F-4 Phantom Air to Air

Over a two day period in June 2010 I had the opportunity to take part in a number of air to air photo shoots over Holland and Germany.

Over the course of the two days we had the good fortune to fly with some lovely aircraft.

The aircraft we flew with were:

Wednesday 16th June

- 2 x F-4 Phantoms, Luftwaffe, JG71
- 2 x A-4 Skyhawks, BAE Systems

Thursday 17th June

- RNLAF Demo Team F-16 & spare aircraft
- "Orange Jumper" test F-16
- Skyline L-39 Albatros
- Dutch Hawker Hunter Foundation Hunter
- Dutch Coastguard Dornier Do. 228

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In this photo report are the F-4 Phantom IIs operated by JG71 from Wittmund.

The sight and sound of these aircraft in flight was just amazing, most if not all of the 10 photographers in the Skyvan cheered after their first photo pass.

The anticipation in the Skyvan was palpable, everyone was doing their best to spot the Phantoms when we were told they were on the way to intercept us.

In the end it was not too hard to spot them, the smoke trail gave them away.

The Phantoms could not fly slow enough to hang behind the Skyvan so they had to overshoot us every time, and even though we were in the back of an aircraft with the back wide open and the wind rushing in, and wearing ear plugs, you could still hear the noise of the J79s as they slowly over took us... lovely!

To top it all off once the photo-shoot with the Phantoms & Skyhawks we landed and thought that was it for the day, it was only when taxied off the runway that we realised were on the ground at Wittmund and not at Groningen, our airport of departure. We ended up having tea and cakes with the air crew of the Phantoms & Skyhawks.

What a nice way to finish a spectacular day.

A big thanks go to Eric Coeckelberghs and Frank Crebas for organising the photo flight, thanks also have to go to the crews who flew for us, the Skyvan crew, and not forgetting Mickeys dad who did all the driving.