Military Exercise – Exercise Joint Warrior 13-1
Chris Wood reports on Joint Warrior, a multi-national tri-service exercise that provides high quality training for all the UK Armed Forces, as well as forces from allied nations, to improve interoperability amongst air, land and maritime units.
Airshow Preview – Abingdon Air & Country Show 05/05/13
For many, the annual Abingdon Air and Country Show marks the beginning of their airshow season. Gareth Stringer takes a look at what’s expected at the 2013 event.
Aviation News – Last Atlantic Airlines L-188 Electra, G-LOFC, departs Coventry for final time
For the second time in two days, aviation history was written with what was almost certainly the last flight of an aircraft type in UK skies. On Friday, 26 April, the last airworthy BAC 1-11 in Europe was delivered to the Classic Air Force in Newquay, while a day later, on Saturday, 27 April, Atlantic Airways’ final Lockheed L-188 Electra, G-LOFC, left Coventry-Baginton Airport bound for a new life in Canada.
Aviation News – Last UK BAC 1-11 flight as ZH763 arrives in Cornwall
The arrival of ZH763 at Newquay Cornwall Airport for preservation in the Classic Air Force hangar, sees the BAC 1-11’s time in UK skies draw to a close, a little under 50 years after it first flew.
Aviation News – UAE C-17A Globemaster III visits Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport
An interesting visitor to Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield Airport near Doncaster on the 23rd April was this United Arab Emirates Air Force C-17A Globemaster III
Aviation Feature – Russia: Siberia Revisited – Part 8, Mirny
We were first due to visit Mirny Airport back in 2009, but less than a month before that trip, the Russian government decided to cancel our visit, with no real explanations as to why.
Aviation News – 32 (The Royal) Squadron
As we reported recently, 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt is in the process of putting an additional two BAe 146s into service. The first of these aircraft, ZE707, has already been deployed to its operational area and the second one, ZE708, will be deploying very soon.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – RAF Lakenheath – December 2012 & January 2013
With the recent news announcement that RAF Lakenheath’s 492nd and 494th Fighter Squadrons would be grounded until the end of September as a result of sequestration in the United States, putting out a blog of images from three visits in late 2012 and early 2013 seems to have taken on greater significance than it did previously.
Aviation News – 41(R) Test & Evaluation Squadron Marked Typhoons
On 22 April 2013 at RAF Coningsby, four Typhoons lined up, and later flew as a three ship, in 41(Reserve) Squadron markings for the first time. The Typhoons will be operated by 41 (R) as part of their Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES) role alongside the Tornado GR4s they are already equipped with.
BlogGAR – Gareth Stringer – Apache Encounters by Day and Night
With a visit to this year’s Army Air Corps Attack Helicopter Display Team coming up soon, Gareth Stringer looks back at some of his most memorable Apache encounters.
Aviation Feature – RAF and RAAF at Red Flag 13-3
The latest Red Flag exercise, 13-3 (the third in Fiscal Year 2013), at Nellis AFB, Nevada took place for three weeks between the 25th February and the 15th March and featured units from all the US armed services as well as coalition partners in the shape of the United Kingdom and Australia.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport 04/04/2013
Having missed much of the Asian scheduled stuff on Wednesday, I was particularly keen to get as many of the arrivals early the next morning as I could. What I’d not bargained on was that a) it wouldn’t be light until after 0700 and b) the sky was completely overcast.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – RAF Coningsby – November & December 2012
Over a four-week period towards the end of 2012, I had cause to spend no fewer than four days at RAF Coningsby! The first three of those were all spent outside the wire, while the last was a visit to meet the 2013 Royal Air Force Typhoon Display Pilot, Flt Lt Jamie Norris. This blog will cover all of those days in one single entry.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport – 03/04/2013
Back in February 2012, I travelled to Amsterdam with a view to shooting some of KLM’s heavier aircraft, particularly the company’s passenger MD-11s. My companions on that occasion were John and Marcus Jellyman, and conditions were truly abysmal, with extremely poor visibility over the two days that we were there.
BlogGAR – Paul Filmer – NAS North Island
During my shooting time at NAF El Centro, we’d heard that some jets from VFA-204 “River Rattlers” were operating out of NAS North Island in San Diego.
Aviation Feature – Russia: Siberia Revisited – Part 7, Irkutsk
After a half-day scooting around Irkutsk city and the fringes of the airport, today we would be inside the airport proper.
Aviation Feature – The Aviation Enthusiast’s Guide to the London 2012 Olympic Games
The London 2012 Olympics seem to have been universally recognised as being among the best – if not THE best – Games ever. As well as putting the ‘Great’ back into the psyche of the nation, for the aviation enthusiast, the opportunities to see a number of rare types and new nationalities of aircraft were plentiful too, particularly in the run up to the 27 July opening ceremony.
BlogGAR – Gordon Jones – 2013 Typhoon Display
After reading Gareth’s interview with Flt Lt Jamie Norris, the 2013 RAF Typhoon Display Pilot, about a totally revised display routine and hearing there would be the inclusion of slower manoeuvres I was eager to see it for myself. I have long believed that the Typhoon display would benefit from a flatter display with a mix of fast and low speeds and what I was reading was sounding very promising.
BlogGAR – Paul Filmer – A Few Days at NAF El Centro
NAF El Centro in California can be very quiet and at other times very busy, and it’s usually pot-luck on what you’ll find. With WTI in operation at Yuma there was a good chance of some action however.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – British Airways A380 Rejected Take-Off Trials
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.
BlogGAR – Paul Dunn – Flying Over Victorville Jan 2013
Victorville in California is perhaps most famous for its airliner storage and recycling businesses. Photographically, the airfield is a fairly tough nut to crack from the outside, so the best way to see it is from the air, as Paul Dunn found out.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – Base Aerienne 118, Mont-de-Marsan
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.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – Toulouse-Blagnac 20 March 2013
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.
BlogGAR – Glen Beasley – Manchester Airport 1st April 2013
With Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic setting up new UK domestic services to challenge British Airways, GAR’s Glenn Beasley headed to Manchester Airport in search of ‘Little Red’ on April Fools’ Day.
BlogGAR – Paul Filmer – Chasing Choppers at El Centro
Most people who shoot at NAF El Centro concentrate on the jets that fly around, but I’m not most people.
Aviation Feature – Russia: Siberia Revisited – Pt 6, Oyok DOSAAF Airfield
Continuing his travels around Russia, Paul Filmer finds himself in Irkutsk, and a side trip to a familiar place visited three years previously, Oyak DOSAAF Airfield. DOSAAF in the Soviet days stood for “Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and...
BlogGAR – Gordon Jones – Hello From Gordon Jones
As a new face on GAR, Gordon Jones thought he’d put together a BlogGAR to introduce himself to those who don’t know him. What better way to do that than to share a small selection of his work over the last six years….
Aviation News – RN commemorates 60 years of SAR with special colours
The Royal Navy have launched a year of commemorative events to celebrate 60 years of Search And Rescue, and Kevin Wills was at RNAS Culdrose to check out 771NAS’s new markings.
BlogGAR – Paul Filmer – Low-Level in Death Valley
During the last Red Flag exercise in March this year at Nellis AFB, Paul Filmer made a couple of trips to the Panamint Valley to catch aircraft transiting low-level.
BlogGAR – Karl Drage – 78 Sqn Merlin HC3 in the snow at Sywell
After receiving a little tip-off about an upcoming movement at his local, Karl Drage headed off to Sywell Aerodrome near Northampton in the hope of catching a Royal Air Force Merlin HC3 in the snow.