Category Archives: Air Shows

WestJet Air Show Takeoff!

The Abbotsford Air Show takes place on an airfield that is still open for business. At various times during the display, there will be a pause while a scheduled commercial flight arrives or departs. During the show a couple of years ago, WestJet had one of their 737-700s show up, drop off some passengers, pick up a new bunch and head out. I was thinking that a 700 would be off the ground pretty quickly so decided to get some shots of it.

I was mistaken. Instead of blasting up quickly and getting a nice shot with Mt Baker in the background, they appeared to use as much of the runway as they possibly could. Rotation was a long way down the field and the climb out seemed leisurely. Not so dramatic. I have been to a few shows over the years that have movements that break up the display and, while it is nice to get airliner shots from on the field, the amount of time it takes out of the display is probably not worth it.

Was That Engine Supposed to Fit in There?

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The JF-17 Thunder was one of the interesting aircraft to make it to RIAT in 2025. It had been before, but this was the first time I got to see it. The Pakistan Air Force brought a pair of them. I got to have a good look at one of them in the static park and something struck me about it. The engine installation. The plane is fitted with the Klimov RD93 engine which is a derivative of the engine for the MiG-29. The diameter of the nozzle for the engine seems to be very small compared to the rear fuselage size. Afterbody drag is a big deal on fighters and I wonder how bad the penalty is for this configuration. I understand that China is developing an engine to replace the RD93 and maybe the sizing of the fuselage is for this new engine. In the meantime, it does look like someone made do with the engine available.

Festival of Flight Other Stuff

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There have been a few posts of specific aircraft from the Shuttleworth’s Festival of Flight this summer. While those planes were of specific interest to me, there was an extensive display with many other types of planes taking part. Some of these were familiar types but some were new to me. This included variants of the de Havilland Moth family and an old Sopwith. I have run through the many shots I took that day and here is a selection of images of the displays although by no means a comprehensive one!

Throwing a Transport Around the Sky

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I have seen plenty of footage of C-27J displays where the crews make use of the plentiful power of the type to undertake aerobatics. However, I had never seen it in person. The only C-27Js I had seen display were from the US Coast Guard and they were much more benign in their performance. RIAT brought an example from the Italian Air Force’s test centre and the crew that displayed it knew exactly how much performance they could wring from it.

They displayed a few times during the show, and each performance was worth stopping to watch. The ability to loop and roll a decent sized transport was impressive. The conditions during some of the displays were not ideal from a lighting point of view but the humidity in the air did make for some great prop vortices. An inverted plane streaming vapour from the props makes for an interesting image. If you haven’t had the chance to see the display and an opportunity presents itself, do be there.

Sensors Versus Markings on the Gripen E

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I was editing my images from RIAT recently and culling those that were never going to see the light of day. As I was working through the images of the Gripen E demonstrations, I noticed an array of sensors on the fuselage of the aircraft. There were also a bunch of markings that looked quite similar. The sensors seemed to have a specific shaping to the fuselage to align them with where they needed to face whilst the markings just seemed painted on to both the fuselage and the pylons. My assumption was that these were tracking locations for stores separation tests, but they were different to what I have seen used for this previously. I can’t tell for sure whether one is designed to distract you from the other! I have no knowledge of the systems fitted to the Gripen and will have to do some research but once you see this array of sensors, you can’t help but notice them thereafter!

Have I Ever Seen a Boomerang?

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Before you think I am being ridiculous, I am not referring to the profiled wood that will come back to you but the plane. In fact, there is more than one plane called the Boomerang. A Rutan design called the Boomerang was a one off which I once saw on the ground at Oshkosh. However, it was also the name of a piston fighter built in Australia. I had never seen one of those before. If I am being totally honest, I still haven’t since the one I saw was a replica built but it is a pretty impressive replica so we shall let that go.

It was brought to the Festival of Flight that was held by the Shuttleworth Trust at Old Warden in the summer. Having an old type with an unfamiliar shape when you can get blasé about the various Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mustangs etc. is a nice change. It had a great paint job, and the tighter confines of Old Warden allowed it to be displayed nice and close to the crowd line. Certainly, one of the more notable things I got to shoot this year.

Portugal’s Merlins Just Look Better

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The AW101 is a great looking helicopter. I saw the original prototypes fly in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s including one that was configured as a civilian passenger type (sadly never to have the demand to make it to production). Since that time, I have liked to get photos of them wherever possible. The Canadian Cormorants look great in their yellow paint, and I finally got shots of them last year. Normally they are not painted in a very exciting way.

However, the Portuguese Merlin came to display at RIAT this year and it was way better looking than the average. It has a camouflage finish which seems to be a rarity these days. The colours of the camo were also quite vibrant, and it made for a striking subject. It certainly helped that the crew were throwing it around quite energetically and performed on more than one occasion, so I got plenty of shots of it.

An air show is an opportunity to see an airframe performing in ways that you wouldn’t normally get but it is also a rather sterile environment. These helicopters are used for search and rescue along the coastline of Portugal, and I imagine it would be really nice to get to photograph them in their “natural habitat” with cliffs and the see behind them. Maybe I might find myself out there one day.

Super Bugs at Bremerton

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One of the last air shows I attended before we left the Pacific Northwest was at Bremerton. The unusual thing about this air show was that I didn’t head there alone. Instead, Nancy came along with me. It is a long time since she last came to a show with me, but the good news was that she enjoyed it! One of the parts of the show that she found the best was the US Navy’s Super Hornet display. They ripped up the sky for a while. Their blast across the field from crowd rear particularly amused her!

The conditions not ideal from a lighting point of view but there was humidity in the air with the upside that the jet was created plenty of spluff. One of the passes in particular created a lot of cloud activity. It made for a difficult image to process given the contrast with the cloudy background and that its own clouds needed not to be over exposed. I suspect I shall probably try reprocessing this again in the future as either my techniques improve, or the software gets more advanced. I did have a bit too much lens for the closest part of the pass – oh well…

Apparently, This Helicopter is Very Rare

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While the majority of aircraft that appear at RIAT are military, you do get some civilian types that show up as well. This year, one of these was a Canadian registered Bell 47. This airframe is a Bell 47H-1 which I am informed is a pretty rare member of the larger family. No idea whether this is true or whether these things are common as muck. I certainly haven’t got a pile of shots of similar airframes but that is hardly proof. Given that it is registered in Canada, I am not sure how much time it is spending in the UK, but it was here and flying so that’ll do!

A Pair of Edwardians in Gorgeous Light

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The great conditions for Shuttleworth’s Festival of Flight Sunday show meant we got to see a lot of the more fragile types fly. Later in this section of the show, we had the Bristol Boxkite and the Avro Triplane take to the sky. I know they are both replicas but that doesn’t make them any less rare or vulnerable. They flew around for quite a while and, since they are not speedy aircraft, they can keep it all close in front of the crowd. The light was definitely at its peak during their display. Here are a few shots of the two of them putting on a show.