Side view of the George W Bush	Head on of the George W Bush	Alongside the George W Bush	Coast Guard AW139 G-SARD
HH-60 166536	F18 166780	F18 166786	A small air force

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Hi All
The US Navy aircraft carrier USS George W Bush is at Stokes Bay until 30 May so a "Quick Nip" down to view her started at 03-00 yesterday morning calling at a limited number of places due to a time factor (Phil had to be back pronto), First up

RAF Brize Norton 29-05-2011

Seen on the Brize Norton list three USAF C-130's had landed on Friday so a call in found

ZH873/873 C-130
ZH887/887 C-130
ZZ173/173 C-17
ZZ174/174 C-17
ZZ17?/??? C-17 (Not ZZ177)

78 0812 C-130 Pittsburgh Yellow Tail Band
92 3285 C-130 Flying Vikings
94 7316 C-130 AFRC White Dk Blue Tail Band

Also here were a few VC-10's and L-1011's but i did not note them, From Brize it was down to Stokes Bay and the carrier. Arriving at Stokes Bay we had a quick look at the "Boat" and then headed off into Gosport for the Water Boat across the harbour to find out which "cruse company" was doing the tours. We booked our trip out with Blue Funnel and sat around having a coffee till 11-00 when we set out on quite a bumpy sea

We passed HMS Sultan in Gosport on the way to Stokes Bay and seen outside were

HMS Sultan 29-05-2011

As we passed here we saw a number of aircraft outside nothing read by us except a Wessex coded "B"

Stokes Bay CVN 77 USS George W Bush 29-05-2011

Another of the big American carriers its the tenth and last of the Nimitz class boats, a few statistics 102,000 displaced tonnes nearly 1100 feet long and 250 feet across and the bit i liked the most "Range = 20 Years" as she is a nuclear powered. Seen on the deck was the rest of the ships aircraft apart from two UH-60 both at RNAS Culdrose and two C-2 Greyhounds these been at RN Yeovilton, I will list them in squadron code order (Not all BU number were read I have quite a number off my photos and I have used a few logs off the net to build up this list).

On the way out to the carrier we got "Buzzed" by a Coastguard A-139 who flew along side us around 40 ft up and stayed for a photo or two before departing

The Solent 29-05-2011

G-SARD A-139

Stokes Bay 29-05-2011

VFA-31 The Topcatters

166778/102 F-18
166779/103 F-18
166780/104 F-18
166781/105 F-18
166782/106 F-18
166783/107 F-18
166784/110 F-18
166785/111 F-18
166786/112 F-18
166788/113 F-18

VFA-213 Black Lions

166674/201 F-18
166679/202 F-18
166681/203 F-18
166683/205 F-18
166684/206 F-18
166636/210 F-18
166637/211 F-18
166638/212 F-18
166639/213 F-18
166640/214 F-18

VFA-15 Valions

164669/301 F-18
164238/302 F-18
164646/303 F-18
164256/304 F-18
164661/305 F-18
164671/307 F-18
164678/310 F-18
164630/312 F-18
164643/314 F-18

VFA-87 Golden Warriors

163107/400 F-18 (CAG Bird)
162861/401 F-18
162872/402 F-18
162841/403 F-18
162904/404 F-18
162909/406 F-18
162831/407 F-18
163148/410 F-18
162902/411 F-18

VAQ-141 Shadowhawks

166929/501 F-18
166930/502 F-18
166931/503 F-18
166932/504 F-18

VAW-124 Bear Aces

165300/600 E-2
165302/602 E-2
164494/603 E-2

HSC-9 Tridents

167841/612 MH-60
167842/613 MH-60
167851/617 MH-60

HSM-70 Spartons

166536/700 MH-60 (CAG Bird)
166537/701 MH-60
166552/706 MH-60
166554/707 MH-60
166558/712 MH-60

Down in the hangar decks were other aircraft we did not see as the doors were closed.

And that was it a bumpy ride out in the Solent today but i stayed dry ish, On the way home we called in Luton to see if anything was around and passed Southampton

Southampton 29-05-2011

PR-SUN Ce-680

Req

G-????? Bn-2a Tri-lander Aurigny
G-???? DASH-8 FlyBe
??-??? Da-900 ?

Luton 29-05-2011

A few nice machines in here today

G-FDZW B-737
EC-LHL B-757
EI-EPA B-737
HA-LWF A-320

G-PVEL BD-500

B-8096 Gulf-4
C-GDPG BD-700
B-KCK Gulf-5
B-LEX BBJ
B-LSZ Gulf-4
D-CLIC Ce-560
EC-HVQ Ce-525
EC-KTK Gulf-150
EC-LAE Galaxy
EW301PJ CRJ-200
F-HDLN Be-200
HB-JGR CL-604
M-ABCT Gulf-4
N55AL Gulf-5
N161MM Gulf-4
N300K Gulf-5
N410M Gulf-5
N440QS Gulf-4
N507SA Gulf-4
N702GH Gulf-4
N757PL BD-700
N994GP Da-2000
N3456 Gulf-5
OE-IOO BD-700
PR-AUR Gulf-200
P4-IKF Da-2000
RA67223 CL-604
SU-MAN BAe-125
TC-KRM BD-700
VT-BRS Gulf-5
VT-SMI Gulf-5
XA-FEM Gulf-5

On the way down and back we passed East Midlands on the M1 but nothing was seen on the Eastern cargo ramp either time

As always my thanks to Phil and Josh for the day out

Cheers
Ade (York - UK)

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