New Gallery: Exercise Pitch Black 2012

Finally got down to editing and uploading the photography from our visit to RAAF Darwin last August for Exercise Pitch Black 2012. 20 photos have now been added to the Pitch Black Gallery. The photo below, of Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A+ Hornet A21-7 of 77 Sqn holding short on Darwin's Runway 29 while waiting for a Republic of Singapore Air Force Gulfstream 550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning aircraft to land, is my favourite photo from two days of shooting.

A couple of updates

I'm now guest blogging with the great team over at Asia Security Watch. If you haven't been there before, hop over now!

Have had a couple of news items/features/photos published in a couple of magazines the past couple of months. The Published Work section has been updated last week, which means...

...I haven't updated the info about the appearance of two of my photos on May 2013's Air Forces Monthly. One photo of two RAAF Hornets refueling taken from my ride on the RAAF KC-30A MRTT at the recent Avalon Airshow, and a photo of a Republic of Singapore AF F-15SG Strike Eagle at Exercise Pitch Black 2012.

PHOTOS/VIDEO: RAAF KC-30 MRTT refuels F/A-18 Hornets

Viking 61 and 62. Click on thumbnail for hi-res imagery.

On the 27th of February 2013, members of the media at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Victoria were given a unique opportunity to go on board a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) on a flight to refuel two F/A-18A Hornets of 77 Squadron, arriving from their base in Williamtown, New South Wales for the airshow. The mid-air refueling took place in the skies over Victoria's Gippsland region and the Bass Straits.

Viking 62 was F/A-18A A21-49 in the colourful 77 Sqn 70th Anniversary scheme. Click on thumbnail for hi-res imagery.

This publicity flight was a unique in the sense that it was the first time media have been invited on board a KC-30 conducting a refueling mission. About 30 media personnel boarded the KC-30, serial number A39-003 and operating under the callsign DRAGON 21, from the civil aviation terminal at Avalon Airport and departed under leaden skies at approximately 1400. After a short flight, we rendezvoused with VIKING 61 and 62, a two-ship Hornet flight over the East Sale Restricted Airspace where the Hornets joined up on the KC-30's left wing before "plugging into" the refueling baskets trailing from the HDUs (Hose Drum Unit) mounted on each of the tanker's wingtips.

Viking 61 was F/A-18A A21-48 in the RAAF's 90th Anniversary scheme. Click on thumbnail for hi-res imagery.

At this point, I would like to add that I would have been perfectly happy if the Hornets were regular "line birds" in standard squadron livery, however the fact that both Hornets were painted in various special commemorative schemes was an added (and much appreciated) bonus. To top it off, both "receivers" were carrying a mix of AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles (ASRAAM) and 500-lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions along with wing tanks and Elta EL/L-8222 ECM pods. The Hornets and tanker and receivers circled among the clouds while the media pack had a field day shooting photos and video. After a few minutes, refueling was complete and both Hornets slid over to the tanker's starboard wing before breaking off towards Avalon, landing just before the KC-30, which touched down at 1505 local.

The RAAF has five MRTTs on strength with 33 Sqn at RAAF Amberley, with one aircraft currently with manufacturer EADS conducting boom certification which is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

The Base Leg would like to express our deepest appreciation to the RAAF, our crew and Eamon Hamilton, Public Affairs for the RAAF's Air Lift Group for making this amazing event happen. A video of the highlights of the flight can be assessed below (available in HD/720p)

Back on the blogging saddle

It's been almost 3 months without an update. First off, my apologies for the prolonged absence from this blog. Those of you who know me would probably know that in August, my baby boy was born 2 months ahead of schedule, along with being undersized to boot. So between then and late October, it meant that the Mrs. and me had to make daily trips to the hospital, and for me, running a small business by myself alongside that to boot. Of course, I could still blog a little during that time, but that all changed in late October when the little man came home (without any major issues, thank godness for that).

To cut a long story short, I've now found out for myself that caring for a little baby (even as a secondary caregiver) and running said business was full time work plus a fair bit more! Something had to give, and in my case, that meant the blog. Things have now settled a bit, with the little man being a chatty little bundle of laughs, and a routine having sort of been established around the house. So this blog will now be updated again, hopefully better than before.

Oh, in the interim, I've had some work published in a couple of magazines. So if you could, check out Global Aviation Magazine (Exercise Pitch Black feature - January 2013) and Combat Aircraft (News: Exercise Pitch Black - October 2012 and News: Singapore retires Skyhawks - January 2013). The former is available only in digital format (the PocketMags app for Ipad/Android tablets) while Combat Aircraft is also available via Pocketmags or hardcopy. So do check them out!

PHOTOS: F-15s, F-16s and MiG-29s at Singapore Airshow 2012

I've just uploaded 8 photos of the star attractions of the aerial display at the recent Singapore Airshow; the Republic of Singapore Air Force's F-15SG/F-16C joint display and the MiG-29Ns of the Royal Malaysian Air Force's Smokey Bandits display team.

Shooting the aerial display was a tricky undertaking at best, for while the moist tropical air provided some spectacular condensation effects as the performers pulled Gs, the timing of the display (literally at High Noon) and a display line directly to the north of the crowd made for some tricky lighting. Coupled with moderately heavy and fast moving cloud cover meant the sun was repeatedly ducking in and out of the overcast. Many shots which would have otherwise been great (IMO) were thus ruined into a pasty grey mess.

Still, I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few days at the show, catching the RMAF's first appearance at an airshow in Singapore for (give or take) 2 decades made the trip worthwhile!

Added a new Image Gallery...

I've been meaning to do this for a while and finally got around to creating a new gallery on the main site, for military aviation aircraft images that don't fit anywhere else. Images from older airshows, aircraft carrier visits, spotting trips, etc will go to this new Gallery, which I've imaginatively titled Miscellaneous. It's just started off with 15 photos, with more to come.

RSAF Open House photo feature in Air Forces Monthly

A photo feature containing some of my photos from the recent RSAF Open House is in August 2011's issue of Air Forces Monthly (Key Publishing, UK). Available for purchase now at Key Publishing or coming soon to a newsagent near you!

A change in direction...

First off, apologies for my long absence from the blog. Over the past couple of weeks I have been really busy setting up my business (See http://melbourne.camerarental.biz) for full time ops after seeing steady and encouraging growth for the past four months or so. Yup, I'm now no longer part of the oppressed working class and have crossed the line to become the evil capitalist. :)

In addition, I have, since last week, been on a sabbatical back to Singapore. So far, my days at my folks' place in northwestern Singapore (when I'm not out and about) have been spent watching the RSAF's F-5s, F-15s. F-16s and C-130s blasting past my window. Along with C-17s, KC-10s and six F/A-18s rigged up for a ferry flight (no idea whose, in case you're wondering). And to top it off, I caught a rehearsal for the upcoming RSAF Open House from 17 storeys up just yesterday. Yes its a hard life...

Anyway, I have been pondering for a while on a new direction of this blog. The thing is, I'm not too keen on being just an aggregator of links to aviation news, that is already well-served by other sites out there. Hence, this blog will now focus on high quality photos and videos that I've encountered online and would like to share, as well as feature more in-depth information on the photos on The Base Leg and more original content. Obviously, updates will no longer be on a daily basis, but I hope to be able to keep the content coming a few times a week, so do subscribe to this blog's posts using the RSS feed in the upper right hand corner, or follow @thebaseleg on Twitter to keep abreast of the latest developments here!

Regards
Mike Yeo
17th May 2010

Avalon Airshow Photo Gallery up!

Sorry for the delay, the Avalon Airshow Gallery is finally up! 50+ photos in this one, decided against separating the Galleries as I did with the Defence Airshow Williamtown gallery last time out. Enjoy!

Operation Odyssey Dawn News Photos Gallery updated

Added another 5 news photos to the Operation Odyssey Dawn Photo Gallery.

Operation Odyssey Dawn News Photos Gallery updated

Added another 9 news photos to the Operation Odyssey Dawn Photo Gallery.

Operation Odyssey Dawn News Photos Gallery updated

Added another 10 news photos to the Operation Odyssey Dawn Photo Gallery.

Photo Gallery: Aircraft involved in Operation Odyssey Dawn

I have created a Photo Gallery for news photos, gathered from various news sources, of aircraft involved in the continuing enforcement of the no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians caught up in the fighting, as set out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. Known variously as Operation Odyssey Dawn (United States), Operation Harmattan (France), Ellamy (United Kingdom) and Operation Mobile (Canada), attacks started at about 1700GMT on the 19th of March when the French Air Force bombed regime positions near Benghazi.

This Gallery will be updated as new photos emerge in the following days, so do check back often.

Addendum to Tigers over Lion City

Due to presumably space constraints, Air Forces Monthly was unable to include a list of the Republic of Singapore Air Force's Northrop F-5 Tiger II fleet. I have now included an addendum including the list in The Base Leg's Articles page.

Low resolution preview of Tigers over Lion City

I've uploaded a low resolution version of my Republic of Singapore Air Force Northrop F-5 Tiger II feature "Tigers over Lion City" which appeared in the March 2011 issue of Air Forces Monthly

Lack of updates

Dear all, due to a bereavement in the family updates will take a break for a while. Updates should resume next Monday, thank you all for your understanding.

My feature on Singapore's F-5 interceptors on AFM

My 6-page article on Singapore's Northrop F-5 Tiger II interceptors is in March 2011's issue of Air Forces Monthly (Key Publishing, UK). Available for purchase now at Key Publishing or coming soon to a newsagent near you!

High resolution photos of J-20 first public flight

I have just added a gallery of high resolution photos of the Chengdu J-20s's first flight yesterday (11 Jan 2011) at Chengdu, China. The photos are NOT mine, and are sourced from various forums around the internet.

Last update: 12 Jan 2011 at 0847 GMT

A look at my old articles for AFM

I've put up links to scans of the previous articles I've done for Air Forces Monthly. They can be seen by clicking the images of the respective AFM covers at the Published Work section of the site

We're on Twitter!

Base Leg Aviation News and Photography now has its own Twitter presence! Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheBaseLeg