Bonus Photo of The Day 19th July 2026.

Forward side view of a high-winged, 4 propellor-engined military transport aircraft parked facing to the right on black asphalt. The plane is mostly a light grey, with the top third being white, the two colours separated by a thin blue stripe. The black text "Meteorological Research Flight" is on the upper forward fuselage, just aft of the extensively glazed cockpit. A large blue, white, and red roundel is overlaid on the blue stripe on the side of the rear fuselage. At the front, a comically long nose extension, basically a long, thick pole wrapped in red and white bands, extends forward from under the cockpit, stretching out of the right side of the frame. A large radome, black at the front and white at the rear, sticks up on a large pylon above the cockpit. The propellors on the front of the engine pods, mounted on the wings, are arrange so that two blads are vertical and 2 horizontal, and are light grey with red and white stripes on the tips. Black asphalt fills the foreground, with people walking past in the background, some carrying umbrellas or wearing rain jackets, suggesting the weather isn't the best.

XV208, Lockheed C-130K Hercules W.2, Royal Air Force Meteorological Research Flight, on static display at Fairford International Air Tattoo, some time in the 1990s.

This rather unique HerkyBird was converted from a standard Hercules transport, in the 1970’s, and was in use until the mid 2010, when it was converted back to standard, and used as an engine test bed for the Airbus A400M program.

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