RAF Northolt hosted its 34th Night Photoshoot in early March. These events started in 2009 and have raised thousands of pounds to help preserve the historic buildings within the station as well as supporting the personnel stationed there. Despite some late cancellations, this latest edition of photoshoot saw a varied collection of aircraft from the UK, France and Germany participate.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author.
RAF Northolt is the Royal Air Force’s oldest active station. The airfield pre-dates the formation of the Royal Air Force by some three years when it was established as part of the home defence against the threat of Zeppelin raids over London. But its most famous role was that of a fighter station during the Battle of Britain. It played an important role in the development of UK air defence and funds from the Night Photoshoots have helped restore RAF Northolt’s Sector Operations Building. This building was used by ACM Hugh Dowding to develop what was to become the world’s first Integrated Air Defence System. Though post war it has become London’s military airport, it again became an air defence station during the London 2012 Olympic Games when RAF Eurofighter Typhoons were detached to the station as part of security operations.
Organised by Phil Dawe and a small band of volunteers, the Night Photoshoots have become the most popular of their kind. They always attract a varied and interesting mix of aircraft from both military and civilian operators from the UK and Europe. The 34th Night Photoshoot took place against the backdrop of United States and Israeli strikes against Iran and the widening conflict in the Middle Eastern region they caused. There was little obvious affect on the photoshoot, though the one military cancellation was a Royal Navy Wildcat; in the days before the night photoshoot, it was announced that two Royal Navy Wildcats would be deployed to RAF Akrotiri to bolster defences against slow flying one-way attack drones. The other cancellations were both civilian operated aircraft which were perhaps nervous of the poor weather forecast for the day after the event.
Operational tempo prevented the home-based No. 32 Squadron from providing aircraft for the event, though the Northolt based London Air Ambulance once again had their two new Airbus H135 helicopters on the line under the lights. The Royal Air Force’s sole representative was an Embraer Phenom T1 from 45 Squadron based at RAF Cranwell. These small business jet aircraft are used for multi-engine flying training for pilots and mission training for aircrew. Completing the UK military participation was an Army Air Corps Leonardo Wildcat AH1 from 1 Regiment based at RNAS Yeovilton. The aircraft arrived in an operational fit with a general-purpose machine gun mounted to the side access of the airframe.
The French Air and Space Force (L’armee de l’air at espace) have become regular supporters of Northolt events. On this occasion it was the turn of Escadron d’Hélicoptères 03.067 “Parisis” with an Airbus AS332L1 Super Puma from BA 107 Vélizy – Villacoublay. There was further French participation from the Aéronavale with a Dassault Falcon 10MER from Escadrille 57S. Based at BAN Landivisiau, these aircraft are in the twilight of their operation service as a training aircraft. MER stands for ‘Marine Entraînement Radar (Navy Radar Training)’ but they also have secondary roles as a light transport and liaison aircraft. They are soon to be replaced by modified Pilatus PC-24 aircraft.
Adding to the naval theme of the evening was a colourful Dornier Do228-212NG from Marinefliegergeschwader 3 “Graf Zeppelin” based at Nordholz. The primary role of these aircraft is environmental protection missions in the North Sea and Baltic. For these tasks they carry radar, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, microwave radiometers and fluorescence lasers, as well as photographic equipment.
It was another enjoyable evening under the lights at Northolt. The aircraft were perhaps a little more spaced out than usual with had some advantages, though many of them seemed further back than usual too and some may have missed the Phenom which was parked right at the far end and almost disappeared into the backdrop of the other business jets! We look forward to the next night photoshoot on 1st October.
