Opening Gambit Copyright All Rights Reserved @TailSpinT. Tom Harnish© le Cirque Volant© CONTENTS 03 UNOFFICIAL LE CIRQUE VOLANT ISSUE 8 le Cirque Volant Volume 2 Issue 8 February 2009 Publisher : eDIGImag®, USA Design, Layout, Editing : Paul Lindenberg Issues of LCV assembled with the help of contributions from subscrib- ers, group members, internet research, and the support of the online aviation photography community. LCV is published monthly. Subscription is $26.00 annually for 12 Is- sues. Other Continents are subscribed in local currencies. Agents are located in : UK (Europe), Australia, USA, South America, and South Africa. 01 Pilot’s Lounge Assignment Annual Subscription Rates : Plane, Sky and Clouds UK - £ 12.00, Europe € 20.00, USA & South America USD $ 26.00 South Africa ZAR 96.00, Australia AUD $ 35.00. 02 LCV Competition Blur on Purpose eDIGImag® Publishing 30 Protea Avenue 03 UNOFFICIAL Weltevreden Park, 1715, South Africa Military Aviation in Conflict zones.. Send address changes to: eDIGImag, 04 Fire! po box 1715, Weltevreden Park, 1715 Devastating Bush Fires in California. Aviation in Practice. © 2009 LCV and the contributing photographers. 05 Red Bull Images Group website http://edigimag.com Boston Globe extract of the Red Bull Races Subscribe via http://harryblack.wordpress.com le Cirque Volant© A WORD From the EDITOR Welcome to this, a revamped issue, of le Cirque Volant©. Development and design is a continuous process, striving to keep the e-publication fresh and above all, interesting, to our Eugene loyal subscribers. In this issue we delve into the world of military aviation in areas of conflict around the world. Chapters containing the subject photographs we thought relevent to this subject were A regular feature in LCV is the Pilot’s Lounge Assignments, extracted from our sister publication UNOFFICIAL© with kind off Flickr®. This Group on Flickr® has active members who permission from the editors. The originals of these photo- participate in all the assignments, sharing genre specific graphs were sourced from the “Boston Globe®” who in turn imaging. This month’s issue features not one, but two, as- pulled the images off Getty, AP, MAGNUM and other agen- signments. First one - “Planes, Sky and Clouds” and an LCV cies. We acknowledge the original image photographers competition “Blur on Purpose” which the group admin, Mat- copyright in all respects. The editors of UNOFFICIAL© dis- thewPHX (the famous Matthew Ottosen) adjudicates along covered the Boston Globe® articles and images from a com- with LCV’s editor. munity website managed by ‘Eugene’ located in Playa Vista, California - the URL being http://www.mymodernmet.com. Interestingness. Off Flickr® The Pilot’s Lounge Assignment - Planes, Clouds and Sky galaxyfan,Morning arrival at LAX The Pilot’s Lounge is a group for aviation enthusiasts to post their photos, tell stories, answer questions, and give advice. The Pilot’s Lounge is for aviation enthusiasts of every kind (you don’t have to be a pilot). This group is a place clearskyphotography,132nd for current pilots, future pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and dreamers. FW F-16 departing the Des Moines International Airport The Pilot’s Lounge was created to enjoy everyone’s aviation photography, and at sunset to bring pilots, students, and aviation enthusiasts together to learn from each other’s experiences. avsfan2006,VMGR-352 Raiders KC-130J on the ramp at Grand Junction Regional Airport 123_calum,Bob, you say you also like photos which involve Bas Stubert, Atlantic at water. Well, I stood in a river to Soesterberg take this! amisbk196,Avro Lancaster PA474 airosan AKPilot,Summer rain show- ers on the Yukon River near Galena, Alaska. davidrnz,sunset over the Tas- man Sea dennisgoodwin,I hope this counts..........Cloud reflections on fuselage Godrics_hollow dfndr13 palmsrick,Really great photos in this competition! I'll throw mine in. =) I don't really want to win, I just jkaisers,Not a whole lot of wanted to participate.Don't airplane visible here, but vote for me! =) plenty of sky, clouds and color to make up for it, I hope joe_stremph,Oh man. So many excellent shots in this thread. Here's what I got Gunfighter157, Perhaps my favorite. T-2 Buckeye against stormy skies at Thunder Over Michigan 2008 lauri_vain,Last year at Fly- ing Legends in Duxford IWM MatthewPHX,Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk (HSC-3 "Merlins") lazlo13 Maximum G, The Vulcan during its three contiguous displays for its DA at RAF Waddington last year mitchel25j,A very Cold Morning naemick,RAAF F111c - "Dump & Burn" OK_Photos,There are some amazing shots here... Here's my $.02 worth..."D-Day Doll" a Douglas C-53 Skytrooper from the CAF Inland Empire Wing at the 2007 CAF/Fina Airsho, Midland, Texas orangetim,With the luck I have, I've got loads of clouds and over- cast weather shots. You wouldn't think I live in Australia. rich_snyder,I had some fun at LAX with the humidity and late afternoon sun white_shadow_photog roymcm, my late entry runningclouds spotlightkid,Here's my shot at it. Taken in June 2006. Air France on finals at OR Tambo International (Johannesburg, South Africa.) tommy_sims,Spirit Of Delta - Ship 102 - Final Flight Kuby, Here is my attempt at this overwhelmingly fantastic contest Assignment Copyright Holders orangetim,With the luck I have, I’ve got loads of clouds and overcast weather shots. You wouldn’t think I live in Australia. :o) ,orangetim_707.jpg clearskyphotography,132nd FW F-16 departing the Des Gunfighter157, Perhaps my favorite. T-2 Buckeye against Moines International Airport at sunset.,clearsky_F16.jpg stormy skies at Thunder Over Michigan 2008,gunfighter157_ tommy_sims,Spirit Of Delta - Ship 102 - Final Flight,tommy_ T2_Buckeye.jpg sims_delta.jpg Maximum G, The Vulcan during its three contiguous displays lauri_vain,Last year at Flying Legends in Duxford IWM,lauri_ for its DA at RAF Waddington last year.,MaximumG_Vulcan. vain.jpg jpg galaxyfan,Morning arrival at LAX,galaxyfan.jpg Bas Stubert, Atlantic at Soesterberg,BasStubert_Atlantic.jpg mitchel25j,A very Cold Morning,mitchel25j_cat.jpg amisbk196,Avro Lancaster PA474, amisbk196_Avro.jpg Godrics_hollow,no comment,godrics_Hollow.jpg dfndr13,No comment,dfndr13.jpg airosan, no comment,airosan.jpg MatthewPHX,Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk (HSC-3 lazlo13, no comment,lazlo13.jpg “Merlins”),MatthewPHX_MH-60S.jpg palmsrick,Really great photos in this competition! I’ll throw jkaisers,Not a whole lot of airplane visible here, but plenty of mine in. =) I don’t really want to win, I just wanted to partici- sky, clouds and color to make up for it, I hope,jkaisers_sky. pate.Don’t vote for me! =),palmsrick.jpg jpg OK_Photos,There are some amazing shots here... avsfan2006,VMGR-352 Raiders KC-130J on the ramp at Here’s my $.02 worth...”D-Day Doll” a Douglas C-53 Sky- Grand Junction Regional Airport.,avsfan2006_KC_130.jpg trooper from the CAF Inland Empire Wing at the 2007 CAF/ spotlightkid,Here’s my shot at it. Taken in June 2006. Air Fina Airsho, Midland, Texas.,ok_photos_C53.jpg France on finals at OR Tambo International (Johannesburg, 123_calum,Bob, you say you also like photos which involve South Africa.),SPK_AirFrance.jpg water. Well, I stood in a river to take this!,123_calum.jpg naemick,RAAF F111c - “Dump & Burn” , naemick_F111.jpg white_shadow_photog, no comment, white_shadow.jpg joe_stremph,Oh man. So many excellent shots in this thread. davidrnz,sunset over the Tasman Sea,davidrnz_tasman.jpg Here’s what I got:,joe_stremph_USA.jpg roymcm, my late entry, roymcm.jpg rich_snyder,I had some fun at LAX with the humidity and late AKPilot,Summer rain showers on the Yukon River near Ga- afternoon sun.,rich_snyder_LAX lena, Alaska. ,AKPilot_Alaska.jpg dennisgoodwin,I hope this counts..........Cloud reflections on Kuby,Here is my attempt at this overwhelmingly fantastic fuselage( View large),dennis_goodwin.jpg contest runningclouds, no comment,runningclouds.jpg Military Aviation in Afganistan UNOFFICIAL U.S. Army officers fly back to the unit headquarters following a memorial service for Sgt. John Penich October 23, 2008 at the Korengal Outpost in the Kunar Province of eastern Af- ghanistan. Penich, from Beach Park, Illinois, was killed by a mortar round while in combat October 16. (John Moore/Getty Images) Military Aviation in Afganistan UNOFFICIAL A U.S. Army Chinook transport helicopter arrives with soldiers and sup- plies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Vallay, Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) Military Aviation in Afganistan UNOFFICIAL A U.S. Army helicopter gunner, his helmet face painted as a skull, awaits soldiers to board his Chinook transport helicopter October 30, 2008 for trans- port out of the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents had attacked a nearby U.S. Army outpost, and the Americans responded with machine guns, mortars and helicopter gunships. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Military Aviation ISAF - Afganistan UNOFFICIAL An ISAF soldier with the German Bundeswehr observes the situation from the back door during a flight on a German Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter from Kunduz to the German base in Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, Wednes- day, Sept. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) Military Aviation in Afganistan UNOFFICIAL An observer aboard a German Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter with the ISAF sits on the back door during a flight from Fayzabad to Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 24, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) Military Aviation in Georgia UNOFFICIAL A Russian military helicopter flies over a main road connecting South Os- setia's main city of Tskhinvali with the Georgian town of Gori on August 10, 2008. As helicopter gunships hovered over Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia, newly occupied by Russian forces, a stream of refugees fled the area, testifying to days of heavy bombardment. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/ Getty Images) Military Aviation in Georgia UNOFFICIAL An unidentified fighter jet drops munitions near the Georgian town of Gori, on Friday, Aug.