Air International 2018-09
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??? - UK Air Power /Military/ (2)
A Fleet Air Arm Merlin HM2 over the English Channel during a training mission from Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose. The eventual 30-aircraft Merlin HM2 fleet is set for a busy schedule littered with a multitude of operational tasking.
C-17 Globemaster ZZ171 lands at Keevil airfield, Wiltshire. Aircraft ZZ171 was the first to be delivered to the RAF in May 2001. Following a heavy operational tempo over the past 17+ years, the RAF's C-17 fleet has burned through its individual aircraft service lives at rates not envisioned when the aircraft were ordered.
A Puma HC2 captured by the camera in a confined landing area on the Salisbury Plain Training Area.
The RAF's fifteenth Atlas C1, ZM414, was delivered in March 2017; its total fleet will comprise 22 aircraft. This photo shows the two pairs of Ratier-Figeac eight-bladed scimitar propellers on each wing turning in opposite directions; counter clockwise on the outer and clockwise on the inner. Each propeller is powered by an Europrop TP400-D6 engine rated at 11,000shp (8,250kW).
One of the two Bae146 C3 Quick Change aircraft photographed at its home station, RAF Northolt, Middlesex.
Fleet Air Arm Hawk T1 XX240/CU840 with the unmistakable white lightning bolt tail marking of 736 Naval Air Squadron.
Voyager KC2 ZZ337 with the engine reverse thrusters deployed on landing at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
Wildcat HMA2 is one of 28 examples based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, Somerset. Aircrew rate the type and are especially appreciative of the much reduced level of vibration experienced during operation by comparison to the former Lynx. Aircrew reckon the two stand out systems are the Selex Galileo Seaspray 7400E radar and its L3 Wescam MX-15Di imaging system.
Hercules C4 ZH866 throws up dirt as its wheel's touchdown on a grass field at Deptford Down, Wiltshire during natural surface landing practice.
RAF Griffin HAR2 ZJ705 at the Salisbury Plain Training Area.
The UK's fifth F-35B ZM139 (BK-05) at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. Three UK F-35Bs are expected to remain at Beaufort with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) 'Warlords' for the foreseeable future to support UK and US pilot training.
At rest after its transatlantic ferry flight from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina to RAF Marham on June 6, 2018. An RAF technician watches over his ruggedized laptop plugged into the aircraft maintenance interface panel. The technician is almost certainly using one of the many functions of the Autonomic Logistics Information System as part of the jet's post-flight maintenance process.
The third and fourth aircraft, of four F-35Bs, taxi to parking at RAF Marham on June 6, 2018 following the ferry flight from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. By the time the pilots climbed out of the cockpits they had been in the seat for ten hours.
This shot shows how close the F-35's transparency and canopy are to the aerial refuelling drogue when plugged.