Good friends, good fun and a jet or two.

While still living in England I began to make connections with spotters living in Arizona. Through them I became a member of the Arizona Aviation Photographers organization which had humble beginnings as a Flickr group. Today AzAP has 40 or so members and hosts its own aviation forum with monthly photo challenges and gobs of info if you are looking for "the planes" in Arizona. I have to add that there is an amazing amount of talent represented within this group from hobbyists to professionals, all with a genuine love of aircraft.

Recently there was a meeting held at Williams Gateway airport KIWA near Phoenix and about a dozen of us gathered to have your usual club-type meeting under the shade-throwing gazeebo of the dedicated aircraft spotting area (yes, they have their OWN spotting area at KIWA). Willie, as it's know, has an FBO that also fuels government aircraft on the weekends so its a pretty busy spot on a Saturday for government and military planes and I wasn't disappointed on my first visit. On arrival we saw a beautifully sexy gloss-black Northrop T-38A with the red letters of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, CA and a gaggle of white and orange Navy T-45s on the ramp in various stages of coming and going. I was able to have a quick conversation with a couple of pilots on how to visually distinguish the A and C models of the T-45 Goshawk and then the big happy moment of the day for me: inbound was a NASA T-38A(N).

To say I was a happy camper when the white Talon parked right next to the black one would be somewhat of an understatement. Not only was there a visual contrast I could explore but there's just enough of a difference in the two models to make a great image showing what makes the NASA bird deserving of the (N) designation. The T-38A(N) underwent the PMP upgrade changing the GE J85-5A afterburning turbojets in for the GE J85-5R which explains the difference in the exhaust nozzles (intakes were also changed but couldn't get the angle to show that) resulting in a significant increase in power. They also have a sleek aircraft-specific travel pod.

I enjoy this group. The guys are all nice and very willing to share information, there seems to be a go-to guy about most areas of aviation. I can't wait until the next meeting.