Blog Posts in Category: Aviation

A Week in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, Landscape, North Wales, Rock Climbing, Scrambling Short Link

I have just got back from a fantastic week spent camping in Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Heading up for a weeks camping in North Wales in October I was expecting the week to be full of wet weather and hill fog, I was very wrong with only one day being a wash out and only one day was spent with an annoying amount of time in hill fog. For the first two days I met up with the expedition society from Exeter Uni which I was a member of last year and who were in Snowdonia with 15 people for some scrambling. Despite arriving in the rain we awoke on the first morning to a fantastic sunrise over Tryfan and its North Ridge, one of the most famous scrambling routes in the UK for obvious reasons. Despite having done the scramble up Tryfan’s North Ridge about 7 times in the past 3 years every time I climb it I manage to take a slightly different route which keeps it interesting, and when the weather is good the views are spectacular and I don’t think I will ever get. Read the full article…

RAF flying low level in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

This week I headed up to the “Mach Loop” in Snowdonia to take pictures of the RAF practising their low level flying, it had been 15 months since I was last there due to work levels over the past year and 12 months since I last went to a lowfly area. The trip was cut short by a day at the start of the week and a day at the end of the week due to the awful welsh weather, the weather however while we were in the hills was ok good with not much rain though mainly overcast skies and lots of wind! There was so much wind at times standing up was difficult. The traffic was a little slow on all of the days and was mainly hawks this was due to RAF valley being on nights this week and 3 squadrons of Tornado GR4s overseas on training or operational duties. On the first day we were still being battered by really strong winds which made it difficult to stand up at times and was very cold, though at times the sun was out. I was expecting to blank due to the. Read the full article…

Vulcan and BBMF Low Level!

Alastair BegleyAviation, Lake District Short Link

This weekend was Windermere air show which is unique in the fact that it is in a mountainous area which means that it is possible to stand on a hill and take pictures of the aircraft displaying below you. Two years ago the Vulcan displayed there and I have been waiting for her to display there again ever since as the photos from it were just surreal. I did go last year but the Vulcan was not displaying and the weather was awful to say the least! On the Tuesday before the show the Vulcan confirmed to display so a last minute change of plans lead me to get up at 2:30am on Saturday morning to drive up to the Lake District from Bristol to ensure I got a parking place and a place on the small crag that is the best place to take photos from. Thankfully the weather was stunning and in addition to the Vulcan the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight were also displaying which meant that we got to see a Lancaster and Spitfire low level too and also them in formation at low level! When the Vulcan was due. Read the full article…

Royal International Air Tatoo

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

This weekend was the annual Royal International Air Tatoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and I went for the first time, I hadn’t pointed my camera at a military aircraft since September last year when I went to the Selkirk-Moffat pass until I attended RIAT so it was nice to see/hear/take pictures of them again. It is also the first time I have taken pictures at a normal airshow as the only other airshow I have taken pictures at was Windermere airshow which was more like low level photography than an airshow as i was shooting down onto the planes. I found it very difficult panning the aircraft as they were flying above us as I have never really panned anything at that angle. Rather than head on base where it would be very crowed and wet with the rain that was forecast we headed to a field which was pretty much under the display line which meant we were far closer to the aircraft and had different photo opportunities, the place that we went to was called Rhymes Farm. When we arrived in the morning it was raining and everything seemed dire but the. Read the full article…

Eurofighter Typhoon in Libya?

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

With the United Nations recent decision to back a no fly zone over Libya and in my opinion the most likely jet of ours to be deployed being the Eurofighter Typhoon due to the probability of air to air combat meaning that jets that have air superiority are required. For this we have two alternatives, the Tornado F3 or the Typhoon and there isn’t much of a choice with the F3s due to retire next week and the Typhoons ability to attack ground targets too. There are however alternatives for just ground attack which are the Tornado GR4 which are currently deployed in Afghanistan so fairly busy or the Harrier GR9 which have just being retired along with the carrier which the Harriers can land on. So with this information in mind I have decided to write this blog post in respect of the pilots that are going to be send into the front line where they are likely to come into danger from both air and ground and to show off the great aircraft that is the Eurofighter Typhoon which I think is the most likely British aircraft to be deployed. These photos are all. Read the full article…

Cockpits of the RAF’s Fast Jets

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

Due to various reasons recently I have not had time to do all that much photography and have not done any low level photography since October, so I have been spending some spare time re-processing some low level photos from this summer just to focus in on the cockpits. Thankfully in a week I spent in Snowdonia and the Lake Disctict photographing them at low level in June I had passes from all three of the RAF’s fast jets at the time, the training version of the Harrier Jump Jet the T12, The GR4 version of the Tornado and FGR4 and finally the training version of the Eurofighter Typhoon the T3. Though now unfortunatly the Harrier Jump Jet has been retired from service so this is the last time I ever saw one.

Lowfly in Scotland

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

Last week was my last week up in Glasgow before returning to university and I managed to get two days off work where I went to the Selkirk to Moffat pass in the hope that I would get some nice passes.  On the first day I arrived to lots of hill fog and rain, but I braved it and went up anyway and it proved to be a good decision as I had a great pass at the end of the day by a RAF Tornado GR4.  On the second day i went up a different hill and discovered that the weather forecast was wrong, it forecast to be sun all morning but it was overcast and then started raining for over an hour.  Finally it cleared but 2pm came and there had still been no passes and I had frozen due to a strong northerly wind.  But it was worth it thanks to the great pass i had on the first day!

Battle of Britain at Windermere

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

Last weekend was the airshow at Windermere which was a disappointing weekend.  Saturday was a complete wash out due to rain and low cloud so we got very wet sitting on the side of a hill all afternoon hoping for it to clear, and on Sunday it was very overcast and dark, it felt more like winter than summer with the lack of light.  The red arrows canceled, one of the Spitfire’s and the Dakota didn’t make it due to the Spitfire going tech en route towards the airshow.  But on a more positive note one Spitfire made it along with the Battle of Britain themed display Tucano who both did good displays. Here is what I managed to get of the Spitfire and the Tucano.