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Friday, May 8, 2009

Mirages over Winnipeg

On May 3rd I was privy to a rare sight in the skies over Winnipeg. The French Air Force had eight Dassault Mirage 2000s and two KC-135 Stratotankers in Alaska for Exercise "Red Flag". On their way back home they landed in Winnipeg to refuel. I was there with my camera.

The jets looked, at first, like a flock of birds far off over the horizon. Tiny in the sky. But they moved in perfect formation, turning slowly towards the airstrip. They came in, all together, for a slow pass over the strip, in a racetrack pattern. One pass over the strip, I presume to check it out before landing. One at a time they peeled each ship from the formation, coming straight down the pipe over my head. I ran off to one side to get a better view. I could not contain my excitement, shouting things that I don't remember now, at my girlfriend.

You can see the nozzle with a basket sticking out the rear of the KC-135 that mates with the nozzles in front of the canopies of the fighters.

Red Flag is an annual, two week gathering of multiple nation's air-force representatives, for the purposes of training together, and learning from each-other in a role playing environment.

1 comment :

  1. AMAZING! Such great angles and technique in all these photos. I am looking forward to seeing the next entry. Great talent, keep up the great work!

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