As it happened we stumbled upon two Canadair CL-215T's from Bridger Aerospace. They were temporarily stationed at Kingman for crew training purposes and one of them was being prepared for a flight. We decided to wait for that and we enjoyed the whole start-up sequence whilst the Arizona sun was gaining strength (this was just prior to 9am).
After that we followed the fence to see if there was anything else to be photographed but after a quick shot of the old DHL DC-8 a bearded hillbilly appearing out of the shed next to the DC-8 shouting "no pictures" at us. Quite annoyingly he started following us in his pick-up truck threatening to alert the airport authorities if we were to make one more picture. So unfortunately this stopped us from taking a shot of the old C-54 N90203.
As this was already the third time in three days that we had a run-in with authorities while we were taking pics of decommissioned aircraft (B-52 Balls 8 at Edwards and the storage yard at Mojave) we started to wonder what more surprises we could expect during the rest of our trip.
CL215T_N419BT_BridgerAerospace_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
CL215T_N419BT_BridgerAerospace_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
CL215T_N422BT_BridgerAerospace by René Klok, on Flickr
DC-8_N802DH_DHL by René Klok, on Flickr
C-123_N546S_Private by René Klok, on FlickrSo with our Kingman visit cut short we pushed the peddle to the metal for the long drive to Luke AFB.
We arrived at the landing zone on the south side of Luke around midday. The first batch of arrivals consisted of Italian F-35's and a couple of ATAC Mirage F1's. Not a bad way to start a visit.
When they had landed we drove a bit further down the road until we reached the fence with signs of "no trespassing beyond this point". At this spot you find yourself right inbetween the approach of the two runways with only short walks back and forth to position yourself for either left or right landings.
It is advisable not to pass the "no trespassing" signs as a group of other foreign spotters would find out when they did just that the very next day. When they turned up at the gates of Luke for the airshow three days later they were denied access because of what they had done and with a warning not to try and show up again at day two of the airshow.
MirageF1_N613AX_ATAC_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
MirageF1_N624AX_ATAC_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
MirageF1_N632AX_ATAC_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_MM7357_ItalianAirforce by René Klok, on FlickrThe 425th FS squadron based at Luke consists of F-16's from the Singapore Air Force.
F-16_01-6016_SingaporeAirforce_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6021_SingaporeAirforce_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6024_SingaporeAirforce_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_01-6024_SingaporeAirforce_03 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_97-0112_SingaporeAirforce_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-16_89-2172_USAF_01 by René Klok, on FlickrHi there, how are you.
F-16_90-0796_USAF_01 by René Klok, on FlickrInstead of showing the name of the pilot, the nose wheel door reads: "Fly With Amazing Grace".
F-35_11-5040_USAF_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_13-5067_USAF_02 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_15-5135_USAF_01 by René Klok, on FlickrJust when we thought about packing up, two US Navy Lightnings from VFA-125 and VFA-147 showed up. A nice surprise.
F-35_169424_USNavy_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_170087_USNavy_01 by René Klok, on Flickr
F-35_170087_USNavy_02 by René Klok, on FlickrHope you like this selection.
