Midair Refueling lifeline of US, NATO air ops

F-16 refueling mid-air

Refueling lifeline of US, NATO air ops, a photo by DVIDSHUB on Flickr. Via Flickr: A 100th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 Stratotanker prepares to offload fuel to Royal Danish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons, which are flying in formation behind the tanker. The 100th ARW arrived at Royal Air Force Mildenhall Feb. 1, 1992 and [...]

F-35 Lightning II Night Flight

F-35 Lightning II

120119-F-ZZ999-900, a photo by Official U.S. Air Force on Flickr. I think this plane should be renamed to something like “Bull Shark” because that’s what it looks like. Via Flickr: A pilot takes the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft up for its first night flight near Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Jan. 18, [...]

US Air Force CV-22 Osprey Refueling In Flight

V-22 Osprey

120104-F-NI784-081, a photo by Official U.S. Air Force on Flickr. There’s something not quite right about how the Osprey looks, but it’s still an impressive looking aircraft. Some of the Marines that I know say that they call the Osprey a “widow maker.” Apparently, the prop wash from the aircraft is pretty bad. So bad, [...]

F-111 Aardvark City of Clovis

F-111 Aardvark

This F-111 Aardvark is on static display outside of Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis New Mexico. The plane is called the “City of Clovis” and it’s a memorial to the F-111 crews that were based in Clovis and were lost in action over seas. This particular F-111, according to legend, participated in the bombing [...]

2011 Aviation Highlights Part 2 – Blue Angels

Blue Angels

I got the see the Blue Angels this year in San Antonio. Sure, it was the same time that I got to see Fifi, but I’m counting this as a different highlight. When I saw the Blue Angels performing, I felt like this was the closest that I would ever get to seeing perfection in [...]

2011 Aviation Highlights Part 1

Fifi Side Cockpit View

This is the first of, I believe 3 parts, of my personal 2011 aviation highlights. This was a very active year with my aviation hobby as I got to see planes that I hadn’t seen before, I went to a couple of airshows and also went plane spotting out of state. Part 1, comes from [...]

A-10 Being Serviced In Kandahar

a-10 warthog

111202-F-ZU607-074, a photo by Official U.S. Air Force on Flickr. Via Flickr: U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Steve Roeper, a 107th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron weapons load crew member, performs a rack inspection and cleaning on a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt close air support aircraft at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 2, 2011. The A-10 can [...]

B-1B Lancer Engines

B-1B Engines

I liked how gritty these B-1B engines looked. They looked all steam punk or something like that, in any case, I thought they looked like artwork. The B-1B, aka Bone, was introduced to service in 1986 and is the only variable wing aircraft in service with the USAF.

F-16 Fighting Falcon

F-16

I took this shot at the air show at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio. Not my best work, but I like that we can see the pilot in the shot. The pilot was in the middle of a demo flight when I took this. The F-16 Fighting Falcon was introduced to the US [...]