Archive for Military Aviation

Starfighter

The F-104 Starfighter is a truly legendary plane. Some remember the good, some remember the bad… anyway this red Starfighter performing some high speed low passes is probably a spotters wet dream.

Starfighter

French in flight

Compilation of Mirage, Mirage 2000 and Rafale footage. This video has everything, from low level passes in Chad to high altitude chases in the Rafale. Also some very nice footage taken from the French movie “Skyfighters”.

French in flight

This F-16 comes in for a very very low level high speed pass. Some might argue this Viper was way out low, but who cares… as long as the crowd was pleased :)

Very low Viper

Low Jaguar

Low level flight of a Jaguar caught on tape… great sound at the end!

Low Jaguar

This Harrier jumpjet comes in for a high speed low pass. That jetblast must have been really hot… anyway awesome pass!

Harrier crazy low pass

Puma down

Don’t really know much about this one. This Puma helicopter seems to have a tail rotor failure sending it in an uncontrolled spin… that’s what generally happens when you lose the tail rotor. Hope everybody made it out alive…

Puma down

This A-4 Skyhawk was flying formation with a F-18 Hornet when disaster strikes. The F-18 “looses” one of its bombs and the A-4 gets hit by it. The pilot was forced to eject and landed safely.

Disaster strikes

Check out this CH-53E Super Stallion in a maximum power big iron takeoff. This is the biggest helo in the US and is nicknamed “Hurricane Maker” because of its incredible downdraft from the rotor. Check out this amazing takeoff!

Shitter takeoff No. 2

“Letayushiy tank”, or in English “Flying tank”. That is what the Russians call the Mil Mi-24/35 Hind E. The Mi-35 is the export version of the Mi-24V, a development of the Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter. The Hind is one of the iconic attack helicopters, easily recognizable anywhere in the world. In comparison to other attack helicopters, this mean machine is huge. It can transport troops, carry military equipment with a sling and , of course, eliminate those unwanted rebels with its massive arsenal of guns missiles and so on. And a final word… in Afghanistan the rebels nicknamed this helicopter “Shaitan-Arba”… meaning “Satan’s Chariot”. Quite a nickname!

Satan’s chariot

Skyfighters

Skyfighters is the English title given to the French movie “Les chevaliers du ciel”. The film was marketed as the French Top Gun and I don’t think it was a blockbuster mainly due to the ridiculous plot. The film was however very impressive under one aspect and that is the aerial footage, probably some of the best shots of the Dassault Mirage 2000 ever. If you didn’t see this film this is your chance to see the best 12 minutes of it: the planes. The flight sequences from the film were all filmed with actual planes and aerial photography, without the use of CGI. In order to capture the high-speed maneuvers, a specially designed camera was attached to a Mirage 2000 aircraft which then tailed the ‘star planes’ as they flew, for only another Mirage 2000 could actually fly at speeds that matched the planes being filmed.

Skyfighters