Word got out that a C-177 Globemaster out of Trenton Ontario would be flying into the London Ontario Airport YXU to pick up some very lucky Cadets who would be going up for a flight. Media had said that the Globemaster was scheduled to arrive at YXU for 9am, however, it was said that the Globemaster ran into a mechanical issue that needed to be addressed before they left Trenton Airforce Base. With only 4 hours of Sleep, I woke up at 7am and headed on out to London, I arrived around 8am.. thank goodness I had my coffee with me but should have brought some food with me too. After hearing about the Globemasters delay, it was now said it would be at the airport around 10:30am - 11am, more waiting and by now, the coffee was starting to work and I needed to relieve myself but there were so many people around.. thank god for fields and bushes lol. 11am rolled around, still no Globemaster, rumor had now spread that it was still on the tarmac in Trenton and wouldn’t be arriving until 12:30pm - 1pm.. at this time a lot of the people that were there waiting were getting in their cars and leaving.. me however.. I didn’t have plans and had already waited 5 hours, no point in leaving now. Around 1:45pm we heard that the Globemaster was in the air and on it’s way to YXU… my time line might be a little off but I remember it was somewhere around 3pm when we saw it on approach out of the east. Over this website I had on my phone where I could listen to the Control Tower I heard “ Bison5, you are clear to approach and land on runway ONE FIVE “ I quickly grabbed the camera and ran up onto this mound that was directly in line with the centre of runway 15 and it put me up high enough I was up over the fence and knew this was the best angle to get an amazing straight on shot.
As the Globemaster approached it looked like it was to high and to far into the runway to make a landing so we all thought it was going to do a touch-and-go, or a low pass then circle around to land which would have been so cool, unfortunately, it dropped like a rock and came in for a landing.. I was surprised, figured it would need a lot more of the runway to land than what it used. Knowing that they were there to pick up cadets for a flight, we knew that the C-177 would be doing a take off which would bring it right at us. When it landed it came in from the opposite end of the runway from us and was to far away to get a decent shot of the landing, so the take off was what I was waiting for. It took roughly 35 mins to load the first group of Cadets up, then we heard over the scanner that they were getting ready to taxi passed runway 09 and down to the back of runway 15. Back up on the dirt mound I was dead centre of runway 15 and could see the Globemaster start to roll.. I could hear the 4 massive engines power up and see all the dust blow around behind it on the runway creating a large dust cloud. It’s a bit intimidating seeing something that huge come right at you, then lift off of the ground and stay up in the air, then fly right over your head. I remember looking up at one point when the plane filled my frame and I couldn’t shoot anymore and all I saw was Grey .. no sky, just grey.. it was right over my head, the sound was so loud I could feel the rumble in my chest then a massive amount of air blowing back on me… just crazy.
After editing and posting on social media it was pointed out to me that the London Ontario International Airport (YXU) had shared my image on their site, their twitter, Instagram and facebook which is pretty awesome! It was definitely worth waiting around on Creamery Rd. for 7 hours to get the shot… now it’s the long wait until September for the London Air Show!
C-177 GLOBEMASTER - take off from YXU
© Kevin Vyse Photography
Image Publication on YXU website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
