Flying in a hercules

[Jonesy]

I spent a few years at RAF Lyneham working on the C-130K. During my time there, I'd fly with the Herc as part of the engineering crew & I always took along a cheap disposable camera. So here's a few dodgy shots.

Firstly, XV196 at Lyneham prior to starting up.



My first flight in a Herk was in XV188. This is us at RAF Akrotiri on a fuel stop.



Take off from RAF Akrotiri.



XV221 at Banja Luka, Bosnia.



Taking off from Pristina, Kosovo. You can just see the runway in the background.





XV184 at Sierra Leone.



U.N. Mil-8 Hip at Sierra Leone.



I wish I had my SLR with me when this Mi-26 taxied past.



When I got posted from Lyneham, I managed to blag a swansong with 24/30 Sqn. We were part of a trail for a number of Harriers from the Strike Attack Operational Evaluation Unit (SAOEU) based at Boscombe.

Here's ZH874 at Lajes, Azores.



Coming into land at Tonopah.



I hope you found them interesting. A large number of hangovers was suffered to take these photos.

Cheers,
Neil.

[RichC]

Excellent Neil!

[HighlandSniper]

Most excellent - thanks for sharing.

[awacsfan]

Thanks for sharing these interesting pictures with us. The take-off shot from Pristina brings back memories of my 2 months KFOR stint this time last year.
Thanks again,
cheers
Andy

[LMP]

An outstanding set of pictures that are of great interest! Thanks for sharing!

[MikeB]

Top shooting Neil, thanks for posting.

[paulh]

Great set of shots again Neil .

Cheers Paul.

[sjnovis]

Excellent pictures and commentary.

Being 100% civvie, I find these type of posts greatly interesting.