How much is that bucket of inspiration in the window please OT

**michael davies** · October 9th, 2008, 08:58

Well I kinda work too early this morning and looked out the window at a windless and clear lightening sky, couple of bacon sarnies a real strong coffee and I was out the door to the 'hall'.

I hadn't really planned anything except mooching around to see if anything aeronautical would grab my fancy and instill some enthusiasm into a wanning developer LOL.

First up was a pleasant surprise, a NATO B707 doing TnGs, took me a while to work out which runway they were going to use all day and typically I picked the wrong end to begin with, the camera is not the best for long range, my normal viewfinder target is usually considerably larger and slower ( ships ), they were too high and too far away, time for a change in strategy and a quick drive round to runway 29 approach provided better results, initially the famed 'grassy knoll' provide a nice spectacle though still a little too far away, the 707 was still going round and round, approaches varying from mediocre to quite scary, I don't know that the Luxembourg for "your scarring the instructor" is but I'm sure it was quite vocal on the flight deck at times

.

I think ACEs have been there as well, one of those infamous FS trees has been planted right in the line of camera view of the approach, dashed annoying...see attached LOL.

Finally I ended up at my old haunt under 29 approach, surely this would be close enough I thought...hmm 0036 proved it was plenty close enough LOL.

Movements through out the day were slow, couple of KC-10's, a C-17, a C-130 and few KC-135s departed, NATO doing TnGs, couple of home KC-135s on arrival, though the hot bird of the day was NASAs WD-57, though sadly stuffed away in the hanger all day.

The morale of all this ?, some days you just gotta go where your feet lead you

.

Best

Michael

**Lateral-G** · October 9th, 2008, 09:03

Pic 5 is awesome!

Thanks for sharing :ernae:

-G-

harleyman · October 9th, 2008, 09:38

I would say all in all it was a nice day....

Thanks for sharing....

***Henry*** · October 9th, 2008, 11:27

Bacon sarnies

now im hungry:d
3 more weeks and i have some
Great shots Michael
where where they taken?
H

S · October 9th, 2008, 11:34

And that's a quiet day? I need to move places and start building a shed dead on the approach of one of those bases! I especially like the third shot. Neat!

**Snuffy** · October 9th, 2008, 11:45

Thanks for sharing

**michael davies** · October 9th, 2008, 11:54

Originally Posted by Henry

Bacon sarnies

now im hungry:d
3 more weeks and i have some
Great shots Michael
where where they taken?
H

You cant beat best Danish ( have to say that as I'm half Viking LOL ) pig in a pan butties, bit of Big Daddys brown sauce, dash of pepper, nice thick white bread and a smear of Lurpak ( Danish again ) butter, ya tum can go for ages on that little mix, mind your heart and arteries might not be too happy LOL.

First two are Mildenhall runway 29 departure, next four are all runway 29 arrival, ie from the East, run down wind over Worlington, Tuddenham then swing round for finals over Icklingham and line up for approach, some turn much earlier over Barton Mills.

0036 was an odd one, she approached from the west at about 1500' just as another 135R was winding up to take off, quite odd to see a head to head like that, then 0036 swung right and looped round Barton Mills almost F-15 fighter style and levelled out and lined up a very short 1-2 miles from finals, by 1/4 mile which is where I was he was all settled on approach and greased it in with a slight SW 15Knt cross wind.

The East end is much better for low approach shots, you can get right underneath, bit like Wayne's world LOL, and there about 100-150' AGL as they pass over, maybe lower, I'd need to stand back a bit more to gauge it and compare with out crane heights to be more accurate.

The West end is ok but to get underneath your further away from the threshold so side shots are all you can effectively get.... see attached from my last trip in May...ironically 0036 again LOL.

The East end is definitely the better end, and as the wind is predominately from the SW, the most used approach.

Best

Michael

**michael davies** · October 9th, 2008, 12:09

Originally Posted by SimFreak

And that's a quiet day? I need to move places and start building a shed dead on the approach of one of those bases! I especially like the third shot. Neat!

Yup, very quiet, in May we had some bad cross winds so they sent three 135Rs up for TnGs, they kept that up for a good 90-120 mins, must have made at least thirty approaches in that time, as well as other arrivals back from tanking on top. Same old planes but you do get to experiment and take a whole bunch of images, I think I took 600 or so, kept 150 but only two or three really worth keeping aesthetically, the rest are good for detail modelling though.

Ohh and you get F-15s buzzing around from Lakenheath as well, in May their approach was right oven Mildenhalls runway 11 approach, though much higher, not unusual to get a F-15 going right to left over an approaching 135 in the same shot. Today the F-15s were taking off toward Mildenhall so peel off before they get close enough for photos, must have seen 10 or so four ship take offs, probably a few TnGs in there though, didn't go round to the heath today, though todays landing pattern is the best for shots, my camera isn't really good enough for such small planes and they are not as close on approach as 135s at Mildenhall.

Ohh forgot to say, there was a OF White top on the ramp as well, I think its something to do with NASAs WB-57, which is rumoured to be here until the next shuttle is launched and recovered, so it may be here for a month or more, her sister flew out yesterday just before this one arrived, ie one on station all the time in the pre launch build up and during the mission I was told.

Best

Michael

**kilo delta** · October 9th, 2008, 12:34

Sweet pics Michael............nothing around these parts except the odd Cessna 172 or UrbanAir Samba XXL

:costumes:.

***Mickey D*** · October 10th, 2008, 02:34

I think ACEs have been there as well, one of those infamous FS trees has been planted right in the line of camera view of the approach, dashed annoying...see attached LOL.

No I planted it Michael. Shall I Delete it?:costumes: