MAGPhoto

ATLAS - famous Greek mythology depicted a Titan named Atlas carrying the Earth or the celestial sphere. Atlas Air Founder Michael Chowdry decided this was perfect for freighters carrying the weight of the world. Here is 747-400 GTI8613 today on final to Runway18 at Tinker AFB.

Memorial Day treat! I love surprises. I was outside not paying any attention to the skies, then I heard the props. There she was, 1941 Douglas DC3 Reg # N4089T owned by WWII Airborne Demonstration Team Foundation with "Wild Kat" nose art and WWII stripes at 4400 ft AGL.

Nothing beats watching a Raptor wake up. ​Just look at those nozzles cycle, the wings flex, and listen to the low whine of those F119s; it feels less like machinery and more like a predator finding its rhythm.

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor retracts the gear just milliseconds after lifting off the runway. 📹: twincitiesaviator

@EQuest38190 💀

A picture is worth a thousand words …

More Bomber activity from RAF Fairford this evening

@Tt33operator Great content!

If you haven’t followed Coco yet, you are missing out. COCO DOES NOT MISS!

@boomers_ass So how much do Navy and Marine Corps pilots really dislike these?

What's old is new again...

@sipjack1776 Thank you! I see Okie jets all the time, but not like this. It helps me remember to not get complacent when shooting because of a photo on plane spotter via adsb.

Beautiful captures of Iron Maiden at Tinker.

Iron Maiden. I had never seen one of these until March when KC-135R 62-3565 with the 507th Air Refueling Wing landed at Tinker AFB. Sweet nose art with a tribute to the USS Oklahoma too. Naval aviators are not fans of these, but I guess fuel is better than no fuel.

It’s hilarious listening to these Spurs fans cry: “Flopper” when they have the tallest flopper in history.

The Acting Director of the Air National Guard spent this past week in Portland with the 142nd Wing piloting the US Air Force’s newest fighter jet, the F-15 EX Eagle II. His review: “Amazing!”

RC-135W (62-4138) as SNOOP38 landing at KGVT.

🚨 Here is a thread of all of the UAP / UFO videos released today by the Department of War.

F-22 Raptor 02-4037 at the 2025 Branson Wings of Pride Air Show. An abundance of humidity provided for some incredible vapor from both wingtips and another from the right aileron. I didn't have my Sigma 150-600 mm lens yet, but still managed to get some unforgettable shots.

"Let's Roll”! The 10th FTS flying B-1B 86-0111 as Sabre01 at Tinker AFB.

Top Aces F-16 in Flanker mode. Top Aces provides fantastic training as adversaries for our pilots in exercises like Red Flag. Love seeing these when they come through Tinker!

U.S. Navy E-2D Hawkeye (Reg. # 168990) on final at Tinker AFB. Don't see these very often. (This was Nov 2025) Sometimes I get busy and don't share some of the stuff I catch but it's kind of like a treasure hunt going back through my library and finding hidden gems like this.

Some people commented about the replacement of the two EA-18G Growlers with two FA-18F Super Hornets from the boneyard or the production line. First the production line is ending, the last airframe is being assembled. Pulling a standard FA-18F Super Hornet out of the boneyard and trying to modify it into a Growler face several structural roadblocks. The internal rewiring and structural airframe changes are too extensive to do as a retrofit. Boeing has stated this is cost-prohibitive and structurally impractical. The EA-Growler has over 90% shared design with the FA-18F Super Hornet; however, Boeing made tremendous changes to its structure and aerodynamics during its conversion from the multirole fighter to an electronic warfare aircraft. For example, Boeing removed the General Dynamics M61A2 Vulcan 20mm cannon from the nose of the airframe to create an internal processing bay. The airframe was also modified in that the wingtip Sidewinder missile rails were replaced with permanently mounted Northrop Grumman AN/ALQ-218 tactical jamming receiver pods. The addition of heavy electronic warfare pods changed the weight distribution of the airframe, which resulted in a flight characteristic referred to as Limit Cycle Oscillation, which is a severe shaking of the wings or fluttering of the structure. To counteract this unique aerodynamic load, engineers added wing fences, stall strips and reshaped the fairings to eliminate wing shake. The last phase of the redesign included molding canoe-shaped antenna fairings onto the fuselage and placing a satellite communications dome behind the canopy. Last but not least, the aircraft were from the Fleet Replacement Squadron, Electronic Attack Squadron 129 VAQ-129 (Vikings). The frontline deployable squadrons did not lose any assets, so I’m guessing the training pipeline at VAQ-129 will probably absorb the internal aircraft loss directly from its large pool of 55 Growlers.