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TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

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catkins
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Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:30 pm
Location: Tyne Gap, Northumberland

TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

Post by catkins » Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:32 pm

I wasn't going to go . . . but the Dutch are here, the weather is near perfect, and I've yet to see the Chinooks in or nearly in the gorge proper, so . . .

I called by Carlisle airport in the late morning to the sight of a few familiar faces.
I was also told that there had been some good underslung work at the airport the previous late afternoon, which Kieron managed to photograph in perfect late afternoon light (see http://www.airteamimages.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; & make an advanced search for Kieron).
Morning activity was, I'm told, nearly all in the northern part of the range beyond useful photographing capabilities. So Keiron and myself headed to Spade for the afternoon slot, and joined by Danny who was heading at speed for the gorge.
The first surprise of the afternoon activity was luckily the full Dutch air asset of three Chinook and one Cougar in the northern part again but work with the Smokey Sam soon drew them to the southern part of the range around Wiley Sike and the gorge. The usual fabulous observational capabilities of the Dutch to spot potential threats that needed to be checked out (let's say that they looked like photographers) meant some excellent low level passes and my first view of the Chinook using the gorge to the east of the waterfall in one run and to the west in a couple of others. Brilliant to watch and thankfully with the sun shining to show off the aircraft at their best.
By mid afternoon the Dutch withdrew off range to be replaced by a three ship AAC Apache group (Camelot singleton and Ogre pair?), which mainly worked the eastern sector of the range for an hour or so, before they departed to Otterburn I believe. While I was there there was no flare trials although Smokey Sam was used on several occasions during the afternoon. From a photographic point of view it is sadly a frustrating wait while the Apache are on the range as they are rare to see close to the gorge, and we could only watch their training from a fair distance.
With no sign of the Dutch coming back for phase 2 of the afternoon slot and no clues of their whereabouts from Carlisle, I tried the 'put camera away & finish up' trick . . . to then have two Chinook return some close by runs and then a run east west down the gorge with sunlight lighting it and the valleyside behind - oh thank you, a long wait made well worthwhile! Photographs will be posted of the last few days in due course by myself and hopefully others.

That's probably my last visit for a while, but if any of the Dutch aviators get to read this, I'll keep it simple . . .
Thank you very much for helping the photographers capture some images to treasure, you often made it easy for use to photograph you with the sun behind us and, although you were doing your training, you have given us some cracking entertainment and memorable low flying to watch, something that seems to be sadly missing from trips to Spadeadam in recent times.
Long may your visits to the north of England continue, especially if it can be in this much improved weather.
Regards
Chris
If I'm out I'm Just Swanning Around taking photos!
So give a 'Like' to my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/JustSwanningAround

johnhowe

Re: TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

Post by johnhowe » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:44 pm

Hi Chris, another fantastic and graphic report on the Dutch TAC Blaze 2012. have you considered posting your report on the Scramble Web
Site, I would imagine that the Dutch, Chinook & Cougar Aircrew, are more likely to read Scramble than Fighter Control.

PS I remember one of the Warton regulars posted photos of IPA 5 on FC and he was approached by Eurofighter for his images, as they say
large oaktrees grow from small acorns.

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catkins
Posts: 539
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:30 pm
Location: Tyne Gap, Northumberland

Re: TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

Post by catkins » Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:25 pm

My god sir, are you calling me a small acorn?!! In that case, I will have to be Frank and say 'what a good idea'!
Thanks for the comments, hopefully todays watchers will have had a good day and how nice that the weather stayed fine to the end.
If I'm out I'm Just Swanning Around taking photos!
So give a 'Like' to my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/JustSwanningAround

michael1970
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:34 pm
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Re: TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

Post by michael1970 » Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:52 pm

Hi Chris

Fab exercise with the best flying the Dutch have done to date. I've spent about 4 days up there and have had brill weather too. I've even taken more pics in those 4 days than I have in 4 years easily.
Guessing though that's it for spade for a while the spade guys will need a couple of months rest they will be knackered dealing with multiple aircraft. Still they will be back to controlling a single aircraft a day soon enough.

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catkins
Posts: 539
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:30 pm
Location: Tyne Gap, Northumberland

Re: TAC Blaze 2012 - Wed 28th - Dank je again (again)!

Post by catkins » Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:59 pm

Hi Michael

Were we standing on different sides of a hill? Sorry to have missed you, and yes, there really was some excellent flying to give us plenty of photo opportunities! It was also good to meet some familiar faces and a few really interesting new ones too. If only Spadeadam could be more like this regularly - perhaps if we could just get rid of the new aircraft carriers and its STOVL or not fighters perhaps they could spend the money instead on more training and use of Spade!!

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the photos - I think they'll be a rash of really good shots from a few sources coming in over the next few days, which makes for a pleasant change to the SPTA shots.

Regards
Chris
If I'm out I'm Just Swanning Around taking photos!
So give a 'Like' to my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/JustSwanningAround

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