John Higgins Photography

John Higgins Photography Amateur photographer, South Manchester, Aviation and Wildlife photography. All rights reserved. No NFT nonsense.

07/09/2026

D-479 Boeing CH-47F Chinook 298 Squadron 'Grizzly', Gilze-Rijen, Royal Netherlands Air Force.

'Sabre 2' using the terrain to avoid any threats on the range during TAC Blaze 26. The local Heron population didn't seem to be too bothered.

Koninklijke Luchtmacht

04/09/2026

PR010 General Atomics MQ-9B Protector RG Mk.1 (Sky Guardian), 31 Squadron 'Goldstars' RAF Waddington, Royal Air Force.

An older video from Cobra Warrior 25-1 at Waddington. This one is now based at Akrotiri.

'Phoenix 10' One of the newish MQ-9B Protectors, seen here taxiing out for a quick test flight demo at RAF Waddington whilst Exercise Cobra Warrior 25-1 media day was taking place.

I certainly won't be going out of my way to photograph these things, they hold very little interest to me personally. But I do get the value they bring to modern warfare.

03/09/2026

G-CHII Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann, Private.

Our local Jungmann is actually a CASA license-built example, originally assembled in Spain back in 1957 for the Spanish Air Force as a trainer.

Now in private hands, it has been flying quite a bit recently, always great to see this lovely little aircraft out and about. The piston engine sounds great too.

For the second time this year. Barton has ended up fuelling three of the four Benson based 28 Squadron Chinooks that hav...
02/09/2026

For the second time this year. Barton has ended up fuelling three of the four Benson based 28 Squadron Chinooks that have headed north to Leuchars for exercise Kukri Dawn. As usual, they were welcomed with the standard Manchester gloom, although there was also plenty of the wet stuff around too. The airfield is looking nice and green again though, thanks to the recent wet weather.

The cabs visiting us this time, all HC.6A's were as follows

ZD575 'Vortex 260'
ZA679 'Kukri 1'
ZA680 'Kukri 2'

Manchester Barton Aerodrome
RAF Benson

31/08/2026

ZD982 Boeing-Vertol Chinook HC.6A, 18 Squadron, RAF Odiham, Royal Air Force.

Vortex 596 an 18 Squadron Chinook HC.6A, seen arriving Barton recently, for a RRR for cab and crew. Loving this new RODE Videomic II.

Manchester Barton Aerodrome
RAF Odiham

30/08/2026

A video of this mornings Hughes 500 N500SY arriving for fuel. It came in from Shoreham. Such cool little choppers though and they sound great too. Possibly the first shot I have videoed and photographed a short strutted example.

Manchester Barton Aerodrome

ZJ786 Eurocopter AS 365 N3+ Dauphin II, 658 Squadron, Stirling Lines / Credenhill, Army Air Corps.'Hammer 22' a 658 Squa...
29/08/2026

ZJ786 Eurocopter AS 365 N3+ Dauphin II, 658 Squadron, Stirling Lines / Credenhill, Army Air Corps.

'Hammer 22' a 658 Squadron Dauphin, seen here leaving the local after a quick drop and go. Nice to finally get the new corporate schemed cab up here. Certainly one of the rarest cabs currently on the UK military register.

This cab is not at the same standard as the rest of 658 Squadron fleet of Dauphin, it still has the corporate nice seats and interior, so currently just being used as a VIP ferry and crew moves.

It remains unclear if it will stay like this, or get modified to the same standard and colours as the other Dauphins in the fleet. I suspect this was a very fortunate catch, not sure how often it will venture this far North. Not in its current guise, at least. It is a great looking cab.

Manchester Barton Aerodrome

28/08/2026

G-BIGB Bell 212 Heli-lift services.

One of the Heli-lift Bells working to fix flood damage on the banks of the River Mersey. Seen here picking up bags of ballast to repair the river bank, where it had collapsed due to heavy rain.

This cab has since been sold to Monashee Helicopters Ltd in Canada and is operating as C-GARH now

27/08/2026

84-0061 Lockheed C-5M Galaxy, 436th Airlift Wing / 9th Airlift Squadron, Dover AFB, United States Air Force

'REACH 4040' seen here rolling out after arrival at RAF Mildenhall. Note the based Osprey hovering in the background towards the end of the video.

26/08/2026

ZM515 Airbus Helicopters Juno HT1 No. 1 Flying Training School, RAF Shawbury.

'Shawbury 53' seen here lifting from the concrete pad at Barton after a lunch stop at Barton.

Manchester Barton Aerodrome

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