Polish armed F-16C Jastrząb fighter jets flying at low altitude in Wales' famous Mach Loop

In 2019 I told you here about the Mach Loop, one of the best places in the world to photograph fighter jets flying at low altitude.

Two of the best mountains in the world to see war planes flying at high speed
The curious image of a USAF F-15C Eagle fighter with the White Eagle of Poland

That place is a few kilometers north of the small town of Machynlleth in Wales. It consists of valleys known as the Machynlleth Loop, although aviation enthusiasts often refer to it as the "Mach Loop".

This location is a "Low Flying Area" where military aircraft can fly at an altitude of less than 2,000 feet (609 meters) and at a maximum speed of 450 knots (833 km/h), from 08:00 to 23:00 on weekdays.

Last week, Polish Air Force F-16C fighter jets flew through the Mach Loop as part of their participation in Exercise Cobra Warrior, organized by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and held from March 16-17. The 31st Tactical Air Base in Krzesiny published a news report about this exercise on its website.

On March 24, the Facebook page of that Polish base published the photos you can see here of those F-16Cs in the Mach Loop. They were taken by Captain Paweł Krzeszkiewicz and Sergeant Marcin Kurkus.

These photos show F-16Cs 4043, 4050, and 4051. Additionally, the aforementioned base published a second series of photos, taken by Sergeant Marcin Kurkus, also show F-16Cs 4043, 4045, and 4049. As seen in the images, the aircraft were armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The F-16 is nicknamed Jastrząb (Falcon) in the Polish Air Force, although the mascot of the 31st Tactical Air Base is a raven, a bird historically associated with wisdom and observation in Poland and which appeared on the Ślepowron, a coat of arms used by various Polish noble families during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One of the Polish pilots carried a stuffed raven in his cockpit for this reason.

One of the regular photographers at that location, Welshman Dafydd Phillips, has published a video today showing these Polish Air Force F-16C fighters in the Mach Loop, specifically 4050 and 4052. The Polish Air Force deployed at least 7 of its 36 F-16 Block 52+ aircraft to the UK, a considerable deployment:

In the second series of photos released by 31st Air Base, we can see two particularly symbolic ones. In one of them, we see F-16C 4045 taking off from RAF Waddington with the Red Arrows' BAE Hawks following behind. The RAF's fixed-wing aerobatic team is based there.

Furthermore, at RAF Waddington, two Polish F-16Cs took this photo with an Avro Vulcan bomber. If I'm not mistaken, the Vulcan is XM607, one of the aircraft that participated in the famous "Black Buck" missions during the Falklands War.

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Photos: 31 Baza Lotnictwa Taktycznego Poznań-Krzesiny.