Türkiye 2024

Leading up to this day, Saturday 16 November 2024, there was a lot of communication, rumours and information about of the what/when/how of this day. With weather not playing ball there was a back-up plan for the low flying but all photographers hoped that this Saturday would be THE day. We headed out early to the designated spot in the beautiful mountains near Eskişehir. The roads leading to the spot were nice but kept getting smaller and more difficult to manage for our bus, so about 4 kilometers for the spot we had to stop and walk the last distance. Luckily, many fellow aviation enthusiasts driving by provided lifts. The spot itself turned out to be indeed the advertised climb, but all participants made it to the top of the rock.

And then the waiting began. Turkish Air Force personnel on the rock was in close contact with the people on base, waiting for the weather to clear. And then, after a few hours the clouds mostly cleared, and excitement rose. Two Phantoms were airborne and heading our way! What followed was unbelievable. Two Phantoms, including a black and red special colours, made incredible passes for the photographers with a backdrop of the river and mountains. Pass after pass was photographed with the Phantoms pulling out all stops. After 20 passes it was quiet again. But not for long. Over 100 photographers, all high on adrenaline, shared their excitement and unbelieve: what an extraordinary moments were just experienced!

After a sort of cooling down period, we headed back to our bus, again with the help of some colleagues, and we drove back to our hotel. It was time for a celebration with some meat and beer!