Forgive us - but when confronted with a press release jam-packed with acronyms (TTH, DGA, NAHEMA, ALAT etc) the will to live is quickly eroded. Nonetheless, we present to you the first NH Industries NH90 Tactical Troop Transport in final operational configuration for the French armed forces. And yes, that's a TTH in FOC to you.
Credit: Eurocopter
Here, from Flightglobal's AirSpace gallery, is a lovely image from last week's Bahrain air show of a (repetitively named) Bahrain Air Airbus A320 doing its stuff with the tail of a Sukhoi Su-27 of the Russian Knights display team in the foreground.
It's exceptionally cheesy, it's very Top Gun, but hell, it's Friday - here's a shot of the Lockheed Martin on its first night flight.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
Via our Israeli correspondent, Arie Egozi, comes this image of Greek air force Northrop Grumman F-16s, Israeli air force Boeing F-15s and an IAF Boeing 707 tanker on exercise above Israel back in November. In all, five Greek F-16s took part, flying from the IAF's base at Uvda in southern Israel and performing a five-day exercise, which included practice dogfights as well as ground attacks.
Credit: IAF Magazine
Here's a nice shot from the US Air Force site of a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber over Pasadena in California earlier this month.
Credit: US Air Force
To borrow from Spinal Tap: How much more black could it be? None more black. It's Air New Zealand's latest Boeing 777-300ER (ZK-OKQ) resplendent in the All Black colour scheme sat next to a Beech 1900D turboprop belonging to Eagle Airways at Auckland. Could it be any more awesome? None more awesome.
Credit: Peter Clark
A trip up to London yesterday and a walk along Picadilly took me past the window of Iran Air's office (sadly in the process of moving to Hammersmith Road). Displayed in said window was a model of a Boeing 747 in the old seventies livery. Although I was unable to find a picture of one in the flesh, here's another golden oldie in the shape of a Boeing 727, pictured in 1975 on its way in to London Heathrow. The aircraft - EP-IRB - continued flying until 2002, when it was parked in Tehran.
Credit: AirTeamImages
This picture of a FedEx 777 Freighter comes from our own Flightblogger on a recent trip to Memphis where FedEx has its air hub and a number of aircraft in jarring hues come to congregate. This particular model of the GE90-powered -200LRF dates from 2010.
Credit: Flightblogger on Flickr
From Flightglobal Airspace comes this picture of a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21UMD. To quote the photographer, Boran Pivčić: "It's still glistening with the morning's dew and looking absolutely brilliant at the head of the static lineup for the 2011 Pleso AFB Open Day. The distinctive ILS shack paintjob is actually a blown-up version of the Croatian coat of arms - known locally, for obvious reasons, as the "chessboard" - and is the source of the aircraft's popular nickname, 'Kockica' (or 'little square')."
Credit: Boran Pivčić (user TripleDelta on Airspace)
A nice shot from the UK's Defence Images library here of a Raytheon Systems Sentinel R1 taking off earlier this year. The aircraft, a heavilly modified Bombardier Global Express business jet, is with the RAF's 5 (AC) Squadron. It's pictured here taking off from RAF Waddington on its transit to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus on Operation Ellamy during a full moon.
Credit: Defence Images/SAC Ben Stevenson
File under 'where are they now'. Pictured at London Heathrow in 1986, this freighter was operated by Iraqi Airways - essentially the Iraqi Air Force - until it was acquired by Aeroflot in 1988. Then it transferred to Uzbek firm TAPC Aviatrans in 1992 (registration UK-76821) and has since been leased to airlines including Airstars and Silk Way Airlines. Data from Flightglobal Ascend Online.
Credit: AirTeamImages
Recent Comments