So to recapitulate what we've seen so far : 2 USAF C130 gunships, 2 Spanish A400s, 4 American F-16s and now an Emirates Air Force C17 all in a week's time at an airbase no one's seen anything land in living memory (well, a Canadair CL-415 in Summer).

More surprises : taking off after what was barely more than a touch-and-go. Whatever it is carrying, if anything, must have driven off or on like a bat out of hell. Or maybe they were guinea-pigs : see if you can land a C17 there and take off again. Yes, we can.