Spotting at Brize Norton

[Heavy Metal!!]

Hi, I've finally found somewhere where I can discuss my aviation interests (mostly military, but i don't mind commercial stuff). Now with the Intro out the way I can get down to business.

Not sure if any of you are formiliar/ are local to Brize but i thought i would discuss my recent sightings:

Today (22/7/06) I saw an AN-26?? fly into Brize in heavy storms, After the storm had cleared I decided to go over and check out any activity down there. In recent months the RAF at Brize have started to tighten up on viewing spots around Brize (Over growing hedges, Barriers etc.). Once i got to my usual spot over looking the airfield I was :mad: to find that my usual space had also been filled in with trash! So on my way past the airfield I managed to get a view of some of the visiting aircraft on the ground, trying to avoid crashing into oncoming traffic in the proccess. On the groung I managed to see:

- DC-10 or MD-11 with DIA marked on the tail engine

Anyone shed any light on who operates this aircraft?

Cheers

HM!!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Hi Heavy Metal. Welcome to PPrune. I would just say that there are many, many better forums for discussing spotting interests. In fact there is one dedicated to Brize Norton! at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Brize_Norton/

The AN26 you saw was 05 of the Lithuanian Air Force which landed around 13.50 BST in pouring rain. I took lots of pics, of which two can be seen as the second and third entries on this page (just click the thumbnail to enlarge):
http://www.brendan-mccartney.fotopic.net/c775988.html

The first pic on the above page is of RA-76352, an Ilyushin IL76 which was also present. There was also a Saudi Government A340, HZ-124, along with RAF aircraft like C17s and VC10s. We didn't see a DC10/MD11, but our efforts were severely curtailed by the torrential rain and thunderstorm. We hadn't been to Brize for about 20 years but the AN26 pics were taken from our car, which we parked off the road right by the runway threshold. The Saudi A340 was very clearly visible from near a metal gate half way to Carterton and I'd have snapped that if it hadn't been raining stair rods!!

[Heavy Metal!!]

Cheers for the links, I haven't been able to park near the end of the runway without being moved on by the RAF police in a while. I take it you got to the lights just as the AN-26 was landing? talk about being in the right place at the right time!!

Cheers

HM!!

[DB5]

Heavy Metal

The DC10 you saw was probably Omni Air International N720AX (initials OAI on the tailplane). It ran this weeks MoD charter from Brize - Durham Tees Valley - Gulf and returned to DTV at 7.15 on Friday morning, probably arriving back at Brize around mid to late morning. It replaced the usual XL 747 300 that's been doing this run for the last 7 or 8 weeks. Hope this helps.