No prizes for guessing what carried off most of the prizes and the enthusiasts hearts at RIAT this year - the US Air Force's F-22A Raptor demo. Unsuprisingly the forums have been full of images of the jet, and it was a tough task to pick the best for Picture of The Week. In the end we opted for Michael Lovering's shot, with the Raptor pulling plenty of vapour.
Image © Michael Lovering. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
RIAT just wouldn't be the same without a Buff. UKAR Staffer Phil Jones made light work of the challenging conditions to bring us this superb B-52H chute-shot. Again, the composition here makes the shot work - many lesser photographers would have chosen to centre the aircraft fuselage in the frame, without realising that it's the braking chute which needs to dominate the image.
Image © Philip Jones. Canon EOS 20D + Canon EF 400mm f5.6 L USM lens
For the second year running, 40 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force were back at Fairford, playing a key role in the Battle of Britain element of the display. While the routine was perhaps not quite as aggressive as the 2009 version, it was still a thrill to see a Boeing 757-200 being flung around the Gloucestershires skies. Andy Evans is the lensman, using the available light to great effect.
Image © Andrew Evans. Nikon D300S + Sigma 50-500mm OS lens
The Royal Netherlands Air Force's F-16 Demo Team lost out to the Belgian Viper in the RIAT awards this year. Nonetheless, it's a Dutch '16 shot which impressed the UKAR jury. Plenty going on in Andy Leonard's image - smoke, heat from the exhaust and the gear down, not to mention an interesting cloud formation too.
Image © Andrew Leonard. Canon EOS 40D, Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 lens + 1.4x Teleconverter
UKAR is on a drive to encourage creativity in photo submissions to the board, and young Huw Hopkins has certainly embraced that. A quite splendid monochrome capture of a French Air Force Mirage 2000C in the static park at RIAT 2010. Capture, composition and post-production all of the highest standard.
Image © Huw Hopkins. Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Adam Noonan certainly made a great call to wait for the sun to set before capturing this splendid "Charlie 130" shot. Great technique and use of the wonderful early evening Fairford skyscape.
Image © Adam Noonan. Canon EOS 400D + Canon EF 17-85mm IS lens
We're immensely lucky to have one of only two flying Avro Lancasters in the world in UK skies. PA474 looks superb in her current "Phantom of the Ruhr" noseart, and John Ellison captured the Grand Old Lady wonderfully well on Fairford's runway. Great sharpness, and impressive prop-blur suggests a mastery of the art of panning.
Image © John Ellison. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 300mm f4 L lens
We kick off this week's selection with a corking capture of Kennet Aviation's Seafire raising a few eyebrows with a spectacular low departure into its display at the Flying Legends Airshow, held last weekend at Duxford's Imperial War Museum.
Image © Dean Feltimo. Canon EOS 1D MkIII + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Sticking with Duxford, the flightline walk at Flying Legends allows some great photo opportunities including capturing re-enactors in front of the aircraft recreating typical scenes from the war. This image shows a re-enactor guarding the Douglas Skyraiders.
Image © Andrew Beaumont. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 70-200mm f4L USM lens
A view like this on the BBMF's Lancaster is one seldom (if ever) seen from the crowdline of an airshow, so Russ had to go southside at Flying Legends for this topside angle as the pilots were showing the bomb bay to the audience. It was worth it to add an unusual and colourful shot of a familiar airshow act to his photo collection.
Image © Russell Collins. Canon EOS 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
Forum newbie Krzysztof Baranowski makes an immediate Week in Pics debut with this beautiful take on the Turkish Stars display team. Performing at Airpower 2009 Airshow in Zeltweg, Austria, Kris has pulled back on the zoom to capture the team's F-5s breaking against the imposing stormy skyline that provided the backdrop on a day of changeable weather conditions.
Image © Krzysztof Baranowski. Nikon D3x + Nikon 70-300mm VR lens
Another new member to the forum making their first appearance on these pages is Tomasz Pacan, who has shared with us a wonderful thread of Su22 images. Taken at their Mirosławiec base in Poland, we've picked out a shot of the crew hard at work pre-flight, but in truth, we could have gone for any single image in this thread! Beautifully seen, taken, edited and presented, this is a sublime collection of photographs and a thread well worth looking at. "101% pure photography", as one user commented.
Image © Tomasz Pacan. Sony A700 + Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f2.8 lens
It's RIAT this weekend, and the first arrivals for the show turned up at RAF Lakenheath on Monday evening. News broke on our forums mid-afternoon that a flight of four Alaskan F-22s were inbound to Suffolk and Rob was there to catch their arrivals, and then back again on Tuesday and Wednesday to catch their first sorties on UK soil. The aircraft are scheduled to remain on Temporary Duty (TDY) for two weeks, during which time the demo team will be putting in appearances at both the RIAT and Farnborough airshows.
Image © Rob Howard. Nikon D3, Nikon 500mm f4 lens + 1.4x Teleconverter
From the latest US aircraft to grace Suffolk's skies to what is quite likely the greatest, with this shot of an SR-71 thundering into the air. It's difficult for someone who never experienced a scene like this to find the words that do this photo any justice, so I shan't attempt to. Just enjoy this for what it is - mind blowing!
Image © John Chase
Kevin was in the right place at the right time to capture this superb close up of MH434 on its return to it's home base of Duxford from an appearance at RAF Waddington's Airshow last weekend.
Image © Kevin Daws. Nikon D300 + Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR lens
This stunning photograph was taken by Jörg at the Midsummer Sun Airshow at Kauhava Air Base in Finland at the end of June and was taken at about 12.30am. This spectacular flare shoot was the Grand Finale of the show. Jörg says "The show is one of the nicest events I have yet attended with plenty of nice photo opportunities while still being rather laid back."
Image © Jörg Stange. Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 300mm f2.8 lens
Crop spraying by aircraft is an occurance that no longer happens in this country, however due to the mountainous nature of the Swiss landscape, farmers treat their vineyards and fruit crops by helicopter. Here Julien has captured a Lama SA.315B hard at work treating a crop of grapes.
Image © Julien Ritz. Nikon D300 + Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR lens
The taxiway at Waddington is a great location for taking photographs that give a lot of impact as you catch them head on. Tom caught the Czech L-159 Alca performing its display as the Turkish Stars moved down the taxiway during the RAF Waddington Airshow last weekend.
Image © Tom Hill. Nikon D2x + Nikon Nikkor 300mm f2.8 VR lens
This photograph is of the two Italian Airforce Vipers which were the star attraction of the static display line up at this year's RAF Waddington Airshow.
Image © Dean West. Canon EOS 350D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens
This C-130J Hercules from 335 Skvadron, was one two aircraft from Norway based at RAF Kinloss for Exercise Combined Strength, 2010. The photo was taken close to Dunkeld which was one of the way points for the two aircraft during a formation navigational exercise. Low level photography doesn't get much better than this.
Image © Ian Harding. Canon EOS 50D + 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens
