After a solid 4 hour drive without any traffic jams we reached our intended target for the Monday.
The weather wasn't the best, with the occasional drop of rain, but at least you can take shots from the crash gate onto the taxiway.
First thing to pop in was a C-130H of the Illinois ANG, it dropped off an A-10 engine, and left again:
92-1451 C-130H 169th AS / IL ANGSlowly, the flightline came to live, and the first A-10s rolled towards the runway. The Michigan ANG took the lead.
80-0258/MI A-10C 107th FS / MI ANGFollowed by the Maryland ANG
78-0702/MD A-10C 104th FS / MD ANG6 A-10s airborne, the South Dakota F-16s followed:
89-2005 F-16C 175th FS / SD ANGAnother set of Michigan ANG A-10s started up and departed
78-0689/MI A-10C 107th FS / MI ANGThe sun started showing up, late to the party. A lot of spotters left the crashgate in a hurry to walk to the corner on the other side of the runway. The police (with 3 patrol cars!) started to wonder why everybody left
We opted to stay in the landing, not go into the corner completely. In full sunshine, the point where everything drives up the runway is already compromised by heatwaves, and being able to take pictures from a bit further away was a bit easier for me.
First reward was the MD 175WG commander A-10 and the others of that flight
79-0175/MD A-10C 104th FS / MD ANG "COM 175th WG"
78-0683/MD A-10C 104th FS / MD ANGDuring the time the sun started showing up, 4 Hungarian Gripens left, but the taxiway was already covered in heatwaves. When they landed, the sun already started to disappear again..
38 JAS-39C MH 59. Sz.D. REB.The CO F-16s returned, but without sun, even a special c/s almost gets dull.
87-0229/CO F-16C 120th FS / CO ANG
87-0336/AL F-16C 120th FS / CO ANGA few local Tornados left.
46+54 Tornado ECR TaktLwG 51
46+49 Tornado ECR TaktLwG 51The crosswind that blew all morning now turned into a western wind, and the runway was promptly changed. Spotter exodus to the other runway end, just in time for the first visitor from Hohn to arrive for the event that was being held on base. The AJ-305 figured it was a moving 3km long carrier..
166781/AJ-305 F/A-18E VFA-31The C-130 from the Illinois ANG visited again, and a few local Tornados came back.
46+50 Tornado ECR TaktLwG 51The light started to turn really bad, but the 23 side isn't really known for its good spots north of the centerline. We did find an option, and that's the sand quarry just north of the gate. From the gate you can walk north until you reach the quarry which gives you a position on a small mound. I only found that out a bit later, and I had already taken the car towards the quarry. This resulted in a position on the quarry grounds, but the aircraft are a bit higher here then on the forementioned spot.
The sun came out once more, just in time to see a Gripen pop up over the trees:
39817 JAS-39D Swedish AFA flight of Michigan A-10s came back, but no luck with the sunshine there. For a local Tornado, it was a different situation:
46+46 Tornado ECR TaktLwG 51Shortly followed by the next visitor from Hohn, a Finnish F/A-18C:
HN-433/33 F/A-18C HavLLv-31The wave that was still out and about started to come back:
88-0452 F-16C 175th FS / SD ANG
81-0998/MI A-10C 107th FS / MI ANGThe Bayou Militia send over the 85-0112/JZ from Hohn for the event:
85-0112/JZ F-15C 122th FS / LA ANGThe F-16Cs from Colorado returned, including the have glass painted ones.
86-0339/CO F-16C 120th FS / CO ANGAnother set of locals, followed by 2 Turkish F-16s which didn't seem to know where the runway was.
89-0026 F-16C 151 Filo(Even) more pictures from the day in the album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAJv5z
A second set from the Tuesday at Hohn will follow shortly.
Hope you like them!
Regards,
Bram
