Never been to Cold Lake, but it proved to be a great airbase for aircraft spotting as well as photographing. Here's a few pics taken during the second week of the excercise:
1. first aircraft to depart for Maple Flag were the two tankers, a CC-130 and a CC-150. Here's the CC-130 taking off from runway 31R
2. Next were 8 to 12 CF-18's from local units or from Bagotville. 401 squadron had applied tail codes to most of its aircraft:
3. Only a few pilots understood what photographers want
:
4. several special color F-18's were present:
5. Aussies were there with 6 F-18s, one of them in special mrks:
6. about six Alpha Jets were seen, these always took off from 31L, but until about 11 am these could be photographed while taxiing back. All had different color schemes, including the two German camos they once all carried:
7. Highlight for many local spotters (yes, they exist!) were 10 participating Belgian F-16s. Ah well, why not:
8. Most AETE a/c flew their missions either before or after Maple Flag. However, the units 2 Hornets took off together with MF a/c - always from the far runway:
9. After 11am the sun turns against you, so one should find other spots. After a MF mission, usually around 6 CF-18s took off, some of them landing on the shorter runway 22. It is good for landing shots:
10/11. However, the second MF mission, in the afternoon, will all land on either 31R or 31L. A Dutch colleague discovered a great spot for pictures for aircraft landing on 31R. This spot is not (yet) indicated in the Scramble Airfield Guide. It is quite a drive and a 30-40 minute walk. The walk includes swamps, mosquitos, flies and... bears!!! Yes, one of us had a very close encounter with a full grown black bear - so better bring your bear spray as some of the local Canadian spotters did!!!
I did not see any bear, pics are great out there:
12. Back to the airfield, lots of monuments can be found, including a good old 1 CAG bird I had seen flying so often in Europe...:
13. New for me: Canadian Hawks, about 6 of them form a detachment at Cold Lake:
14. After the second MF mission, later in the afternoon, the locals go flying again, including several two seaters. Now you can position yourself to the other side of RW22 for - again - nice pics:
15. The AETE test unit has some juicy aircraft, including two CH146s. One of them is standard green, but the other one is more attractive:
16. There is also a local SAR squadron, they made a nice fly past with one of their yellow birds:
17. And last but not least, arguably the most interesting aircraft at Cold Lake must be the AETE CT-114s. We had seen 4 of them, this was the only one to sport the large "X" on the tail:
Hope you like them...
