Manchester

Photo of the Day 27th May 2025.

mancavgeek

27 May 2025 • 1 min read

G-LGNH, Saab SF-340B, operated by LoganAir on behalf of FlyBe, just seconds after taking off from Runway 23 Left at Manchester Airport, 18th August 2015, as seen from the Western end of SouthSide.

Most of 23Left/05Right is easily visible from raised mounds running alongside the runway just outside the airport perimeter, with a gap of 3-400 metres where it crosses a road and a small river valley.

The Eastern end is fairly easy to access, but the other end involves a LOT of walking if you don't have a car, and in fact is impossible in anything other than really sunny weather - the first part of the path leading there is almost completely impassable after rain, I wrecked more than a couple of pair of trousers figuring this out!

Tails Tuesday 27th May 2025.

Close-up of the tail of a jet airliner parked facing to the left. The plane is mostly white, with a red, angular rectangle with a white cross in the middle, over an uneven patch of dark blue paint with a small circle of gold stars at the top, covering most of the tail. The black partial registration "-IXF" is on the rear fuselage, next to a small Swiss flag. Grey concrete apron fills most of the rest of the frame, with trees at the top vanishing into haze in the distance.

HB-IXF, British Aerospace Avro RJ85, CrossAir, at Geneva Cointrin, 5th October 1996.

Bonus Photo of the Day 27th May 2025.

Low side view of a World War 2-era single-engined military fighter pale mounted on a pole in a flying pose. The plane is in a grey and green camouflage scheme, with the cream-coloured leteters "QV-J" either side of a yellow, blue, white, and red roundel on the fuselage. There is a cream band around the rear fuselage, with "W3644" overlaid in black. The underside of the body and wings are a pale creamy white, with a blue, white, and red roundel on the outer panels of the wings. The black pole it sits on seems to rise out of the top of a stand of trees, with dramatically lit grey clouds and blue sky above.

W3644, Supermarine 349 Spitfire Mk5B (replica), Royal Air Force, on display in a flying pose at the Fylde Spitfire Memorial, at Fairhaven Lake, Lytham-St-Annes, 18th August 2024.

Lytham, and it's neighbour Blackpool, are filled with Spitfires, if you know where to look…