Red Flag 14-1

While the Armed Forces sequestration is still in effect, the US Air Force's Red Flag exercise was back on after cancelling the last one in 2013. I drove from San Diego to Nellis Air Force Base, just north of Las Vegas for my 3rd Red Flag. I was especially interested in getting images of the Royal Australian Air Forces F/A-18's that would be participating in the exercise.

I was very lucky to attend, as I was late in getting my paperwork in for registering, but the Air Force took pity on me, due to them changing the way they registered the media and having a very shorten time to do so.

I along with approximately another 30-40 photographers were bused out the middle of the runway, where waves of planes started taking off, one after the another. First it was the big guys, tankers and electronic warfare planes, and then the bombers, followed by the fighters. Not only was their several US units flying, but British Typhoons and Tornados.