Korean aerobatic team arrive in Manchester with their planes in bits

There are many, many obscure loads that fly in and out of Manchester Airport as cargo. I've seen a shipment of three articulated lorries of toilet paper being sent to the USA. I've seen 60 tonnes of housebricks flying that way too. You can never be surprised by what you discover is being transported in planes. At TQ Express we handle all sorts of commodities, but most are in boxes or crates or are shrinkwrapped on pallets. Rarely does the shape reveal what the commodity is.

But today I spotted a couple of jet fighter planes clothed in stretch tight green fabric covers which had been flown in from South Korea. Their wings, tail planes and engines had been removed but the profile was unmistakeably like an F-16. I was told by a couple of truck drivers standing idly nearby these planes were a Korean aerobatic display team. I thought this was a great joke. The Koreans don't make F-16's and export them to the UK! Markings on the frames showed they were to be delivered to the Farnborough Air Show, but obviously these could only be plastic or fibreglass mock ups for static exhibition. (Great joke that about a Korean aerobatic display team! haha!)

But Mr Know-it-all had his doubts in the idle truck drivers and their straight faces. A Google search of "Korean Aerobatic" teams brought up "The Black Eagles". Those truck drivers weren't joking, after all! What I was seeing was a convoy forming of six articulated trucks and four escort vehicles, carrying two T-50 supersonic trainer jets, their wings, tails, engines, and ground back up equipment and systems. Having arrived at Manchester Airport these were being taken to RAF Leeming where the six other aircraft in the team would join them as they arrived on subsequent flights from Korea, to be put back together again ready for an aerobatic display tour of Europe this summer. See www.flickr.com/photos/stu2112/7260642188/

Wouldn't it have been easier to fly them here without taking them apart and putting them inside another plane? ....and then they could have had some practice on the way?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Eagles_aerobatic_team

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Manchester / Ringway (show map)

Taken on: June 1, 2012

Tags:

Black eagles

T-50

display

team

South Korea

farnborough

jet

planes

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RIAT

airshow « less

Sets appears in: • Manchester Airport

Groups appears in: • Air Shows • Manchester airport more » • Aerobatics • Manchester Airport Images • The Royal International Air Tattoo (Official) « less

Camera: Nikon D5000, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, 78mm (=117mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D5000
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	78mm (35mm equivalent: 117mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Embettered by PicMonkey. http://www.picmonkey.com
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