Thematic Photographic 70: "Hard" v.2.0 - Hard to Port

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"Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros"
Winston Salem, NC - September 2009 (Click to embiggen)

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It's no secret that I have a long standing love of airplanes and aviation. So the 2009 Winston Salem Air Show was a regular orgy of photo opportunities for me. And I hadn't been there very long when this Czech-designed Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros and its white-painted twin came screaming down the flight line making multiple passes over the crowd. I didn't know it at the time, but the L-39 is one of the hardest working aircraft ever built. While it has been modified for attack missions by some of its operators, its primary role is as a trainer aircraft. And in that capacity it is the most popular aircraft currently in use, with over 2800 airframes still flying. Over 30 different air forces worldwide employ the Albatros as their primary jet trainer. And it's a hard bargain to beat too with a unit cost of between $200,000 and $300,000 USD. Just for reference, the USAF equivalent of the L-39, Northrop Aircraft's T-38 Talon, retails for around $756,000 USD, and the MX-2 turboprop stunt plane I saw later that day carries base price of $330,000 USD (the plane I watched probably came closer to $450,000 USD out-the-door).

Your Turn: Got a "Hard" photo to support this week's theme? Feel free to share a link in the comments. If you're new to Thematic Photographic or just wondering how this works, you can find out all about it here or better yet, here at TP's usual home.

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