In search of Red Flag

[RAD2LTR]

Has anyone tried to shoot any of the Red or Green Flag exercises out of Nellis AFB from out in the desert? Yes, shooting the planes leaving and returning in Vegas is pretty easy, I'm talking about jumping in a 4x4 and heading out into the desert looking for the actual combat exercises. Tikaboo Valley and Coyote Summit appear to be possible vantage points.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Will

[Reever]

Re: In search of Red Flag

Coyote Summit is a pretty good vantage point. But it's kind of hard to pin down on where to go. I lived in Rachel for a little over a year and found the photo situation to be very fluid. You'll be looking for action and then all of the sudden you are in the middle of the action. One place that was very interesting is you pass through Rachel heading toward Warm Springs. As you climb out of the valley about five miles out of Rachel there's a road to the left. It's paved now. This is an entrance to Tonopah Test Range and the western boarder to Groom Lake. Watched a Hind 24 chase cattle out there one time. When a flag is on there will be mobile radar units out there participating in the operations.

It's best to have a good scanner and try to pick up on where the action might be taking place. I was on Coyote Summit one day and a F-15E passed about a quarter mile away at eye level, kicking flares, he was so low the flares were hitting the ground before they lit. He was being chased by an F-16 Aggressor CS "Ivan One". There's a website groomlakeresort.com that has a lot of the freqs. If you go into the LIL ALIEN restaurant at lunch time you'll find some of the people that operate the mobile radar systems.

Good hunting.

[RAD2LTR]

Re: In search of Red Flag

Wow, very informative. It sounds like Coyote summit is a very good vantage point. I would have expected the exercises to take place a lot further out in the desert. This might be easier to do than I thought. The dates are even listed. The heat might be tough to deal with, but I think it would be worth it to get some epic shots.

Thanks,
Will

[Reever]

Re: In search of Red Flag

Well, it's just a shade under 5,000 ft. altitude so most of the time the high will reach the 90's. It's the high desert.

[RAD2LTR]

Re: In search of Red Flag

Its like Reno. Were you on the highway itself or did you take the dirt road off to the pair of peaks to the southwest of Coyote Summit?

Another interesting place to check out is Rainbow Canyon, aka Jedi transition between Owens Valley and Death Valley just off of Highway 190. Some of the pics I have found from here are epic.

Will

[Reever]

Re: In search of Red Flag

There is a road from Coyote South West. There use to be a guy up there that had a "fine mineral claim" up there. He's not a very nice person. You get up there you will run close to the boundary so watch for little sticks painted with bright colors. Check out the African Longhorns up there they belong to a rancher named Steve Medlin. First time I saw one I about jumped out of the cab of my truck. They are HUGE.

If you could spend a few nights in Rachel, it's pretty interesting, lots of night ops.