US Troops in Germany | Ramstein & Stuttgart, August 12, 2021

Hi again and welcome to the second part of my recent spotting trip,

@Alec, here comes the solution to your search for an heli in the last topic ;)
After visiting LUX and FRA for 3 days, day 4 led us from FRA to Ramstein Air Base and later that day back home with a special surprise on the way.

When we arrived in Ramstein, one of the first movements was the departure of the C17 operated by the SAC Heavy Airlift Wing.


Another regular visitor was a Gulfstream operated by the US Air Force…

…followed by an even smaller bizjet, a Learjet doing pattern work.

Let’s get to the reason for our visit to Ramstein though - after operating over Latvia for several hours, the USAF E8 returned back to its base in western Germany.

And here comes the first heli picture - even though not based at Ramstein, this Blackhawk departed the air field passing by us spotters.

Due to time constraints we decided to depart for our drive back home after these movements. At that point we didn’t know what was yet to come. Shortly before passing Stuttgart we checked if there was any interesting traffic at the airport to take a few more pics but before we reached that place, my friend looked out of the window on the Autobahn and suddenly spotted a Chinook flying patterns at a small airfield near the highway. Obviously, we left at the next exit and tried to spot it.

When we got out of the car outside the airfield we were surprised by some paratroopers jumping out of the Chinook, so we knew what we would do for the next hour

After performing several approaches to the airfield dropping soldiers, the Chinook landed at the field to pick up more troops, while previously dropped soldiers were walking back to the “base camp” at the end of the field, creating some nice motives.

With the heli landed, we managed to get a few nice angles including this nice beacon shot.

After that, the Chinook departed for some HALO jumps in the evening sun.

Before the heli arrived back for another landing in gorgeous light, we got our camping chairs to enjoy the sights with a cold drink.

I hope you liked these shots, I might soon continue with some shots from our day at Frankfurt airport, but for now its enough with motorized flying vehicles, so here are just some silent gliding men in front of the moon ;)


My Equipment:

Canon EOS 80D
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM (99% of pics)
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS II USM (for wide angle pics)

Backup / Old Lenses

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (for the 1% of the cases where I needed a wide angle lens, replaced by the 24-105 now)
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS STM (for the majority of my very old pics, bascially completely replaced by the 100-400 now)


You can follow me on twitter and Instagram to get more shots on a daily basis. Also, keep your eyes open on Flightradar24 where you might see some of my recent shots.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/mba_muc

Instagram

Jetphotos

Recorded Flights on my YouTube channel

My spotting topics on the IFC (sorted by years since this is slowly getting endless)

2018

Spring Spotting 1
Spring Spotting 2 with Lorenzo
Spring Spotting 3 (feat. Hekla Aurora)
August spotting with some sunrise shots
September 30 with quite some special liveries and bizjets
Spotting in Zurich on the way to Cosford
Spotting Laura and more in Birmingham
Spotting in fog with a sunny end

2019

Special planes at Munich - Munich Security Conference feat. E-4B
Valentine’s Spotting 2019 - Civil Traffic around the Munich Security Conference
Retro Time - British Airways BEA A319
First weekend in Innsbruck - Charter Flights in the Alps
Second Innsbruck Spotting Weekend
Bringing Israeli soldiers to Munich - El Al 747
Another visit of ElAl’s queen - El Al 747
Spotting in the Morning Sun - South African Special Livery A340-300
A full day of Spotting
London Calling - Spotting at MUC and LCY on the way to London
London Heathrow Evening Spotting Before the Meetup
London Heathrow Meetup Spotting
Last Day at Heathrow: Landor, Negus and more
Government Jets and New Perspectives at Munich Airport
One Day Spotting Trip to Frankfurt Airport
Spotting Trip to Berlin
A lot of Specials at Munich
Quick after work spotting for a private A340
Another Sunny Spotting Day in Fall
Spotting with a Female closer than 5 miles, so definitely click even though she’s in none of the Pics!!!
Day and Night Shots at Munich
Deicing and more
Condor’s new colors and a big chopper
Stunning Condensations and a Royal 747
Azimuth Superjet and more for the last topic in a decade

2020

Birthday Spotting
The Final EXPO A380
Special Cargos in the Evening
Zurich’s Airline Traffic during the WEF Week
Air Force One Ramp Tour
Air Force One Arriving in Zurich
Heavy Contrasts for Air Malta’s Retro Jet
First Two Days of SiKo - Kuwait A340, Russia Il96
Amazing Security Conference Perspectives feat. Kuwait’s A340 and more
Etihad’s Choose China Livery
Security Conference Final
Trying A New Position for Condor‘s and United‘s New Liveries
Last Specials Prior to the Corona Break
First Spotting Trip After the Corona Restrictions With Some Cargo Specials
50 Years Special Livery on a Rescue Helicopter
Spotting AN-22 in Leipzig
Spotting the Last Departing A340s of Lufthansa
First Visit of Qatar’s OneWorld A350-1000
AN124 and Other Specials in Munich
Spotting in Frankfurt With Several Specials
Early Morning Cargo Movements
Government Flights at Munich
Military & Special Spotting at Ingolstadt and Neuburg AFB
DC3, Hekla Aurora and an EXPO livery at Munich
The First Visit of an Airbus Beluga XL
Summer Spotting Ending with Engine Light
IL76 Spotting in the Summer Heat
Two Weeks of Specials Summarized
Two More Days of Specials in Munich
Special Movements in September
Covid-19 Fall Spotting
P3, F18, A400M and more
Night Deicing, going to Frankfurt and more

2021

Not the Best Weather for Spotting, but at Least There Were Specials
Spotting in Spectacular Winter Light Part 1
Spotting in Spectacular Winter Light Part 2
German Air Force 1 and more specials
National 747, a Special Bizjet and a Rescue Heli
Departure of a C5 Super Galaxy in Munich
A little Eurofighter Air Show
747 Paradise in Luxembourg

Honorable mentions, TLDRs and Reminders

TL;DR service for @dush19: Planes, Planes, Planes.
@MrMrMan: Look, something new to quote again!
@Nathan time to visit this place again
@Balloonchaser since you will come here anyway… you’re so amazing
@JulianB just want to be sure you don’t miss it
@CaptainHugh
@AndrewWu

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Aha! Very epic my friend 👍

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Wow new topik

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image

this guy is questioning life

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Very cool shots @Moritz!

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Awesome photos Moritz!

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What a shot! 😍

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I wonder how you read his mind through that high quality picture haha

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Omg, I’m not used to you quoting my topics anymore 😱

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uhh first. Quite stunning as usual Moritz

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Wow, want an amazing day for spotting. Really cool shots Mortiz!

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Not quite but only by an inch lol

I like this plane! Definetly looks like a classical plane.


Great shots!

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did you see any refugees coming out of the plane?

Really cool shots. You got a pic of the combat Learjet, a relatively rare find. There’s an awesome aviation instagram page run buy a guy who used to fly those: @Combat_Learjet

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I love the E-8 because it’s home in a couple of hour away from where I live

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Actually it didn’t feel too rare for us haha usually they operate numerous flights in and out of Munich when the Security Conference happens in February

No, we were there before the operation in Afghanistan started and you are also way too far away from the main ramp to see anything

rare catch! it’s an awesome airplane imo

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Great pictures as always! The US has quiet a few very interesting planes operating in Germany, which you show very well. Especially the C17 is very impressive, but the skydivers are a special treat for sure as well. Thank you very much for sharing!

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