Aircraft in flight with 3 shadows

A fluke of timing means the aircraft was only captured once, but it's shadow was captured 3 times.

Near Lechfield, Germany.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

Aircraft with 3 shadows.kmz (713 B)

Hi, Sean,

This is Lechfeld, a former WW2 Luftwaffe base, here seen in July 2014.  It's a Saturday, so the squadrons of Tornado bomber aircraft are all hidden away in their Hardened Aircraft Shelters.  It's a beautiful day with no flying, so the glider enthusiasts are out in force, your aircraft being one of them.  They're operating from a grass runway which crosses the main taxiway towards its northern end;  the aerial tug is not in use today to give aerotow launches, so the gliders are being launched by winch here seen at the eastern end of the grass runway.  There's a glider being readied on the launch point, with a couple of groundcrew guys in front of it, getting ready to attach the drogue and towline which is on the grass just in front of the glider, having just been brought back from the winch end by the recovery vehicle, which has then gone on to recover a newly landed glider; they've turned the glider round and just about to couple it up to the recovery vehicle.

Even though it's Saturday, there's no rest for the local farmer, who rents part of the airfield for grass;  he's busy making hay while the sun shines.  The grass has been cut and has dried and, just north of the glider launch point, you can see him in a tractor towing his "wuffler" which fluffs up the dried grass and gathers it into big rows for the baler to come along and bale it up.  The baler is sitting beside the shed north of the launch point, no doubt having a quiet smoke and watching the gliders while the wuffler does its job.  Nearby, there's a tractor and a bunch of trailers waiting to cart away the finished bales.  He's already cleared that part of the airfield north of the winch, and the bales have been removed and stored on a hardstanding about half a mile north of the base.

Otherwise the base is pretty quiet at the weekend, but there are a few interesting gate guardian aircraft around; a couple of F104 Starfighters and a old T-33 trainer and an F-84 Thunderstreak, both from the early days of jet aviation.  However, Lechfeld's association with jet aircraft goes back much earlier - they flew Messerschmitt 262s - the first operational jet fighter - from here, back in the later stages of WW2.  The base is quite close to the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg and was used for test flying from there.

Nice find!

Attachments:

Lechfeld.kmz (1.69 KB)

Wow! Nice analysis, Frank! Pretty much everything but the color of the farmer's eyes and the brand of tobacco the baler's smoking.

Blue, and Marlboro,,,,,

Plus I now get to inject the term "wuffler" into everyday conversations. 

Speaking of which, I think there is a 2nd "wuffler" south of the grass runway.
There is also a tractor with 3 empty trailers. Therefore, he is a man with no bales. 

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

2nd Wuffler.kmz (698 B)

Man with no bales.kmz (704 B)

It must have been a productive day !

Yet another glider in flight and just ahead of it another wuffler !


Another glider and wuffler ahead..kmz (717 B)

Jun 5, 2016 10:30:59 GMT nostranger said:

It must have been a productive day !

Yet another glider in flight and just ahead of it another wuffler !

The glider was in Frank's post. But, yes another "wuffler". 

Cheers,
Sean.