It's amazing how quickly some opportunities appear.
During last Friday, while in the office... I received a text from my Dad advising me about an event taking place at RAF Waddington the following day - Families Day.
A quick google when I got home that evening revealed that the RAF base was putting on an event for the Families of the military personnel stationed on the base. Typically this includes food and drinks and games and stalls, but as it is the RAF, it also means a small Air Display. Obviously I'm no longer allowed on the base as my Dad who was in the RAF has since retired, but the 'Air Show' is big enough to be see from miles around
My friend 
The following morning I gathered together the required kit i.e. spare batteries and a super long 150-600mm Sigma telephoto lens. The place I had picked to stand and watch was the bridge on the outskirts of the village, going over the bypass
regular readers will recognize the bridge, I do many of my runs along the bypass here, and often run past the bridge.
There was a problem though. We were forecast heavy thunderstorms all day, and at one point it didn't look likely to go for safety reasons. It was scheduled to begin at 12, but a massive downpour put paid to that. I only live a 15 minute walk away from here, and I was still at home watching the rain!
Eventually the rain eased off, and the skies brightened up a little bit. I decided to take a chance, and headed of to my chosen viewpoint with a camera AND a large umbrella!
And that decision paid off!
No sooner had I arrived, when the first planes took off to start the display.
These are the Saudi Falcons. If you think they look similar to the Red Arrows Display Team, then you would be right!
The aircraft that both teams use is the Hawk T1 Trainer.
As I said... pretty much identical other than the paint scheme!
Anyway. At this moment the Red Arrows were still on the ground waiting their turn. We were currently watching the Saudi Falcons show what they could do... and fair play to them they managed a pretty decent display despite the grey conditions.
I think everyone was keeping their fingers crossed praying the rain would stay away just for an hour!
My position for this wasn't perfect, the display was centered over the centre of the RAF base as it was put on for the people watching there. I was stood about half a mile away, but the display was so big that I still managed to get a couple of decent pictures
After roughly 25 minutes, the team did the final pass (above) and then the aircraft peeled off one by one to come in to land.
At least my position worked for these shots. To come into land, the aircraft had to circle around and fly past where I was stood on the bridge, so I got some better (as in more detailed) pictures here.
As they were landing I could see that the Red Arrows were already starting to get into position on the runway. The scheduled mentioned 4 displays: Saudi Falcons, BBMF, Typhoon, Red Arrows.
With the Red Arrows starting up it looked as though the organizer as decided that the best option to make the most of the gap in the rain was to get both Display Teams up to perform. I could understand that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight wouldn't take a chance with the inclement weather, but I was disappointed to not see the Typhoon.
Nevermind. Considering the torrential rain we had a mere 40 minutes ago, we were lucky anything was flying today!
It was now time for the Red Arrows!
The pictures aren't bad considering how far away I was. I was struggling with that grey sky with its flat light, and also struggling with the damn smoke!
Towards the end of the Red Arrows display you could see so much smoke drifting around, making it look all hazy, especially when photographing them at a distance.
On the rare occasion a plane flew closer, it was easier to get a clearer picture
As the display drew to a close, the individual planes once agained peeled of one by one and came in to land. An enjoyable hour, and many, many pictures later, I put away my camera gear and started to walk home. It was a relief that we had managed see some action between the rain.
As I walked down the hill, there was a massive clap of thunder behind me...
I turned to look... No! Not thunder...
It was the Typhoon!
Quickly I turned back and almost ran up the hill towards the bridge again.
Not only was it the Typhoon, but this aircraft was also decked in a smart Union Jack paint scheme, it looked pretty flippin' awesome!
My pictures here are very heavily cropped. While the Display Teams earlier were big and easy to capture, the single (and very fast) Typhoon was much harder to pick out in the big grey sky.
Regardless of that, I'm reasonably happy with how these turned out
And after whizzing around very quickly and very loudly for almost 15 minutes, the pilot engaged the afterburners on his Typhoon, and disappeared high into the clouds almost as quickly as he arrived.
And not a moment too soon!
Just minutes later the rain returned and I headed home slightly damp, but with a massive grin on my face. I don't do aviation photography very often, and I always forget just how good it is.
Now then, where can I find some more big noisy planes to watch!
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