F-22 Raptor

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With the announcement of the cancellation of the Comanche, the wasteful spenders at the Pentagon are even beginning discussions of greatly reduced numbers of F/A-22's.  Apparently UAV's are the thing!  Soooooo, here's some shots of the 22 before I put 'em up on my Edwards page.

Cheers!

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Another....

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on take off....

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on taxi!

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Wave...bye, bye!...or not

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under

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just after take off...

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And finally, one I probably shouldn't have taken...but hey, it's a cool shot none the less...I'm sooo busted!!!  The results of a long lens!

[DanielB]

Awesome shots Tyson!  

[Tonyz]

Damn...you set a standard that is hard to even try and reach!  Wow.

[vulcanxh558]

awesome pic that last one looks like a pair of devil eyes to me .bloody good show old chap .keep them comeing

[André]

Excellent shots Tyson !

Interesting to see the kill markings at its nose.
Is it correct that the ED birds wear darker colors than the production samples like the one I added ?

André

[Gareth Horne]

Nice... wonder if we will ever see then this side of the pond, just couldn't get interested in photographing UAVs, however cost efficient they may be.

[DanielB]

A topical discussion elsewhere Gareth!   I agree though, completely uninspiring.

RIAT press releases this year have mentioned F-22s at the show, so it may be sooner than you think.

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Thanks for the complimants guys...the shots were from a single take off pass....wish I were there for more!!!

The ED birds are different in a few ways as I noticed at Nellis.  The paint is a tad bit darker (possibly because it is older and dirtier) and the canopies are a little higher.  The Nellis display aircraft had a more streamlined canopy or so it a appeared.