As I'm currently on my Winter break I decided to have a day down at Lossie yesterday to get out with the camera and see the local enthusiasts who I hadn't seen for a while. Arriving there shortly after 10am and the base was already active with plenty of activity.
Thanks to Niall, Al and Tom for the banter.
1. The first action was a Typhoon from RAF Leuchars wanting to shoot an approach, so me and Niall went up to the pill box but the light for it was terrible so no shot. This 9sqn marked Tornado GR4 (operating with 617sqn) came out to play though.
Gotham City's finest by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
2. Then a few of the local Tornados started arriving back from their sorties.
Careering groundwards by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
3. Another 617sqn operated jet taxied out with two 'Hindenburg' tanks.
Handheld hindenburgs by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
4. :yahoo:
Kerosene in your face by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
5. A goldstars jet went out on an airtest.
Test flight in full burner by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
6. Dramatic clouds to the south.
Drama in the sky by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
7. Then three extinguishers got put out onto Lima and we weren't sure what it was for. A post on FC showed a 3 ship of Commandos heading north over St. Andrews so we put two and two together. Soon after they called up and with us sitting at 23 and then being able to choose 28 we weren't sure what to do. We stuck at 23 until they announced their intention to use 28 so we scrambled to a spot next to 28 luckily getting their just in time.
In the junglie, the mighty junglie by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
8. We hoped the spot at 202sqn might have been good to get them going off but it didn't really pay off. In the meantime this 617sqn Tornado landed back from its sortie.
Stop me! by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
9. At 2PM, as per a NOTAM, they moved onto runway 28 and I hoped to get some nice photos of them doing circuits and taxi-ing off the end of the runway but a big bank of cloud put an end to that. Here's one of only a couple of sunny photos I got.
Break right by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
10. A Tornado GR4A rolls off the end of the cross runway.
On the deck by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
11. Heading back to the car I noticed the Seaking hovering next to Duffus Castle and took a couple of photos. Really impressed with how it came out for something I only noticed out the corner of my eye!
Golden hover by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
12. The Seaking landing back offset of a lovely sunset. Which would have been great if they were on runway 23 but nevermind!
Training to save by
Maccphoto.co.uk, on Flickr
Chris