SLAF jet squadron tarmac time lapse video
Youtube video below (my first!) shows a time lapse satellite view of the tarmac around Katunayake air force base jet aircraft hangers. I am not an expert in identifying military aircraft from satellite photos. Perhaps those who can would contribute via the comment box or the very cool youtube video annotations feature. Your choices are down to F7s, IAI Kfirs, MIG 27s, or K-8s though the SLAF does have one or two lone birds (MIG 23 trainer or a F5).
The unofficial SLAF “fan” blog has pictures of these aircraft in the same hangers (I think) that appear in the video. Rajaratasurfer’s photostream on flickr also has an extensive collection pf SLAF aircraft (mixed in with other SL Army and Navy pictures). Airliners.net has a more formally organised collection.
The images in this video were created using the “history” feature in Google Earth 5.0 to generate images taken of the same location on different dates.
Postscipt
Thanks to the comments I received I got motivated to sniff around for aircraft top, side and profile view diagrams of the aircraft mentioned in the comments. The results are linked below.
Look like Kfirs to me – Delta wing is a big give away
The delta wings on the right are probably Kfirs. The swing wings on the left are probably MiG-27s
Lankanfunkin & Pericles: Thank you
If you got a moment feel free to mark them out on the youtube video using youtube “annotations” feature.
peri’s correct…left of photo 3 Mig 27 Flogger D units & top right Kfir C2 units. Cuz, F 7’s wings, not swept back or delta, they are half Triangle sweep cut. Nice photo.
Cernmate…do ya know who took this awesome shot ? Dying to know ?
Rajarata: Thank you for the info
As for who took the pictures in the video -
it is from Google Earth 5.0 which uses photographs from the GeoEye-1 satellite (according to kalusudda. I used Google Earth’s “tilt” feature to create a face “aerial” look.