As soon as I saw on Facebook a heads up for the Japanese Air Force 1 and 2 due into Brize Norton, I knew that this was a set I could not miss. I tracked them on ADS-B over Alaska, then they went dark. Better safe than sorry, I headed down a couple of hours early to try out some new gear before the main attraction. Thankfully a Voyager provided a nice test subject in some lovely golden hour light.

I was happy with the results of this test, having had significant issues with the R7 and my (now replaced) Sigma 150-600 C with the AF pulsing. Try as I might with support from many others across the aviation community, the issue still remained. I decided to throw in the towel and purchase the Canon EF 100-400 L ii which proved to be a gamechanger. No more pulsing issues and the difference in quality was immense, not to mention the weight saving meaning more stable shooting.

At about 1830 came in JAF2 direct from Japan with JAF1 heading to Stansted first then coming in later at about 2030.

The lighting on the first airframe was not as golden as the second but I am still very happy with the level of sharpness provided by the new lens and body combo. It was fantastic to catch the pair having seen just the one in the distance spotting at Stansted as various dignitaries arrived in the UK for the Queens funeral.

It was amazing to see so many faces, old and new, at Brize and to see all their different takes on the same subject. Some going wide for the whole airframe, some going head on with planespotter_adam and I going for the three-quarter shot on the second aircraft.

Another purpose of this exercise was to test out the kit for Sywell the next day, to see whether to stick with the new kit or to revert to the 70D and 150-600 combo. The results speak for themselves…