Author: Karl Drage

After making far better time on our journey back to Toulouse from Mont-de-Marsan than we’d expected, we did a quick circuit of the airfield to see what had changed from 24 hours earlier. The arrival of an A400M was perhaps the most notable. Down one particular cul-de-sac, Marcus spotted the British Airways A380 strobing and holding just short of the runway. They were using the opposite end to the previous day. He asked what I wanted to do. Silly question!! We headed around to the hill in double quick time and sprinted up it! Having already packed my cameras away for the return flight, I didn’t quite have enough time to shoot the TAM A320 that was on short-final after a test flight as we arrived.

After a frustrating first day at Toulouse-Blagnac, all hopes for the trip were pinned on Day 2, which started with lovely golden light. The plan was to spend the day outside the wire at Base Aerienne 118, Mont-de-Marsan, home of multiple types from the French Air Force inventory.

A rare free week left myself and Marcus Jellyman scratching our heads for something to do. For us both, the Mirage F1s of the Armee de l’Air hold great appeal, so we decided we’d head to the sole remaining base for the type, Base Aerienne 118, Mont-de-Marsan. While we were only going away for two days, we took a punt and decided to spend one day at Toulouse-Blagnac, home of Airbus, and one day and the aforementioned location. This is the story of Day 1, which was spent at Toulouse.