An unusual visitor in Dutch airspace but still my personal favourite during Frisian Flag 2023: this Finnish F/A 18C Hornet.
This Hornet is of course made incredibly famous by Top Gun II, which features the newer versions of this aircraft, the Superhornet.
Even though this aircraft may be an oldie compared to the much newer Superhornet, this is still a picture of a plane and precisely because the sky was so beautifully blue on this October day, the rather dull grey of this aircraft contrasts nicely with the sky.
What you see here is the Finnish Air Force's HN-422. They trained in October 2023 with American, German, Belgian and Dutch pilots, among others, in all kinds of different scenarios's with Leeuwarden Air Base as their temporary home base.
Other participants in the exercise were the F-16, F-35 and the Eurofighter.
There are also cool images of these aircraft in my webshop.
'What do you do with all those photos you take'? Is a question I am regularly asked. 'Well, sometimes I print a few to enjoy myself', is then my standard reply. Lately, I have noticed that more and more people enjoy my photos and that is why.. Read more…