Archived Photography – 2010
Archived Photography from 2010 featuring visits to the Mach Loop for Tornado GR4s. The last operational RAF Jaguars being used at DCAE Cranwell. Cosford, Waddington and RIAT Air Shows. The Bruntingthorpe Open Day. A tour of RAF Shawbury. The retirement of a Nimrod MR2. Two VC-10s reduced to spares. And Project CURIUM, QinetiQ’s program to train Afghan pilots on the Mi-17.
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RAF Cottesmore – The End
15th Dec 2010
 The announcement of the withdrawal of the Harrier came in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) on the 19th October and less than 2 months later the Harrier made its last flight. This iconic and well loved plane would be sorely missed by both aviation enthusiasts and the general public alike. With the Harrier being withdrawn any chance of RAF Cottesmore getting a reprieve from the earlier announced plan to close also died. This was a further blow to the aviaiton enthusiasts as Cottesmore and especially the runway 22 end was the last RAF station……..
Read the full article: RAF Cottesmore – The End
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RAF Cottesmore – Harriers Prepare For The End
2nd Nov 2010
 With the announcement that the Harrier fleet would be removed from service in early 2011 and RAF Cottesmore would be closed I made the trip to RAF Cottesmore to get some more shots of them and enjoy the unique location that is runway 22 at Cottesmore. Being November the weather was of course rubbish! Shooting gray Harriers against a gray sky wasn’t my first choice but there isn’t long left to catch the Harrier so I’ll take what I can get. It was a busy day at Cottesmore with fifteen different airframes flying and at……..
Read the full article: RAF Cottesmore – Harriers Prepare For The End
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Mach Loop – Harriers, Hawks and Tornado GR4s
7th Oct 2010
 This could well be my last trip of the year to LFA 7 and if it is it wouldn’t be a bad one to end it on. The weather was problematic with a near gale force wind that wouldn’t relent through out the day, a lot of cloud cover and when the sun did break through for short periods it was very strong. This made for difficult light metering but this is one of the reasons I made to swap to Nikon so it proved to be an excellent test………
Read the full article: Mach Loop – Harriers, Hawks and Tornado GR4s
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RAF Waddington Air Power Demo
30th Sept 2010
 As part of the Air Combat Power event held at RAF Waddington for the students of the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC) at the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) the Typhoon performed a display. The display whilst sharing some parts with the 2010 air show display routine was a different routine. A shorter and more dynamic display was flown and the conditions made sure a lot of vapour was produced……..
Read the full article: RAF Waddington Air Power Demo
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LFA 7 – Mach Loop
2nd Sept 2010
 With the summer now fading fast the sun is a lot lower in the sky and seemingly stronger. Whilst this opens up another set of options for photography it also makes choosing your location more important than ever. For this trip to the Mach Loop I gambled on a location that I knew would be very challenging in the morning but should improve as the day went on and the sun moves around (15 degrees every hour as it was recently pointed out to me).
The gamble was that the forecast for more cloud that the previous……
Read the full article: LFA 7 – 2nd Sept 2010
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RAF Coningsby 23/08/10
23rd Aug 2010
 Some awful weather at RAF Coningsby caused only a slight pause in the flying. 29(R) Squadron Typhoon T1 ZJ805 opted to use the braking chute on it’s landing but 41(R) Squadron Tornado GR4A ZA611 doesn’t have that option so opted for some good old fashioned heavy braking!
One of the aircraft that had taken off in the bad weather was 3(F) Squadron Typhoon FGR4 ZJ941 which is sporting QO-J on it’s tail to reflect 3(F) Squadron’s service in the Battle of Britain…….
Read the full article: RAF Coningsby 23/08/10
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DCAE Cranwell’s Jaguars
23rd Oct 2010
The last operational Jaguar squadron (Number 6 Sqn) was disbanded on the 31st April 2007 but this didn’t marked the end of the road for the Jaguar. A number have been kept in taxi condition and are used by the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering at both DCAE Cosford and DCAE Cranwell.
DCAE Cranwell uses the Jaguar as part of the specialist Aerosystems (AS) training course for RAF Engineering Officers to prepare them for their first posting to an operational squadron…….
Read the full article: DCAE Cranwell’s Jaguars
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RIAT 2010
17th July 2010
 RIAT is the UK’s premier airshow and lays claim to the world’s largest military. For years it has been the highlight of the year for many aviation enthusiasts but like many of its fellow airshows it has found it hard to secure military participation from foreign military air forces. With the reduction, and in some case slashing, of military budgets worldwide many air forces have found it impossible to find the money required to deploy aircraft to RIAT. This is especially true for countries furthest from the UK and for fast jets that…..
Read the full article: RIAT 2010
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Waddington Air Show 2010
3rd July 2010
 As I had explained in the Waddington Air Show Preview, 2010 is an important year for Waddington. To silence the critics the 2010 show had to be a good one. The announced flying displays looked good with a strong showing from the RAF with all the main display acts for 2010. The Turkish Stars, Czech Gripen, Czech L-159, Belgium F-16 and French Alpha Jet formed the foreign military display acts and answered two of the main complaints from 2009; that there wasn’t enough foreign attendance or fast jet displays.
Read the full article: RAF Waddington 2010
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LFA 7 – Mach Loop
22nd June 2010
 A very mixed day. That’s how I’d sum up my latest trip to LFA 7. The weather was mixed with changes from fog, to overcast, to harsh sun and hazy sun through out the day.
The aircraft was mixed as well with both Harrier GR9, T12, a pair of Tornado F-3s (only one dropped into the valley), a flight of three F-15 Strike Eagles (again, with only one dropping into the valley) and a Tucano.
Read the full article: In the Loop
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Cosford Air Show 2010
13th June 2010
 The Cosford Air Show isn’t an air show that is usually on my list of air shows to attend, not that there is anything wrong with it, but between RIAT and the RAF Waddington Air Show I would see all the acts that are displaying at Cosford.
This year I made an exception. The chance to see the excellent Dutch F-16 display and the new Harrier Role Demo and Tornado GR4 Role Demo three weeks earlier than the RAF Waddington Air Show was enough…..
Read the full article: Cosford Air Show 2010
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31 Sqn in the Loop
2nd June 2010
 The Mach Loop or LFA 7 to use its correct name sees a variety of aircraft from the RAF, the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. QinetiQ, USAF Europe and visiting air forces practicing tactical low level flying but the 2nd June 2010 it was only a single squadron that mattered.
Two Tornado GR4s of Number 31 Sqn RAF made a number of passes through out the day including a pass with the wings swept back…..
Read the full article: 31 Sqn in the Loop
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Bruntingthorpe Open Day 2010
30th May 2010
 Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome & Proving Ground is home to the Cold War Jet Collection as well as a number of lodger units in the form of the Lightning Preservation Group, Canberra WT333 Operating Team, Absolutely Buccaneers Team, Sea Vixen XJ494 Preservation Group and the The Vulcan Operating Company (although the Vulcan itself is currently at RAF Lyneham undergoing deep maintenance). Twice a year they hold an open day and the first of the open days for 2010 was held on Sunday 30th May…..
Read the full article: Bruntingthorpe Open Day
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RAF Cottesmore on a Sunday!
23th May 2010
 The now infamous ash cloud from the Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull volcano has closed air spaces in Europe over the last five weeks. The mainstream media has concentrated on the impact to air travel with cancelled flights and stranded passengers that even saw the Royal Navy drafted in to assist with getting people home. There is another side to the story that hasn’t had any real coverage; the impact to both the RAF and the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm….
Read the full article: RAF Cottesmore on a Sunday
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Bruntingthorpe Nimrod & VC-10s
13th May 2010
 Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome & Proving Ground is a former USAF air base (RAF Bruntingthorpe) located in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. The USAF operated B-47 Stratojets from the air base until it’s closure in 1962. In 1972 it was privately purchased by the Walton family and is now run by David Walton.
As well as being a proving ground, providing driving days, storage, film production facilities and car repair facilities the aerodrome is also home to The Cold War Jets Collection….
Read the full article: Bruntingthorpe Nimrod & VC-10s
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RAF Cottesmore pictures
27th April 2010
 RAF Cottesmore, sun, a southwesterly wind putting the much loved runway 22 in use and eleven Harriers in two hours; it doesn’t get much better than that in my book and this is what greeted me on Tuesday 27th April. I’ve not seen Cottesmore like this since early 2004, the days before their Op HERRICK deployment and when there was still three active frontline squadrons operating from here. It was good to see it like this again.
A sign of the Harrier’s involvement in Op HERRICK….
Read the full article: RAF Cottesmore Pictures
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RAF Coningsby pictures
23rd March 2010
 So far this year the weather has been, quite frankly, rubbish! First we had all that snow and now we are getting a combination of cloudy days or rain. With that in mind when I saw the forecast for Tuesday 23rd March as promising sun I had to jump at the chance.
RAF Coningsby had the best forecast and it would give me a chance to catch up on the Typhoons delivered since my last visit and hopefully a marked up 6 Sqn Typhoon (they are due to stand up at the start of next month and….
Read the full article: RAF Coningsby Pictures
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Project CURIUM
3rd March 2010
 The aircraft operated from QinetiQ’s Boscombe Down facility have always been distinctive. Either painted in the red, white and dark blue ‘Raspberry Ripple’ scheme of the QinetiQ run Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS) or operating an aircraft type not commonly used in the UK they always attract interest.
This was especially true when two Mil Mi-17 Hips in ‘Raspberry Ripple’ with UK military registrations broke cover. Photos of the Mi-17s operating on the….
Read the full article: Project CURIUM
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RAF Shawbury Photography
29th January 2010
 RAF Shawbury is a combined storage and training facility located in Shrewsbury. It is the home to Aircraft Maintenance & Storage Unit, Central Air Traffic Control School and the Defence Helicopter Flying School.
The Defence Helicopter Flying School (DHFS) is a tri-service unit made up from 660 Squadron Army Air Corp, 705 Naval Air Squadron and 60(R) Squadron RAF. Operated by FB Heliservices, a civilian contractor, the instructors are a mix of serving military pilots and….
Read the full article: RAF Shawbury Visit
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