Russian aircraft over St. Petersburg

[John Privett]

Some photos of aircraft (etc!) that I took in the past few days on a Baltic cruise.

I don't know what the occasion was, but shortly after I came out of the Hermitage Museum shortly before noon on Saturday there was a flypast of various aircraft. The first few shots were taken with the standard lens before I got a chance to get the telephoto zoom out for the rest!

First some contra-rotating helis;

Followed by some fixed-wing of various types - if anyone can identify exactly what they are then please comment! I haven't had a chance to look them up yet - and the slow internet connection here doesn't help!

And then, after leaving St. Petersburg, somewhere west of Kronstadt - ok, not aircraft, but may be of interest to somebody!

And back to aircraft, a very close encounter with a Swedish air ambulance that landed on the ship's helipad to evacuate a sick passenger shortly after leaving Stockholm;

Edited By John Privett on 17/07/2019 17:16:13

[Richard Ashworth]

In order

Kamov KA 27 anti submarine helicopters

Ilyushin IL 20 maritime reconnaissance turboprop

Ilyushin IL76 freighter in early warning radar mode with Sukhoi SU30 fighters

Tupolev TU114 Bear, long range bomber, that likes spooking the RAF north of the UK.

Richard

[John Privett]

Great - thanks for the IDs Richard!

I was fairly sure about the TU114, but not the others. If I'd put my brain into gear I'd have probably guessed the Sukhois - though I may have initially guessed them as SU27s that I first saw at Farnborough almost 30 years ago!

[Bruce Collinson]

Richard, you anorak!

Navy Day rehearsals apparently.

BTC

[Richard Ashworth]

Sorry to disappoint Bruce, just an aircraft recognition nut!

An anorak would have known that the yellow chopper (standard layman term) is an Airbus Helicopters EC145

(operated by Babcock Scandinavian - but had to look that up!)

Cheers Richard

[John Privett]

I knew the details of the yellow heli - I was tracking it on Flightradar24 as it circled the ship prior to landing!

I thought its close approach to the ship was a bit odd, but an announcement on the PA system on the ship explained it all!

[John Privett]

Two more aviation sightings over the past 2 days have caught me unprepared and unable to get even a half-decent photo!

First, at Skagen, a pair of F-16s from the Danish Air Force flew past at low level over the sea, then rapidly climbed to very high level and remained in the area for a while.

Then today in Stavanger I was surprised to see a Spitfire overfly the city. Too high to have a hope of seeing any identification, other than - from the dreadful photo I did manage to take - it had a 4-bladed prop. I don't think there are currently any airworthy Spitfires based in Norway - or indeed Sweden or Denmark - so I've no idea what it is doing here!

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Hi John ,this is one private Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX G-BRSF from Stavenger.

[John Privett]

Interesting, Jo - thanks!

That Spitfire seems to UK-based, but a regular visitor to Stavanger, often attending an air show there in June. I believe in the photo you've posted it's painted with Norwegian colours on the rudder, wingtips and spinner.

I see that the incident in Korea today, with alleged incursion of Korean airspace by Russian aircraft, is illustrated on the BBC News website (it's currently the most read story there) with a picture of what they describe as an A-50 very similar to the aircraft in the third of my photos. Wiki explains that the A-50 is based on the Ilyushin Il-76 transport as identified by Richard.

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Dear John, you are welcome, the builders, of Russian military planes, the fact is that they were primarily designed by the military, and used the same for civilian purposes. Today is nothing different. Thanks for your time and all the best. Jo