Camouflaged Aircraft and related topics

[HeyJoe]

HJ you have the best pictures ever! Do you have a favorite? If so I wanna see it!

I took this one in 1986 after raid on Libya so it was actually a Sunrise shot (vs Sunset). When I retired from the Navy and got an office in which to hang my print collection and favorite photos, I picked it to enlarge. I have a few I'm particularly proud of, but this is the one that I'd hang if I could only choose one.

VF-102 Diamondback, Gulf of Sidra 1986

 

[HeyJoe]

Man those are some rad pics. Those vipers look so much better painted.
Do the topgun viper types go through usaf f-16 rtu at Luke?

Actually, I think I remember being told they go through a syllabus at Tucson where the ANG conducts training for a number of foreign operators including A and B model variants.

Another view of the Viper lineup

 

[xmid]

My API aero instructor (prowler ECMO) showed a video today of a viper pilot with a big red star on the side of his helmet fighting a Navy hornet, I became the butt of her jokes when I asked if it was a Navy F-16... She said the Navy doesn't fly F-16's... She refused to believe that we had them at Fallon...

 

[HeyJoe]

Wow you probably could have, and still could sell that shot. Since you're retired, are you a contractor out at Fallon?

Nope, just visiting while Air Wing was there and had a camera with me. Base PAO and I go back a long ways (he was former Intel Officer in same Air Wing during Desert Shield/Storm so I had a pass to roam at will when not working elsewhere. I work in Virginia Beach area most of the time.

 

[Clux4]

So what percentage gets F-16's? "wink"

 

[nittany03]

 

[HeyJoe]

My API aero instructor (prowler ECMO) showed a video today of a viper pilot with a big red star on the side of his helmet fighting a Navy hornet, I became the butt of her jokes when I asked if it was a Navy F-16... She said the Navy doesn't fly F-16's... She refused to believe that we had them at Fallon...

Well, invite politely to check out this thread or take a cross-country to Fallon. Maybe she missed the F-16N that was especially built for the Navy and was operated by TOPGUN, VF-126, VF-45 and VF-43 in late eighties until mid nineties, but retired prematurely over issues of airframe stress. Or maybe she missed the return of the F-16 in Navy markings when the current F-16A/Bs arrived.

Show her this one....Prowler returning after 1 v 1 against NAVY Viper..in fact, that just might be a Prowler ECMO in back of Viper. Better yet, tell her to contact Brett. He and I were talking prior to this event. He could clue her in ECMO to ECMO.

HJ Photo

 

[Gatordev]

So what's the sloped terrain limits of the F-16? I keed because every other shot is perfectly framed, focused, and exposed.

 

[HeyJoe]

Heel to port

So what's the sloped terrain limits of the F-16? I keed because every other shot is perfectly framed, focused, and exposed.

LOL. By third week I was running out of new angles (no pun intended) so I played with slight tilt to camera. I was lying on deck for this and other shots taken in early AM when ramp was still tolerable to do so. Next thing I know, people were running over thinking I had collapsed. Just another day in the life....of a photographer.

Slight tilt experiment

 

[Gatordev]

LOL. By third week I was running out of new angles (no pun intended) so I played with slight tilt to camera.

AKA the "Dutch angle" or "Dutch tilt" in motion picture lingo. I'm just imagining someone rolling the crash crew, coming to your aid....<insert circus theme>

 

[fresh]

Some countries allow their fighter units to paint a jet for special occasions or just because it's something cool to do. Here are some examples of what fighter squadrons can come up with when allowed. You'll notice that all of these jets are from the German Luftwaffe. That's not because the Germans are more creative, imaginative or artistically inclined. Perhaps, it's just because they have more paint and, let's face it, beer can be inspiring.

 

[BlackBearHockey]

I don't think I'm much of a fan of the above paint jobs. There's something about looking like a warplane rather than a figure skater.

 

[Mumbles]

I'm with Black Bear...even though they're creative. The Germans have a history of garish paint schemes going back to WW1.

 

[skidkid]

Those countries coincidentially dont really do too much real world of late so they have all the time in the world for "artistic expression"

 

[Zissou]

Having partied in Berlin, those paint schemes doesn't surprise me at all.