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Aircraft Photos - Best Photos Of 2012

By Code One Staff Posted 6 December 2012

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An MC-130J Special Operations tanker crew from the 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, flies low over the desert.

A Marine crew from VMGR-252 banks the armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance variant of the KC-130J over MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina.

A 317th Airlift Group crew takes off in the 250th C-130J built on its delivery flight to Dyess AFB, Texas.

The C-130 entered service in the 1950s. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in countless military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. The aircraft has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history.

The C-130 first entered service in the 1950s. During its years of service since then, the Hercules family has participated in countless military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations. The aircraft has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history.

The C-5 entered operational service in 1970 and has been a vital asset in every military operation since that time including Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Solotürk, the Turkish Air Force aerial demonstration team, has performed in Turkey, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

An F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 416th Flight Test Squadron from Edwards AFB, California, flies over Koehn Lake in the Mojave Desert.

The original F-16 was designed as a lightweight air-to-air day fighter. Air-to-ground missions immediately transformed the first production F-16s into multirole fighters. The F-16s that followed expanded and refined these roles with beyond-visual-range missiles, infrared sensors, precision-guided munitions, and a plethora of other capabilities. Current and planned versions of the F-16 build on these refinements, enhancing capabilities even further.

The US Air Force Thunderbirds have the privilege and responsibility to perform for people all around the world, displaying the pride, precision and professionalism of American Airmen. In every hour-long demonstration, the team combines years of training and experience with an attitude of excellence to showcase what the Air Force is all about.

The sharply choreographed, drill-style ground ceremony of the USAF Thunderbirds kicks off the demonstration by showcasing the attention to detail and esprit de corps that defines our enlisted members. As the F-16s take to the skies and fly only a few feet from wingtip to wingtip, the crowd gets a glimpse of the awesome skills and capabilities that all fighter pilots must possess. The solo pilots integrate their own loud and proud routine, exhibiting some of the maximum capabilities of the F-16 Fighting Falcon – the Air Force’s premier multirole fighter.

An F-22 from Edwards AFB, California, is flown at Mach 1.6 over the Pacific Ocean during a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb separation test.

The strategic significance of the Raptor has already come into play on several occasions, even though the F-22 has yet to see combat. Future adversaries will have to reckon with the combination of stealth, speed, maneuverability, and sensor fusion that the F-22 brings to the fight. The Raptor has fundamentally changed the nature of aerial warfare.

An F-35A pilot from the Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, pulls up behind a tanker over the Pacific during a test flight.

F-35A Lightning II poses next to a P-38 Lightning at Edwards AFB, California.

F-35A AF-1 from the Integrated Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, flies over the Mojave Desert.

An F-35B pilot from the Integrated Test Force at Patuxent River, Maryland, performs a short takeoff during a test flight.

An F-35B aboard the USS Wasp prepares for takeoff.

An F-35B in a run station at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, is prepared for an early morning flight.

Two F-35Cs fly in formation during a test flight from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

An F-35 test pilot conducts a local mission in F-35C CF-2 in preparation for a ferry flight from Fort Worth, Texas, to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

Two F-35Cs fly in formation during a test mission from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

An F-35C flies over NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

US Customs and Border Protection operates two types of P-3s: eight P-3 Airborne Early Warning, or AEW, and eight P-3 Long Range Tracker, or LRT, aircraft.

Crews in the Airborne Early Warning P-3 aircraft provide wide area search and increased command, control, and communications capabilities. Called Domes, the AEW crews detect and track air and sea surface targets.

Uniquely suited as the world’s premier multi-mission maritime long-endurance aircraft, the P-3 performs air, surface and subsurface patrol and reconnaissance tasks over extended periods and far from support facilities.

To get the Orion through at least its sixth decade of service, the P-3 Mid-Life Upgrade, or MLU, is a life extension kit that replaces the aircraft’s outer wings, center wing lower section, and horizontal stabilizer with new production components.

The aerial demonstration team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, the Black Eagles, traded its standard-issue orange and white T-50 trainers for glossy black, white, and yellow T-50Bs for its 2011 show season.

The ROKAF Black Eagles demonstration team performs a Calypso Pass maneuver.

The U-2, referred to as the Dragon Lady, is used to record intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data on missions lasting up to twelve hours.

The U-2 Dragon Lady is used to record intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data on missions lasting up to twelve hours.

A U-2 Dragon Lady pilot from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Beale AFB, California, lands at an air base in Southwest Asia.

Since 1997, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company has produced a calendar showcasing the company’s aircraft and technologies for its employees, team partners, suppliers, and, most importantly, for the men and women who fly our combat, air mobility, maritime patrol, and surveillance aircraft.

Early in 2012 we invited Code One readers and contributors to send us their best photos. We asked for recent, striking photographs of current Lockheed Martin aircraft to develop a “Best of Code One” theme for the 2013 edition of the calendar.

Our readers and web site viewers more than delivered. We received more than 200 images from forty external shooters and a similar number of shots from about a dozen internal photographers. The images show Lockheed Martin aircraft in an amazing variety of locations, altitudes, and attitudes.

Choosing images for the calendar proved quite a task, but the Code One staff thinks the result is impressive. This gallery includes those top shots as well as some of the others that came close to making the final cut. Thanks to everyone who participated.

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