FighterControl

Day 1, Nellis. Low cloud and rain so not much flew. Snow on Sunrise Mountain!

19-14491 HH-60W 66th Rescue Squadron Nellis AFB 30th January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 2, El Centro. Tracks muddy from the rain, so stayed on the hard surface. Still cloudy:

166938/NJ530 EA-18G VAQ-129 NAF El Centro 31st January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Check the name under the front cockpit. 'Grat' was the Belgian Air Force F-16 display pilot a few years ago!

155212 CT-155 NFTC NAF El Centro 31st January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Imperial in the evening:

168657/YW09 MV-22B VMM-165 Imperial CA 31st January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

168118/NE710 MH-60R HSM-78 Imperial CA 31st January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

13-72307 UH-72A Detachment 1, A Company, 1-112th Aviation Regiment Imperial CA 31st January 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 3 Yuma. Not that busy, despite some visitors, but no sign of 'Jethro' and his chums this time:

166724/EM10 MV-22B VMM-261 MCAS Yuma 1st February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169295/WF553 F-35B VMFAT-502 MCAS Yuma 1st February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169413/WF558 F-35B VMFAT-502 MCAS Yuma 1st February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169442/35 CMV-22B VRM-30 MCAS Yuma 1st February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 4 Luke:

90-0768/LF F-16C 310th Fighter Squadron Luke AFB 2nd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Someone's happy!

88-0163/LF F-16D 309th Fighter Squadron Luke AFB 2nd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

90-0769/LF F-16C 69th Fighter Squadron Luke AFB 2nd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 5 various but ended up at Gateway, for a few of these (nine arrived plus there was a broken one already there, presumably from the previous weekend!):

67-14933/EN T-38C 90th Flying Training Squadron Phoenix Mesa Gateway AZ 3rd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

65-10336/EN T-38C 469th Flying Training Squadron Phoenix Mesa Gateway AZ 3rd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

66-8364/EN T-38C 90th Flying Training Squadron Phoenix Mesa Gateway AZ 3rd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

66-8380/EN/80FTW T-38C 80th Flying Training Wing Phoenix Mesa Gateway AZ 3rd February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 6 Tucson. The Guard were flying:

90-0741AZ F-16C 152nd Fighter Squadron Tucson AZ 4th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

RoCAF (honest!)

93-0730 F-16A 21st Fighter Squadron Tucson AZ 4th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Visitors

168942/AF504 EA-18G VAQ-209 Tucson 4th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

168158/AJ700 MH-60R HSM-70 Tucson AZ 4th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 7 Tucson, Guard still flying.

88-0417 F-16C 152nd Fighter Squadron Tucson AZ 5th February 2023 no 0a by Chris Wood, on Flickr

89-2155/AZ F-16D 152nd Fighter Squadron Tucson 5th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

There seems to be a big swap around with F-16s. A bunch of Tucson aircraft have gone to Fallon to replace the F-5s and Legacy F/A-18s, and there has been an influx of aircraft from various other squadrons to replace them:

87-0365/SA 182nd Fighter Squadron F-16D Tucson 5th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

86-0043/AC F-16D 119th Fighter Squadron Tucson 4th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

166379/BH100 NC-37B VX-30 Tucson AZ 5th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Pima Air and Space Museum. Lots of new exhibits since I was last there (just a taste!):

'52' Gloster Meteor T7 119 Squadron Pima Air and Space Museum Tucson AZ 5th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

ZD353/H British Aerospace Harrier GR5 233 Operational Conversion Unit Pima Air and Space Museum Tucson AZ 5th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 8 back to Phoenix:

131456/7T208 SP-2E Minden Corporation scrapyard Tucson 6th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Broken T-38 still at Gateway!

66-4345/EN T-38C 469th Flying Training Squadron Phoenix Mesa Gateway AZ 6th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 9 Luke. More colourful F-16s:

90-0778/LF F-16D 56th Fighter Wing Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

89-2120 F-16C 309th Fighter Squadron Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

............. which is more than can be said for F-35s!

15-5193/LF F-35A Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

The stuff for the Super Bowl flypast turned up:

166666/NJ166 F/A-18F VFA-122 Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169802/NE403 F-35C VFA-97 Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169302/NE405 F-35C VFA-147 Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

166895/NJ525 EA-18G VAQ-129 Luke AFB 7th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 10 Nellis:

166942/NL520 EA-18G VAQ-135 Nellis AFB 8th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

81-0980/- A-10C (354th Fighter Squadron) Nellis AFB 8th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

ZK333 Typhoon FGR4 2 Squadron Nellis AFB 8th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

60-0008/LA/8AF B-52H 2nd Bomb Wing Nellis AFB 8th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Day 11. Sat on a hill in the middle of nowhere, watching stuff high above, but nothing down low

Day 12. Nellis again:

82-0648/DM A-10C 354th Fighter Squadron Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

92-3885 F-16C 157th Fighter Squadron Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

84-1220/WA/57OG F-16C 64th Aggressor Squadron Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

169621/(CF)01 F-35B VMFA-211 Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

Replacement for the one that was singed a few years ago:

A46-313 EA-18G 6 Squadron Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

89-2048/WA F-16C 64th Aggressor Squadron Nellis AFB 10th February 2023 by Chris Wood, on Flickr

......... and home.

Lots more on my Flickr page.

Absolutely Fantastic set, Love the plethora of F-16s .
Many thanks for posting.

Fantastic set Chris, good to meet you out there.

Typhoon2 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:19 pm

Fantastic set Chris, good to meet you out there.

Thanks, and you Stu

Brilliant

A very fine set of pictures

PS was the Texas F-16C at Tucson taken from near the control tower?
Ta

That sure is a nice report. Thanks for sharing

Great set especially the T38 and day twelve shots

Really nice set Chris,some nice topsides among that little lot

Enjoyed those.

Cracking photos Chris. Shame you had to spoil the varied selection by including the F-35s!!

That's a cracking selection, particularly VMM-165 MV-22 by sunset, which I can only assume was a tripod mounted shot ?

Mikey1050 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:32 pm

That's a cracking selection, particularly VMM-165 MV-22 by sunset, which I can only assume was a tripod mounted shot ?

On a tripod through a fence

Thanks for sharing these, lots of variety and really good shots. Hard to pick a favourite amongst them as well. That Meteor at Pima is a night fighter version, as it's Israeli it could be either an NF.11 or an NF.13, but still nice to see it.

Mustang531 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 15, 2023 10:11 pm

Thanks for sharing these, lots of variety and really good shots. Hard to pick a favourite amongst them as well. That Meteor at Pima is a night fighter version, as it's Israeli it could be either an NF.11 or an NF.13, but still nice to see it.

It's not really Israeli, it's WF877.

https://pimaair.org/museum-aircraft/gloster-meteor/

Looks like you had a great time, Chris. Great set.

Chris

Superb,great photos

Fabulous set there, Stuart

Those Talons look stunning

I’d defo say NF11 for the Meatbox

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

Thanks 747woody for clarifying the Meteor i.d.
That Meteor, once of the long gone Torbay Aircraft Museum, then one or two other places and I last noted dismantled at Duxford, was a bit of a hybrid anyway. The NF.13 was a tropicalised version of the NF.11 and virtually identical externally. Once also on the British civil register, a case of wishful thinking that it could be made airworthy again.

fantastic pics

Absolutely stunning set of images, but who or what is Jethro?