Next up was this Australian Wedgetail, 737 or not, he knew how to throw this thing around...
wedge (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrAfter a brief interlude from the short haul airliner dressed as a Nimrod, the Indians decided that they would have a couple of passes, whilst they didnt throw things around as much as the Italians, the couple of passes were great, not often you get as close as this to the Indians, never mind the Sukhoi SU30.
indian (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrTwo carried on, and a single ship did a couple of tight turns, full burners in fading light.
su-30 1 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrAgain my camera was firing away at a shameful rate of knots, but seriously, this close to SU-30's, the hairs were stood to attention.
su-30 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrDuring the exercise, the US sent 6 x F-22's from Langley, sadly, the only time I saw one was at the flypast and during the base open day on the Saturday. What passes it did do were miles out to sea, literally managed one shot, and even that was too far in reality
f22 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrLots of people stood there waiting for the F-22 to turn back in for another run...but it wasnt to be.
Not to be outdone, the Koreans approached as a 3 ship, broke and left, it would appear they also didnt get the memo, but beggers/choosers and all that...Light was now starting to become a real issue.
f-15 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f-15 1 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrThe programme showed that the F-22 was to clse the show, but we had already seen it, is this where it came back and showed us some of those tight turns ??? in a word, no. Running in next and to close off the fly pasts was 4 Australian F-18's, I didn't bother looking for a address to complain to :-)
f18 x4 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 x 4 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 x2 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrAfter a couple of passes, the F-18's flew toward the cliffs and off into the sunset, what a finale it was, people started to drift.........
f18 x 4 sunset (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrWell that was that, some amazing passes that you just don't get at airshows, by some operators rarely seen in Europe, BBQ's everywhere and people that were so friendly, the only slight downside was the cost...just over 60 pence for the three hours of parking, i really struggle to understand why it needs to be so expensive !
Whilst packing my gear away, a cheeky solo Aussie F-18 had decided that the flyby was far from over and surprised everyone by running in extremely low and fast, deliberated for about 10 seconds on if I should get my camera out as the light was so bad, but i need not have worried, he brought his own lighting !!!
f18 solo (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 solo turn (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrAt this point he must have figured that the light was bad, so he quickly sorted that issue.
f18 solo multiple flares (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 solo flare (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 solo flare 1 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on Flickr
f18 solo flare 2 (1 of 1) by Rob Burns, on FlickrAfter many passes, lots of cheering and using up the 2025 allocation of flares, it really was the final pass, before pulling up and heading home, I cant describe how I felt, other than satisfied :-) One last shot to get before I went, and that was ITN Alpino, which was just outside the no sailing zone, with the sun on its back, with a NH-90 on deck.
Well that really was the end of the flypasts, the following day was a non flying day, whilst they got the base ready for the free open day on the Saturday, yep you read that right free...pics to follow.
If you have gotten this far, apologies for the number of shots, just trying to give folk an idea of a very special event that if you are lucky enough to be able to go....Just book it !!
Thanks
