bwlch Exit. It was
probably one of the coldest days I've spent up the
hills, a 20mph wind in -10 degrees isn't fun. The
day started off with a couple of Hawks and a high
F15E, but just before midday we heard the
distinct sound of a frontliner heading towards us
from Dinas. It wasn't long before it popped out from
behind the Bwlch and we realised it was a Typhoon.
Once I caught glimpse of the distinctive 6
squadron markings I knew we'd struck gold. |
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First trip of 2012 - Civies at Manchester
To broaden my collection of aviation images I've
decided to shoot more civilian aircraft this year. On
January 14th & 28th I headed to Manchester Airport. It was
my first time there so it was hit and miss with
regard to photography locations. It was a beautiful
day, crystal clear with hardly a cloud in the sky.
Being a Saturday it meant the Airport wasn't as busy
as it is during the week but there was still plenty
to photograph.
Manchester is a fantastic Airport to shoot from as
there are many locations that get you very close to
the action without having too many obstacles in your
way. I used both my 300mm and 600mm lenses but you
can get some superb shots with a 70-200mm. I'll be
heading back to Manchester again soon in 2012 so I'll
hopefully have a few more shots to post up. I now
have a civilian aircraft section in the photo
gallery which will be updated on a regular basis. |
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October 28th 2011 - Eagle Day
Nearly a year ago to the day I was up
on the Bwlch Exit photographing USAF Strike Eagles
in stunning sunshine. Well a year later and I was
back up on the Exit, the weather was fantastic once
again with
clear blue skies and superb visibility. We heard
that a pair of Eagles from the 494th Fighter
Squadron "Panthers" at RAF Lakenheath were due around lunchtime
but what we didn't know was that they weren't going
to be alone. All in all we had 6 F15E's head in for
LFA7. A friend of mine called saying he'd had a pair
of low level F15's fly over him in Gloucester heading
in our direction. It wasn't long before we caught
glimpse of the lead aircraft as it hurtled around
the corner at Dinas followed shortly by his wingman.
Both aircraft came past nice and low as they turned
left and headed in for the lads at Cad East/West and
Corris Corner. Three minutes later and they appeared
once more, a superb sight watching the lead aircraft
drop in before the Bwlch leaving behind streams of
vapour. |
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We only had to wait around 10 minutes before the
second pair arrived. They kept it low through the Bwlch and Exit, a pure adrenalin rush as they flew
past us towards Cad. This pair were having fun, they
came in from all angles dropping in from some
serious height before they levelled off. For the
next 20 minutes or so we had more passes from
another pair of Eagles, altogether we had 18 passes,
the most I've ever had in one day. Once the Eagles
left we only saw a couple of Hawks from RAF Valley,
nothing else showed up for the rest of the day but
we could hardly complain. |
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All good things come to those who wait
It was back in 2007 that A10 Thunderbolts were last
seen low level in Wales. I missed them by only a
couple of days and since then I've prayed they would
soon return. Well four years later and my wish
finally came true when ten A10C's came over from
Spangdahlem in Germany and based themselves at RAF
Lakenheath for three weeks. They were working on the
ranges on the East side of the country for most of
their time but were booked into Aberporth for a few
days on their final week. On Monday the 15th of
August we set up camp on Corris after being told
that two A10's would fly through after their morning
slot at the range. We had them on the scanner at
11am, they usually spend around 20 minutes on the
range but technical issues meant they were there for
much longer. Unfortunately this used too much fuel
so they had to RTB back to Lakenheath, so close and
yet so far. |
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Two more A10's were due at Aberporth in the
afternoon. I decided to change location and headed
over to Cad West as the light is a little better
there in the afternoons. Both aircraft were picked
up on our scanners at around 4.30pm, they had
finished at the range and were hoping to get some
low flying in before they returned to LN. At 4.45pm
I caught sight of an A10 as it came in from Barmouth
with another not far behind. Both aircraft made a
bee line for Cad and were nice and low, what a great
sight and sound. They came around for another two
passes, the light was just about right which really
was the icing on the cake. There was a chance they
would come through again the next day but the
weather closed in and spoilt any chance of that. |
