AAC Wildcat at Spadeadam: Thurs 5 Feb

[catkins]

An unusual afternoon at Spadeadam ... sunshine, little wind, snow on ground, and action!
Vagabond pair, AgustaWestland AW159 AAC Wildcat, arrived at RAF Spadeadam from their FARP at Otterburn for an hour of testing against various threats. Flares and chaff predominated against presumed EW threats, Smokey SAM, and a dazzle light (any info?).
Although a big lens is always essential for Spadeadam a couple of close flybys were certainly appreciated





















Kit: Olympus E-M1 & EC-14 teleconverter, plus Sigma Imaging 70-200mm APO EXII

[warrior2035]

Great work.

[Chris Procter]

Great too see some Spade action again

[Flyingmonster]

Some lovely stuff!

[StandardTom]

Nice catch Chris, always good to see something different.

[Duane Hewitt]

Love those last 5 with a bit of ground in them Chris

[lowlevelRAF]

Very nice !

[paddyboy]

Cracking shots, Chris

Well done for sticking out some real c-o-l-d conditions to post us these

Cheers

Paddyboy

[WattieB]

Lovely images Chris - thanks for posting.

Cheers,
Walter

[catkins]

Cheers everyone for the comments - appreciated (especially as I am well known for unsharp, LL aircraft in the landscape photos!!). Has anyone any ideas about the bright light? Is my assumption of Manpad IR simulation near the mark?
Duane - Its certainly quite hard now-a-days to get a landlocked aircraft image at Spadeadam so was pleased to catch these and a few others towards the end of their testing.
Paddyboy - good to meet up with the two of you again and to actually see some action in the sun! Fingertips were slightly losing the plot by the end of the session!
Walter - hi again, hope you're catching a few more good ones - loved the LL Herc and its shadow photo, all best with competition (and to all the others as well, of course!)
Regards
Chris

[catkins]

With regard to the bright light (shown in a couple of the photos) that was being used as a visual threat against the Wildcat pair, I think that the light is probably a UV Mallina simulator/stimulator which replicates the threat of a man portable anti-aircraft missile with infrared seeker. I'm not sure if this has been seen or photographed at Spadeadam or other ranges before?

[Militaryspotter7]

great shots, I love them all mate, the first one made me laugh, hes seen you too from the nose camera :-)

[catkins]

great shots, I love them all mate, the first one made me laugh, hes seen you too from the nose camera :-)

Yep, they also did nice fly over later and wave from side door tho against the light, so not such a good photo for me!