This year turned out to be a great one. I decided to post one photo of my favorite trips.
1.
My first trip this year was to Japan in April. With the RF-4E becoming almost extinct, Wednesday (8 April) was marked as an important day. The menu for that day showed Hyakuri’s Phantoms. With two Phantom-squadrons (302 and 501 Hikotai), one Eagle-squadron (305 Hikotai), a rescue-unit and awesome photo opportunities, Hyakuri is the main target for many. An early start of the day therefore, in order to be near the fence at 07:00 local. Due to the fact that the main runway is under construction, the local fighters used the parallel runway, very close to the fence. I photographed many highlights that day, this is one of my favourites:
2.
In May, I visited Bulgaria for the show at Plovdiv. Although a small event, I was very keen on photographing some old hardware. The show lasted two days, Saturday and Sunday. We learned that the MiG-21, MiG-29 and Su-25 particpiating in the static were to leave on Sunday. Reason enough to linger around a bit more! When most of the crowd was already gone, the fighters of the static show were towed to the flight line. It took some waiting, but in the end the departing aircraft resulted in the best pictures of the weekend! This is my favourite, a MiG-21 in the evening sun:
3.
Next trip was Russia. Although I enjoyed the last time I visited in 1995, a lot has changed during the years. Less ‘old’ hardware and certainly less flying. Nevertheless, a Flanker is always nice to see!
4.
Long awaited, our trip to Libya. Many months of preperations worked out just fine. MiG-23s, MiG-21, MiG-25. It is very hard to pick just one highlight, so I just pick this one: a freshly painted Mirage F1 flying over the beach just outside the airbase:
5.
For the second year in a row, we visited the Open Days of the Hellenic Air Force. Although not the best of weather, Larissa turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Four RF-4Es could be photographed on the taxiway as the base was quite active. This RF-4E is my tip-favorite:
