Pictures Of The Week
Week 35, August 2010
Clockwise from top left:
Pride of place this week goes to the stunning "Hurribomber" owned and flown by Peter Teichman out of his North Weald Hangar 11 Collection. "Pegs" is fast becoming one of the UKAR team's favourite warbirds. UKAR's own Dan Butcher shot this crisp capture of BE505 at Dunsfold, giving a well-lit topside pass.
Image © Daniel Butcher. Canon EOS 20D + Canon EF 70-300mm IS lens
If you like your propliners, the Classic Flight collection at Coventry Airport is the place to indulge your passion. Jack's effort here oozes creativity, as he fired off this superb image of the company's de Havilland Dove G-DHDV and Douglas DC-6 G-APSA.
Image © Jack Goward. Canon EOS 1000D + Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens
What's not to like about Hogs and vapour? Glenn was at Point Mugu in California to shoot this Davis-Monthan based A-10. The UKAR judges eyes were especially caught by the wisps of condensation over the wings and engine cowlings from the moist coastal air.
Image © Glenn Bloore. Nikon D3 + 200-400mm lens
The Children In Need Airshow at Little Gransden in Cambridgeshire goes from strength to strength, and was deserving of better weather this year. Despite the autumnal conditions, Andrew still produced a fine set of images - topped off by this pair of Fournier RF-4 motorgliders taxying out before their display.
Image © Andrew Leonard. Canon EOS 40D + Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens
Duane got himself up-close-and-personal with one of the Royal Navy's finest. It's all about being in the right place at the right time, and our correspondent certainly was, to shoot this Sea King landing at Silloth for a demonstraion with an RNLI lifeboat.
Image © Duane Midas
UKAR has led the way again this year, this time with the use of creative angles and black and white photography, this time, Bruntingthorpe-based de Havilland Comet "Canopus", one of the taxying classic jets at XH558's former home. Shaun braved a gusty Brunty to attend one of their regular taxi run days.
Image © Shaun Schofield
Pictures Of The Week
Week 34, August 2010
Clockwise from top left:
Kevin Jackson's fine study of a pair of 8th Fighter Squadron F-117A's set against a Nevada sunset certainly ticks all the POTW boxes. Shot from a Wisconsin Air Guard KC-135R during Red Flag 07-02 in February 2007, Kev considers it one of the highlights of his aviation photography career and its not difficult to see why.
Image © Kevin Jackson. Canon EOS 1D MkII + Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lens
Rick Ingham shot this iconic Hawk image from the top of the hill by Smugglers Inn at the Dawlish Carnival airshow. It just goes to show that despite adverse weather forecasts it's sometimes possible to come away with a memorable image.
Image © Rick Ingham. Canon EOS 400D + Canon EF 400mm f5.6 L lens
The fact that young Chris Milne's photography has come on in leaps and bounds of late is well illustrated by this shot of a VC10 at Kinloss. The composition of the image was a result of using the difficult and moody conditions to their best advantage as it wasn't possible to capture a clear shot of the entire aircraft.
Image © Chris Milne. Nikon D90 + Tamron 70-300mm lens
Mike Shreeve's cockpit shot of a March ARB-based C-17 shows the effective use of flash to balance with the outside conditions. Flying over the vicinity of San Francisco Bay area, Mike is pleased with the results from his Canon 5D MkII.
Image © Mike Shreeve
Andrew McPherson's amazing image taken from somewhere between Swanley and Eynsford in the Kent countryside is a good reminder to always have your camera at the ready as you never know what opportunities will arise.
Image © Andrew MacPherson. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Luminous hot air balloons shot after dark are nearly always a photogenic subject. Kevin Sullivan's image taken from his vantage point high up on Heaven Hill during the Bristol Balloon Fiesta's Saturday night-glow event certainly goes a long way to proving that point.
Image © Kevin Sullivan. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 24-105mm f4 L IS lens
Steve Wilson's image taken from the rear seat of a Tornado GR1 reeks of pure nostalgia.Taken at 20,000 ft somewhere over the North Sea during the work up to a deployment to Toronto airshow and a spot of terrain following training in Ontario, Steve's image captures a bit of what the RAF used to have.
Image © Steve Wilson. Pentax ME Super + 50mm lens
Pictures Of The Week
Week 33, August 2010
Clockwise from top left:
Surely the masters of the special paint job are the Tornado squadrons of the Luftwaffe, and this "eye-catching" scheme was photographed recently by Mick Balter before the aircraft was placed on gate guard duties at Schleswig-Jagel. The paint scheme was applied in 2009 to mark 50 Years of Reconnaissance Operations by AG51 and the disbandment of the unit's 2nd Staffel, hence the inscription on the external fuel tank.
Image © Mick Balter (MBAviation-Images). Canon EOS ID Mk III + Canon EF 28-135mm IS lens
It's all about being in the right place at the right time, and Jonathan London demonstrated just that in his atmospheric shot of a French Air Force Alpha Jet taken at dawn. The aircraft had been operating from Norwich Airport for the Lowestoft Air Festival, one of several UK airshows to have been graced with the solo display routine from the Gallic advanced trainer in 2010.
Image © Jonathan London
In this the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire has been a particular airshow favourite, and this has to be one of this summer's best captures of the subject. Keith Meachem ignored the weatherman's advice and headed to Old Warden where he produced this beautiful topside view of OFMC's Spitfire LF.IXb flown by Lee Proudfoot in stunning early evening light.
Image © Keith Meachem. Canon EOS 1D Mk IV + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
The UK's sole airworthy PBY-5A Catalina looks perfectly at home here over the English Channel, caught here by Nigel Blake off Beachy Head. Planesailing's "Cat" was one of several warbird types to display at the nearby "Airbourne" - Eastbourne's International Airshow, held over four days in mid-August.
Image © Nigel Blake
Hans van der Wilt brought us an excellent selection of images from the Japanese Air Self Defence Force base at Nyutabaru, home to the F-4EJ Phantoms of 301 Hikotai. This head-on shot of a trio of jets no doubt makes a lot of us older enthusiasts here in the UK hark back to the days of the Phantoms in RAF service. If only we could wind back the clock....
Image © Hans van der Wilt. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 300mm f4 L lens
Kecskemet was one of this year's "must see" events on the European Airshow calendar, and Bartosz Bera showed us why in his set of choice images he offered the UKAR massive. As well as being supported heavily by Hungarian Air Force frontline types, the airshow boasted no fewer than four of Europe's military aerobatic display teams including, as seen here, the inimitable Frecce Tricolori.
Image © Bartosz Bera. Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Pictures Of The Week
Week 32, August 2010
Clockwise from top left:
This edition of 'Pictures of the Week' starts with with a brilliant close-in shot of a Hungarian Hind taking part in the role demo at Kecskemet Airshow, Hungary. The Hungarians managed to arrange what seemed to be one of the best shows in Europe this year, having a large variety of exotic aircraft and displays rarely seen in our part of the world.
Image © Kevin Martin. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
There have been various 'theme' topics on the forum where people share their best shots of a particular aircraft type or aircraft that share the same role. With the imminent retirement of the Tornado F3, a topic dedicated to the Fin was unavoidable and one of the images that really stood out is Mark's beautiful capture. Leuchars is Mark's local base so he has quite a selection of F3 photos but this one of a 56(R) squadron jet during Leuchars airshow 2004 is a bit special!
Image © Mark McEwan. Canon EOS 10D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
A flying F-100, something we normally only see in our 'Golden Oldies Photography' section! This Super Sabre finished in the markings of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing is one of two remaining airworthy examples and Hugh was thrilled to shoot it at the Thunder over Michigan show at Willow Run airport near Detroit. Having been retired in the US it was sold off to the Turkish Air Force. When the TAF phased out the 'Hun' it was sold back to the US to join the QF-100 programme but fortunately there was a more glorious future for 56-3948 than ending up as an aerial target!
Image © Hugh Dodson. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Museums aren't always the best places for good pictures, as one often has to deal with bad lighting and aircraft being parked too close to one another. Chris doesn't mind the challenge though and this lovely shot of Duxford's 74 Squadron Phantom FGR2 XV474/T is just one from an excellent set taken at the famous museum where he shows his good eye for composition and lightning.
Image © Chris Milne. Nikon D90 + Nikon 18-105mm VR lens
Sam tried to take some different shots of the static at this years RAF Lyneham Families Day and he certainly succeeded in doing that with this shot. After a heavy rainfall Sam photographed the accumulated raindrops on the wing of an Alpha Jet from Boscombe Down's QinetiQ.
Image © Samuel Dodd. Canon EOS 400D + Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens
Retrolicious! From the days when the US Navy still had colourful fast jets! This EA-6B Prowler operated by VAQ-133 from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy visited the 1977 IAT show at Greenham Common. As the transition from the venerable Prowler to the EA-18G Growler has already started, we can only hope to see the EA-6B at a UK airshow in the near future again.
Image © Fred Martin. Practika LTL
Pictures Of The Week
Week 31, August 2010
Clockwise from top left:
In a rare outing outside the commentary box, UKARs very own Dan O'Hagan paid a visit to Old Warden for the twenty-ten Military Pageant and was rewarded with the weather being kind enough for the Edwardian aeroplanes to take to the air. This photo depicts well the precarious position of the pilot in this 1910 Bristol Boxkite replica.
Image © Dan O'Hagan. Canon EOS 30D + Sigma 50-500mm lens
A photo visit to 31st Air Base, Poznan-Krzesiny caught this emotive image of one of the based Polish Air Force F-16s departing on a late afternoon training sortie. Photographer Kris adds : "After proper exposure and a bit of post processing makes in my opinion a quite interesting and moody background" - the staff at UKAR agree.
Image © Krzysztof Baranowski. Nikon D300s + Nikon 500mm f4 VR lens
A unique reflective moment as two Lancasters are caught displaying at the Farnborough airshow! Alas this was just smoke and mirrors, plus help from the shiny side of the modern airfield infrastructure but the quick thinking of the photographer makes for a great composition.
Image © Steve Sinton. Nikon D300 + Nikkor 18-105mm VR lens
The traditional English summer weather greeted the recent Farnborough airshow, as depicted by the propeller vortices emanating from the two Rolls-Royce AE2100-D2A turboprops of this C-27J Spartan of the Italian Air Force.
Image © Peter Collins. Nikon D2x, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 + 1.7x Teleconverter
Time for some airshow heavy metal with this pairs shot of Slovak Air Force MiG-29s from Sliac AB performing a fast pass over runway during Slovakia's "National Air Day" at Piestany. Slovakia has upgraded the navigation and communications systems on some of its 'Fulcrums' for NATO compatibility, so hopefully these fantastic fighters will be around for a little longer yet.
Image © Bartosz Bera. Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Capturing the atmosphere of 1940 is this cockpit shot of Spitfire on the ground at the recent Flying Legends airshow. The black and white finish to the photo works well and amplifies the clear blue cirrus skies which graced Duxford for this two day event.
Image © Philipp Weber. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM lens
We're off to Poland again, this time a head-on action shot of a PZL M28 Skytruck at the event held at Krakow-Balice International Airport (MPL) in the centre of the city. There are not many airshow venues where the background for photography consists of a block of flats!
Image © Slawek Krajniewski
