US Military Aviation

Military Aviation >> USA: Red Flag 11-3: It's Not Always About Being On Base Back in February, Red Flag 11-3 presented an opportunity to catch some of the participating aircraft at low-level. With RAF Tornado GR.4s and USAF A-10s, both well known for getting down among the weeds, and no really exotic visitors, this would provide a good opportunity for off-base shooting. Paul Filmer reports from the wilderness of Nevada.

For this exercise I spent a total of six days, comprising two trips of three days each, in order to spend more time away from the airfield than normal. The first of those days was spent on base and allowed us the opportunity to assess launch times and the players for this Flag.

The Minnesota ANG F-16s of the 148th FW aircraft were actually flown by the local 64th AGRS and were still to be painted into the trademark aggressor camo colours.

The following day was spent on the edge of the ranges. It's a five hour round-trip if you elect to go to that area, so once you decide to do it you won't be shooting at Nellis on that particular day. Cellphone service is usually lost within ten minutes of leaving the highway, so it's always a good idea that you don't travel alone, something I've done in the past and almost came a cropper - but that's another story!

We bagged a couple of A-10s in and out plus Tornado GR.4 "Shiny Two" transiting back to Nellis. We didn't see any Tornados going into the ranges, and this is because there are numerous routes in and out, so it's entirely possible to not see any aircraft even though they routed your way. They can be a couple of miles away across the plain, where you can see them, but are too far away for photos, or they can be to the east in another canyon altogether, and you wont hear or see them. I've had many blank days out here.

Two weeks later and I was back, this was a three week exercise, and on day one I was back out at the edge of the ranges; a couple of A-10s inbound and a solitary Tornado outbound and that was our day.

This time around we climbed a different hill, thanks to Kev, who, the previous week, had accidentally ascended the wrong hill. We decided to take a chance and give this new location a try, finding that it was better than our normal place, so nice one Kev!

Eager to mix things up I spent a day outside the base where I shot Shiny Two in glorious light and a couple of B-2s also in the early evening light against the mountains.

And so it came to my last day and it was back again to the edge of the ranges once more; this time we were four people in total. Being early we decided to have a coffee and burger at the ever quirky Little A'Le'Inn.

By this time in the exercise the pilots from the Red Devils knew where we were standing, after noticing us on previous flights.

We had a flight of four aircraft home in on us and loiter in a racetrack for perhaps 15 minutes before they flew to their time-on-target inside the ranges.

On their recovery we were treated to a single-ship fly-by. As we descended the mountain, camera equipment packed away, I spied a dot on the horizon next to the adjacent hill. At first glance it looked like a helicopter as it was stationary, but a millisecond later it was obviously a Tornado, in the weeds below us, wings swept fully back and in burner. We all missed the shot but it was a great sight to see.

That last day is by no means typical, in fact I'd venture that it was a one-off, but if you are willing to spend a day or two away from the airfield, you may be rewarded with some low-level action. Of course, there are no guarantees, however, and you may come away with nothing at all! As they say, 'you've gotta be in it to win it!'

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