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

[SengaB]

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/2/1664/25512073980_fc46acfd82_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1686/25691791542_cc75c975f3_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1687/25186145263_c5746f8eb8_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1637/25812750605_07f15fc767_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1608/25512074430_284dc52e28_c.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1604/25786677126_7a3c9cd5fa_c.jpg

Senga

[Chris S]

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

[moose135]

Lousy conditions, but great catches, Senga!

[SengaB]

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

[AA757]

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

[moose135]

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.
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/US-Air-Force/TDY-England/i-WpX2Df2/2/XL/JM_USAF003-XL.jpg

http://www.moose135photography.com/US-Air-Force/TDY-England/i-sQH6Lmr/3/XL/JM_USAF004-XL.jpg

[Chris S]

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.

[SengaB]

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