View allAll Photos Tagged fighterplane
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Commissioned Photoshot for Autie Carlisle Designs
Model: Autie and Valerie MM#1191899
MUA/Hairstyle: Robin Carey
Photography: Cecilia Austin and Myself
Alameda, California
June 2009
IMG_1797-1-2_s_f
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You can see more of my interesting photos here.
A USAF F-15 Eagle flying during the evening show of the 2022 Abbotsford Airshow. Thanks to it being an evening show, I got some good shots of the Eagle's afterburners.
Wikipedia:
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by North American Aviation (NAA) in response to a requirement of the British Purchasing Commission. The Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation to build Curtiss P-40 fighters under license for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Rather than build an old design from another company, North American Aviation proposed the design and production of a more modern fighter. The prototype NA-73X airframe was rolled out on 9 September 1940, 102 days after the contract was signed, and first flew on 26 October.
What would an airshow be without an authentic piece of history flying past.... Seen here at the recent Wickenby Wings & Wheels event on 19/06/2011 in Lincolnshire, UK.
The Supermarine Spitfire flew over a few times in a dark brooding sky, laden heavy with cloud.....the sound of the engine reverberating over the airfield.
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This two-seat conversion is ready to take a passenger into the air at Duxford. Painted to represent the iconic Mk.Ia P9386 (QV-K) of the Battle of Britain, it blends history with experience. Built in 1944 as a Mk IXe, PT462 served with multiple RAF squadrons, was later sold to the South African and Israeli Air Forces, and even spent time in a town dump in Gaza before being shipped to the UK for restoration. Today, it lets enthusiasts experience the legacy of one of WWII’s most legendary fighters firsthand.
This is another photograph I discovered of this amazing event, which I wanted to share with you and with the F-15 Eagle flying past the Marina Bay Sands and in doing so having afterburners on. In this photograph the F-15 Eagle is even closer to the building!
Hornet J-5011 of fighter squadron 11, "Tigers" of the Swiss Air Force.
This model in scale 1:32 is based on the excellent Canadian CF-18 by Ryan Harris, whose building instructions I bought to create my Swiss version of a Hornet.
Like the Canadian CF-18s, the Swiss F/A-18s feature a search light on the left side of the fuselage in front of the cockpit. All the working features of Ryan's model can be found on my Hornet as well:
- Opening canopy
- Movable flaps, ailerons and elevators
- Deployable airbrake
- Lowering arrestor hook
- Stowable landing gear with working doors
After I built an initial version following the building instructions, I made quite some changes to Ryan's design to incorporate some more features and better represent the Swiss version of the F/A-18C. Changes I made include:
- All grey color scheme
- Complete redesign of the wings to incorporate folding wing tips
- Section in front of the cockpit features IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) antennae and a deployable refuelling probe
- Radar warning antennas behind the cockpit
- More detailed engine nozzles
- Extended starter rails and different armament
- Smaller details all around
My model represents the plane of the squadron leader of "Fliegerstaffel 11" or fighter squadron 11 with the immatriculation J-5011. The latter one is shortened to 011 on the forward fuselage.
Squadron 11 call themselves "Tigers" and so it is quite obvious that they regularly participate in the NATO Tiger Meet. The livery on the model shows the design of the 2011 edition of the Tiger Meet. The decals are from a supplier of waterslide decals for plastic models and are perfect to scale in 1:32.
The Hornet is shown in a typical configuration for air police service. The armament consists of a 20 mm M61A1 gatling gun, 2 AIM-9X Sidewinders on the wing tips and 2 AIM-120B AMRAAMs on the fuselage hardpoints. Furthermore a centerline fuel tank is carried which shows the standby frequency of 121.50 MHz.
The display base represents a section of taxi way, leading to runway 28 of the Meiringen air base, which is homebase to squadron 11.
"Ration Stamp No. 5, Ration Stamp No. 6," etc. Text on background image: "U.S. Government Ration."
According to Wikipedia, "A ration stamp, ration coupon, or ration card is a stamp or card issued by a government to allow the holder to obtain food or other commodities that are in short supply during wartime or in other emergency situations when rationing is in force."
Wikipedia displays a sheet of 44 of these fighter plane stamps that are numbered from 5 to 48 and describes the sheet as "World War II War Ration Book No. 3, fighter stamp, ca 1943."
The OCLC WorldCat record for War Ration Book, No. 3 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of Price Administration, 1943) explains how the stamps were used: "The paper stubs, or stamps, in each ration book purchased rationed consumer goods and foods. War ration book no. 3, valid September 1943, included 8 pages of stamps, four for meat rationing, and four for a clothing rationing program never put into effect. Some clothing stamps were eventually validated for shoe rationing."
For the 35th anniversary of the F-16 in Belgian Air Force service FA-104 was repainted to represent the Fighting Falcon prototype "50745"
Morane Saulnier (MS-325) fighter plane ready for combat flight.
Äänislinna, Viitana 17th of March 1942
A US Navy E/A18G Growler flying during the Growler demo at the 2025 Abbotsford Airshow. It was loud and the pilots didn't hold back. I can still hear the afterburners when I look at these shots.
Two Boeing F/A-18 Hornets of the US Navy aerial demonstration team, the Blue Angels, pass each other at high speed during the Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Airshow at Quonset State Airport (KOQU/OQU) in North Kingstown, RI.
Featured on TripCart on August 2nd, 2007.
Featured on SportsWrap on August 31st, 2007.
Explored!
I have been to Thunder Over Michigan several times, and shot photos of the show many times. If I had one wish for ToM, it would be to have more airplanes like the F-100 there. I would definitely pay to see F-104 Starfighter, B-58 Hustler, F-4 Phantom... etc. More supersonic planes from the 1950's, 60's and 70's - or anything more recent - would generate more revenue from me.
I love seeing these vintage supersonic aircraft. This was from an era when new aircraft were being introduced all the time. Innovations were constantly increasing speed and manueverability, and the battle to build the "best" aircraft was hot and heavy. But we have had the F-16 and F-18 since the 1970's!
In any case, kudos for getting the F-100 to the show. A MIG-25 would be nice, too, LOL!
A second RCAF CF-18 Hornet performing the CF-18 Demo in the evening show of the 2022 Abbotsford Airshow. It cool seeing the demo at night, the Hornet's afterburners could be fully seen. It was a loud demo too, the pilot didn't hold back.
A US Navy E/A18G Growler flying during the Growler demo at the 2025 Abbotsford Airshow. It was loud and the pilots didn't hold back. I can still hear the afterburners when I look at these shots.
Off-Airport - WaKeeney
Eisenhower Park
WaKeeney, KS
Grumman F-14A-105-GR Tomcat (G-303) c/n 354, 160925, United States Navy
A strange place to find a Tomcat, a small town in rural western Kansas. Masked off like she was in the middle of a repaint that stopped halfway through.
A restored USAF P51 Mustang from WWII flying during the Warbirds demo at the 2025 Abbotsford International Airshow. It flew alongside an F4U Corsair and a P38 Lightning .
Planes of Fame Airshow, Chino Airport (2004)
United States - West-Coast Tour 2004
Fairey Firefly TT.6, N518WB as Royal Navy WB518/201K”
Former Royal Navy WD828 and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) WD828.
Restored to flying condition as VH-HMW in 1965 as RAN "WD828/271K Mickey's Mouse".
Force landed near Camden NSW in 1987
Rebuild using Fuselage sections of WB518.
Photo selection
USAF Thunderbirds performing a high altitude maneuver at the Baltimore Fleet Week air show. The photo is cropped significantly as the aircraft were very far from the camera when the photo was taken. I also post processed the photo to highlight the jet engine afterburn and to try to minimize the effects of atmospheric haze. Photographed at Baltimore, Maryland.
A Vought F4U Corsair flying in the 2026 Abbotsford Airshow. One of three Warbirds that flew in the flyover. This is one of my favorite planes from WWII and it's always a delight to see one fly.
A restored Supermarine Spitfire XVI (1945) at Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada.
The Supermarine Spitfire XVI was manufactured in August 1945 at the Supermarine works of Vickers-Armstrong Ltd., England. It bears the serial number SL721 and is registered under the call sign C-GVZB. Over 22,000 Spitfires were built in nearly 30 variants during World War II.
A second RCAF CF-18 Hornet performing the CF-18 Demo in the evening show of the 2022 Abbotsford Airshow. It cool seeing the demo at night, the Hornet's afterburners could be fully seen. It was a loud demo too, the pilot didn't hold back.
The real truth about this discovery was nothing like what you might have read or heard about in the news.
On 10th May 2012 the world's mainstream media organisations ran the following inaccurate story with this almost universal headline and copy:
"WWII fighter plane hailed the 'aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's Tomb' found preserved in the Sahara."
Articles went on to say:
"A Second World War aeroplane that crash landed in the Sahara Desert before the British pilot walked to his death has been found almost perfectly preserved 70 years later. The single-seater fighter plane was discovered by chance by Polish oil company worker Jakub Perka exploring a remote region of the Western Desert in Egypt, about 200 miles from the nearest town."
Having found the crash site location for myself, I can now reveal that bit about it being 200 miles from the nearest town is completely untrue.
The crash site is a mere 31.3 miles from the centre of the nearest town.
More over it is just 6.5 miles from the nearest asphalt road and only 26 miles from the nearest village.
The credit for the discovery attributed in the world's media to Jakub Perka is questionable. It has since been claimed, though not widely reported, that the discovery of the crash site was actually made on 12th Feb 2012 by an Italian expedition who were sworn to secrecy by the Egyptian authorities, and it would appear that Jakub Perka was a opportunist who got wind of the Italian find and sold rights to crash site photos to the BNPS press agency and made up the story of 'his' discovery and the rest as they say is history.
Italian, Andrea Mariotti of the Association of Independent Researchers Western Desert (ARIDO) wrote two reports in the Summer 2012 newsletter of The War Graves Photographic Project (TWGPP).
In the first report on the discovery he asserts the truth is:
“In early February 2012 we were returning from an expedition in which we had travelled from northwest to southeast of the Grand Sand Sea in order to map two or three possible routes on the trail of the exploring British groups during the Second World War in North Africa, which were framed in the Long Range Desert Groups. We had driven the track we familiarly call the “main route” and we went again to the wreck of one of the vehicles that were abandoned by the LRDG, probably due to a mechanical failure. After only 20 miles we stopped for the night and during the evening briefing we took the decision to take a chance on the next day and make a long range reconnaissance to locate the point where an acquaintance of ours, who lives in El Alamein, had told us that perhaps we could find an unidentified fighter plane still in good condition. It could be a free interpretation of the infinite fantasy of our Bedouin friend, but it was worth the chance, even if, in the past, we have used this sort of information which has proven, in most cases, not to be true.The next day at dawn, divided into three groups of two cars each, we began the search climbing and descending the plateaus that form the natural boundary of the “new valley” as it is called today, in the Egyptian Western Desert. At the end of many attempts and many tens of miles we found it. The aircraft is on a plateau almost impassable by the vehicles and still in excellent condition. We shot many pictures, took some measurements and left the aircraft after a few hours. On the same day (12th Feb) we were asked to keep the finding secret and not report anything on the internet which might identify the location. This was to prevent souvenir hunters finding the site and desecrating it. The police were informed and we were tasked to lead an expedition of the army and police up to the P40 on a date to be agreed. Since that date, despite our constant requests, we did not receive any information until the end of April 2012 when we were told that a group of soldiers were there to remove munitions and weapons from the aircraft. We organized a second expedition immediately and on May 2nd, 3rd, 4th 2012 we were back at the place of our discovery. Meanwhile, the same soldiers who went on site to remove weapons and ammunition from the P40 had begun to put online the photos taken with mobile phones. These were accompanied by the pictures and information sold to a well known press agency by an employee of an oil company, who reached the wreck later on. When we arrived there for the second time we found that the P40 had been damaged and some parts had been stolen. The real problem is that plunderers and looters are the new owners of the wreck and this is what is happening to the P40, so far, because of the bureaucratic delays and inaction of the authorities who should already have taken action to protect such a wonderfully preserved piece of history that is already becoming Illegal property of individuals without scruples or conscience."
To date I have not seen definitive evidence to back up the discovery claims of Mariotti's ARIDO or Perka, and the more I research the topic the more I was inclined to believe Mariotti's version of events, although I do find his explanation for searching in this area - a Bedouin source in El Alamein a little far fetched - but the truth is often stranger than fiction. However the longer Mariotti's ARIDO refuse to publish definitive evidence to back up their claims of making the discovery before Perka, the less likely I am to believe they got there before Perka.
This story is certainly stranger than fiction.
So exactly who and when it was discovered remains disputed until conclusive evidence is put forward to determine which man got there first.
Whatever the truth is, the fact remains that the detailed satellite imagery of the crash site, a copy of which I have posted above, remained undiscovered despite being online in the public domain long before the physical crash site was visited by either Mariotti or Perka.
The fact that it went undetected online is remarkable. You can if you know where to look even find this crash site and make out the plane on the satellite imagery provided by DigitalGlobe, Inc here on Flickr.
According to the mainstream media's inaccurate story the crash site was apparently discovered by chance in March 2012 by Polish oil worker Jakub Perka. It is true the news of the discovery first appeared in a public posting of crash site photographs on 17th April 2012 on an online Polish scale modelling / aviation forum. The poster identifies the photographer as Sławomir Lubomski of Geofizyki Toruń. He also posted a link to the set of photographs credited to Jakub Perka on Picasa Web Albums.
The following day, 18th April, the story was picked up by The Aviation Forum and sparked of speculation surrounding the aircraft’s authenticity and identification. Sceptics initially called it an elaborate photoshopped hoax.
On 20th April video was posted on youtube of the 'oil worker's discovery' of the crash site. During the next few days aviation historians concluded the identity of the aircraft was the Curtiss Kittyhawk P-40 bearing the 260 Squadron “HS” squadron code and the aircraft letter “B” serial number ET 574, flown by 24-year-old RAF Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping which disappeared on 28th June 1942 whilst enroute from an Allied FOB Forward Operating Base to a repair depot behind Allied lines.
In the early days before the story broke in the mainstream media many questions were asked about the exact location of the crash site and concern was raised about protecting the site for fear of vandalism and/or souvenir hunting.
There are many conflicting, confusing and inaccurate reports and speculation about the whereabouts of the crash site and perhaps more importantly precisely who revealed what and when.
Whilst the initial public posting on the Polish online forum on 17th April 2012 did not reveal the whereabouts of the crash site, it is clear that on 2nd May 2012 the person who posted those initial photographs stated in the same online thread that the crash site coordinates were 27° 23' 48.70" N,
27° 37' 54.10" E. This follow up post giving the exact location of the crash site appears to have escaped the attention of many, but not everyone.
On 12th May a blog credits Jakub Perka with a screengrab of a satellite image (similar to the one I created and posted here) showing the aircraft, but with details of the coordinates deliberately obscured.
Since the news of the crash site discovery has become more widely known it has been revisited and sadly, but rather predictably, the aircraft has suffered from repeated mindless vandalism and looting.
Had the location been kept secret then the chances of this happening would have been lessened.
Even so it appears that those Polish / Egyptian oil workers connected to the Perka claim of discovering the crash site in March 2012 were responsible for damaging the aircraft. Inadvertently providing documentary evidence of their destructive actions to gain access the cockpit; the first video uploaded to youtube shows all the sliding canopy panes intact whereas the initial photographs credited to Jakub Perka show 2 smashed panes of plexiglas on the starboard side. By 16th June photographic evidence makes it clear another 7 panes have been smashed and removed from the cockpit canopy. Egyptian military personnel were sent to remove the still live ammunition, though thankfully they decided against cutting the 6 Browning machine guns out of the wings. Photographs and videos from subsequent visits to the crash site document the gradual damage and looting of the aircraft since its discovery. On 16th June the ARIDO team documented the condition of the aircraft and conducted a search for the pilot's remains. Evidence at the crash site strongly indicates that the pilot survived the crash. The ARIDO search discovered human remains approximately 5 miles from the crash site, but it is unclear whether DNA testing of these remains is going to be carried out to determine if they are the remains of Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping.
Later in June of 2012, a group of recovery experts, lead by the Royal Air Force Museum's Tim Manna, recovered the remains of the aircraft from the crash site. On 13th September 2012 photographs of the recovery of the aircraft were published online. In a further twist, during the recovery, it became evident that the bogies were retracted at impact, which is contrary to the suggestions from the 1942 flight reports which stated the aircraft had stuck landing gear.
The aircraft is currently stored in a shipping container outside the perimeter of the museum in El Alamein. Some say this is because the museum doesn't want it. Other reports say there are plans to display the aircraft at the museum at former RAF Hendon, London, UK.
Now there is nothing left at the crash site I can reveal its exact location without worrying that further damage will result from my disclosure of the GPS coordinates of the crash site.
Looking for the needle in the haystack.
This is the story of how I found an aircraft with a wing span of just 37' 4" in the vastness of the Egypt's Western Desert without the help of any GPS coordinates.
Having read news about the discovery of the crash site on 10th May, I had not heard anything about it since. A couple of days ago I went looking online for more news and clues to its whereabouts. I was also curious to know if there was detailed satellite imagery of the crash site and if there was, whether I could piece together the clues and find the plane for myself using satellite imagery. It was clear that since the discovery many people had tried to do the same, but I found no evidence that anybody had successfully done so and publicised it.
During my initial search I found the reference to the screengrab credited to Perka which had no coordinates. I used this as my primary source to pin point the whereabouts of the crash site for myself. It was clear that the Perka screengrab was taken from Flash Earth so I used this app as my search tool, along with Google Maps / Earth as the mid range imagery of the Western Desert in Google is significantly clearer than Flash Earth's.
As it turned out Google Maps / Earth does not have detailed close up imagery of the crash site, whereas Flash Earth does. So anyone looking using Google will never find the plane.
In the course of looking for references to the location of the crash site I sifted through numerous sources, many of which had conflicting descriptions which turned out to be inaccurate.
Like the often quoted " a remote region of the Western Desert in Egypt, about 200 miles from the nearest town."
Other articles stated "The aircraft was found in Egypt’s Western Desert, west of the Farfara depression and the Qasr Farfara oasis. This lies south of the famous White Desert."
National Geographic stated the site was found in March in the Wadi al-Jadid region of southern Egypt.
After weighing up the many potential search areas, I began searching a few I felt more likely. It took about 2 hours of searching before I stumbled across familiar looking rock formations and then sure enough there it was just sitting there.
So if you want to see it for yourself have a look here on Flash Earth
www.flashearth.com/?lat=27.397909&lon=27.629218&z...
Crash site coordinates in Flash Earth are:
27° 23' 52.4"N
27° 37' 45.1"E
In Google Maps you'll only get a more distant satellite overview at these coordinates
27.397909N, 27.629218E
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This image is not to be downloaded, used, copied, duplicated, transmitted, manipulated or reproduced in whole or part, in any medium, physical or electronic, for use on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission. All rights reserved - Copyright © Libyan Soup
A second RCAF CF-18 Hornet performing the CF-18 Demo in the evening show of the 2022 Abbotsford Airshow. It cool seeing the demo at night, the Hornet's afterburners could be fully seen. It was a loud demo too, the pilot didn't hold back.