Hurghada, Sunday 4-Jan-2009
We arrived in Hurghada on Saturday night and the next morning jet sound woke me up. I ran outside and saw three MiG-21's landing at the airport. It was too late to get my camera, but I felt happy that the MiG's were home.
Hurghada, Monday 5-Jan-2009
A friend of mine had already been to Hurghada a couple of times and had advised me that every Monday morning there's an Egyptian AF Hercules coming in around 10:15AM. I took my camera and climbed the high stairs of the poolslide. At exactly 10:15 this white C-130H-30 came in:
(Canon EOS20D, 300/f4 + 1.4TC)
The rest of the day I didn't see any MiG's...
Hurghada, Thursday 8-Jan-2009
So far, I had been waiting with my camera at the pool slide every morning, hoping to catch the MiG's landing but I didn't see any. This day, we took a flight with AMC to Cairo in order to see the piramids. While taxiing close to the military area I noticed three MiG's in every shelter, although I wasn't able to get any decent pictures. After take-off I also noticed a CH-47 at the end of the runway.
Cairo International, Thursday 8-Jan-2009
When we arrived at Cairo I saw the C-130's at the other side of the airfield. From the transfer bus I was able to take some bad pictures, but I does give an impression of how it looks like:
All together I saw sixteen C-130 and was able to read off 1275/SU-BAF, 1286/SU-BAS, 1284/SU-BAQ and 1288/SU-BAU. The two grey ones are probably ex-Danish AF. From outside of the airport there are probably not too many photo opportunities with armed guards every 150 metres behind the fence.
Hurghada, Saturday 10-Jan-2009
Up till today there was still no sign of any MiG. Since Friday and Saturday are weekend for the Egyptians I didn't really count on any military activity. Still I gave it a shot at the poolslide again, before we had to catch our boat for some diving. Except for some civil stuff there was no activity:
So, later that morning we went aboard the boat and while waiting to sail out it happened: six MiG-21's flew overhead and afterwards came in one by one. Of course there was no way I could get my camera in time, so I had to see it happen without being able to really enjoy it...
Hurghada, Monday 12-Jan-2009
On the other days I didn't see MiG's anymore. Maybe they've also flown on Sunday, but we were on a bustrip to Luxor that day. On Monday morning I was on station again to catch the 10:15 C-130 coming in:
Hurghada, Tuesday 13-Jan-2009
The last day in Hurghada. In the morning I had been waiting at the poolside again, seeing airliners coming in but no mil stuff.
While having breakfast I suddenly noticed a C-130. Time: 10:15 again! I ran to the poolside and finally had a picture of a desert camo:
That's it. Unfortunately, no MiG pictures but at least I managed to get some C-130's and more important: I enjoyed the rest of my holiday very much!
