The Beluga XL at Hawarden Airport

My first visit to Hawarden Airport to witness the Airbus Beluga/XL aircraft.  It is a very odd looking aircraft and yes it does really conjure up an image of a flying whale!!!! Manged to see two aircraft XL2 and number 5. From land on to launch there is a turn around time of about 60-90 minutes at Hawarden,  to be loaded with Airbus wings and other parts which are flown from Broughton to France. Here are some of the images (heat haze may affect a couple)

Full Image Gallery Here: Hawarden Beluga Gallery

Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre (at Newquay Airport)

Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre (CAHC) is located at Newquay Airport. There is a good selection of retired/demobbed airframes and other exhibits. Some of which you can tour others you can sit in the cockpit, so the aircraft are not just for viewing. A good cafe/shop is also on the site. All the staff are friendly and welcoming with a good knowledge of their aircraft. Some of the sircraft on site are still used by the RAF for salvage/lifting/recovery/exercise practice. In the hangar in addition to the exhibits there is a superb display of model aircraft that have been built by a variety of people. Well I will get on to the pictures so you can see what it is all about.

Vickers VC-10 Cockpit

Vickers VC-10 Engines

English Electric Lightning

RAF Shackleton (not part of CAHC)

Spirit of Truro

Museum Exhibit

Museum Exhibit

Royal Navy Seahawk

Harrier GR3

RAF Tornado GR4 "Shiny Two"

Vickers Varsity

BAE 125

Westland Lynx

Hawker Hunter

English Electric Lightning

Canberra

Hawker Hunter

BAC1-11 Qinetiq

Vickers VC 10 ZA148

RAF Tornado GR4

Vickers VC 10

Royal International Air Tattoo 2018

My annual visit to the Air Tattoo this time was blessed with blue skies on some days which is a blessing for aviation photography due to the last couple of years being completely grey. As usual a good variety of aircraft and air forces from around the globe. Some of the highlights for me were the Canadian Norad F18 Hornet, Belgian Air Component F16 "Vador" (Dark Falcon) , French Rafales, A400m Selville, Finnish Army NH90, RAF and Italian Typhoon displays amongst others. An appearance by a UK based F35B  was a first, but the show also witnessed the last appearance of the RAF Tornado GR4. This was also the centenary year of the RAF (RAF100) although it my view the efforts to celebrate this were somewhat under-whelming. (no special livery really apart from the RAF100 label and the last appearance of the RAF Tornado warranted a display in my view not just a flypast) Before everyone gets on my case, I am ex forces and understand some things are just not possible due to operational constraints, budgets etc. I tried to cover as much as possible of the flying displays but this year did not really get around the static display something I must address next year. I spent much of the show viewing from the FRIAT enclosure, with part of arrival on Thursday at the Park and View. A selection of images below I will upload more in due course on my aviation website, www.jetphotos.co.uk when time permits.

Armee De L'Air French Dassault Rafale

Italian Air Force Typhoon display

Belgian Air Component F16 "The Dark Falcon"

RAF Typhoon Display

Gripen

Couteau Delta

Japanese Defence Force, Kawasaki C-2

E-6B Mercury

E7A Wedgetail Royal Austrailian Air Force,

Brazilian Air Force KC-390

Hawker Hunter

Hellenic Air Force F-16

French Navy Rafale

Finnish Army NH90

RAF Typhoon Display

BBMF Dakota and Lancaster

UK based F35B Lightning

Ukranian Sukhoi Su27 

Swiss F18 Hornet

B-2A "Spirit of New York"

Seville A400M

German Air Force Tornado