One of the harder 76s to shoot worldwide, this example was delivered to CUA on 30.9.91 and was one of 14 flown for the Air Force around that time

Support for the Russian Knights team from the 224th Flt Unit whose badge appears prominently on the fin

Checking out this eerie airport on a summer evening I heard this rare bird spooling up its deafening D-30K engines. I climbed on a pile of pallets and hoped she might taxi past this spot, which she did in the last usable light at 9.30 PM.

Military aircraft in a civil disguise, with arabic Iraqi Airways titles and a civil registration.

Arriving from Moscow - Vnukovo carrying Putin's armoured car.

Dark rain clouds approaching from the northwest, but "Lugano" is still lit by the nice autumn sunshine. On 24 May 1991 the crew of this aircraft was unable to find the runway of Bakhtaran, Iran because of bad weather. They ran out of fuel and had to make a forced landing in the Iranian desert. This IL-76, not even two years old at that time, was written off. Metro Cargo ceased operations the following month, on 20 Jun 1991.

Seen making an early morning departure from Waddington for the long flight back to India following the exercise

Back in these days the two Syrian Air Ilyushin 76's were still IL-76M's, but they were later converted to IL-76T (additional APU and several internal differences).