RAF Valley 9/10th June 2005

This trip was a little rushed to say the least! I ordered my EOS 350D and 75-300mm USM lens only three days prior to the trip and planned to leave for Valley as soon as it arrived. Pixmania were true to their word and the camera arrived via DHL on the morning of departure. I didn't even have time to unpack the parcel and planned upon reading the manual in the car en route, however at this point I hit a minor snag and that was only French, German and Italian manuals were provided! (In all fairness to Pixmania this was stated on their website) .

I managed to do all the basics using my "school level" German and French and by the time we arrived at Valley on the 9th I was happy with the basic camera operations, but having never used a DSLR/SLR before I stuck with "Sports" mode. Here are some (possibly 5%!) of my pictures:

The sole visitor of the two days was the as yet unmodified Sentinel R.1 ZJ694 ASTOR aircraft which arrived on a test flight from BAe Warton.

Another view of ZJ694 which flew an overshot radar approach before performing three "rollers".

Hawk XX348 of 19 Sqn. armed with CBLS practice bomb dispensers and a 30mm cannon pod on short finals to runway 32, presumably returning from a gunnery/bombing training sortie.

Hawk XX350 holding for runway 32 after taxying from the 19 Sqn dispersal to the West of the airfield.

Another Hawk, this time XX221 joining the "long" queue for runway 32. Due to the level of activity at Valley it is quite normal to find several aircraft in the circuit and multiple aircraft on the ground in various stages of their flights.

Hawk XX205 in its 2005 season special scheme lining up on runway 32.

A further view of Hawk XX205, this time on finals over Rosneigr. "205" is one of two aircraft marked in such a scheme for the 2005 airshow season.

A JFACTSU marked Hawk XX325 on short finals. This aircraft, normally based at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire was visiting along with a 100 Sqn aircraft also from Leeming.

Man vs Hawk T.1!

XX317 of 19 Sqn about to touch down on runway 14 late on the 10th June. Compare the colour of the sky with earlier pictures!