Military Exercise Talisman Saber 2013: Three United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing C-17A Globemaster III Transport Aircraft Touch Down at Rockhampton Airport

Rockhampton locals had a fantastic afternoon of plane spotting on Monday 8 July with three United States Air Force (USAF) Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft touching down at Rockhampton Airport from overseas.

Globemaster 05-5143 of March Air Force Base (AFB) was first to touch down as "Reach 865".

A little while later, Globemaster 05-5144, also of March AFB, arrived as "Reach 965".

Then Globemaster 01-0187 from McChord AFB touched down as "Reach 972".

As the sun went down, the Globemasters seemed to be staying for the night, and were in fact noted off-loading containers and other pieces of equipment, including a United States Navy (USN) Sikorsky Seahawk helicopter.

My sincere thank to Rockhampton plane spotter Ben O for capturing these fantastic images, and taking the time out to edit and send them through this evening!  Cheers mate!

Stay tuned to the CQ Plane Spotting Blog for more great images from a fantastic afternoon of plane spotting at Rockhampton Airport.  Just remember, Exercise Talisman Saber kicks off next week!

All photos taken by Ben O’Dowd  ©