Turkish Air Force F-16/KC-135 KWRI pics

Greetings, I made it down to KWRI to get some shots of the TURAF F-16s , KC-135 and A400 that were returning from Nellis. Unfortunately the weather was abysmal (As to be expected when I am out). This was a trip just to get the F-16s as already have a few shots of the TURAF K35Rs and the A400. I didn't stay out the A400 because as the WX was deteriorating rapidly just as the F-16s were landing. I almost didn't bother to share these shots as they are they are just total garbage. With that said I am still glad to get my first "unique" type for the year.
K35R
TURAF19 KC-135
TURAF20 KC-135

F-16 flights coupled
F-16 TURAF10x2
F-16 TUARF13 x2
F-16 TURAF16 x2

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1664/2...46acfd82_c.jpg

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https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1604/2...3c9cd5fa_c.jpg

Senga

Nice catch Senga!:biggrin:
BTW, heard their departure was delayed and they should be leaving WRI tomorrow morning.

Lousy conditions, but great catches, Senga!

Thanks Chris,John,
Yea I am pretty disappointed about the WX I had to shoot in. I almost stayed home but I am glad I went out in the end. Unfortunately I had missed the arrival. After waiting 2.5 weeks this is the crappy day I got. I think it was the worst of all the days since they arrived at WRI.
Here is the TAF at that time:

KWRI 142158Z 05014G24KT 4SM BR OVC006 07/07 A2990 RMK AO2A PK WND 07028/15 TWR VIS 1

Steve,
Its seems like a lot of these fighter/tanker flights have hickups. Most of the ones I have gone out for the flight was delayed or cancelled.

Senga

Senga, nice work even with the weather. You may never get another chance to see those so bad weather or not, it's worth the effort!


Rich B

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SengaB

Its seems like a lot of these fighter/tanker flights have hickups. Most of the ones I have gone out for the flight was delayed or cancelled.

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A hundred years ago...well, about 30 years ago...in the KC-135, we dragged some F-4s across the Atlantic. We flew from Grissom to Pease AFB in Portsmouth, NH. The plan was to depart Pease and meet up with a KC-10 and about 8 Phantoms out of Seymour-Johnson AFB, then fly with them across, fueling the Phantoms along the way. We went into RAF Mildenhall for a 3 week TDY, the Phantoms continued on to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, not sure where the -10 ended up. It took us nearly a week to get it done - the fighters needed adequate weather at several divert points along the way - Thule, Greenland, Reykjavik, Iceland, and probably a couple of other places - in case of a malfunction that prevented them from taking fuel. We would get up at 4am, check out of the motel, get a van to base, get our pre-flight briefings, even went out to the airplane a couple of times before scrubbing for the day due to weather, or a plane breaking. You need a bunch of stuff to all go right to pull of a fighter drag.

By the way - we launched at about 285K pounds, (our max weight for EWO-purposes only was 302K pounds) and we used 10K+ feet of the 11K runway at Pease.

http://www.moose135photography.com/U...USAF003-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/U...USAF004-XL.jpg

Thanks for sharing that story and cool pics with the Phantoms, Moose !! Great stuff :cool:

BTW, heard the Turks finally departed WRI around 11AM this morning.

Nice shots John, 100 years! Wow! :)

The F-4 has always been one of my favorite fighters.

Chris,

I noticed they landed at LPLA this evening as well (around 19Z-20Z). I must have been gone when they departed. Hopefully they will come back soon.

Senga