Tag Archives: civil

The Oldest Flying British Aircraft

The very earliest days of aviation meant a lot of experimenters and innovators were trying their hand at flying. Some had success and many didn’t. Most of those early planes were never preserved (and many probably didn’t deserve to be. Even those that led to further success for their creators didn’t necessarily get to survive because things were moving on so fast and the historical significance would only become apparent many years later.

Consequently, it is quite a treat when something this old not only survived but is still airworthy. The oldest flying British aircraft is the Blackburn Type D. I guess the fact it is a Type D tells you that Blackburn had three preceding types that either didn’t work or didn’t survive (or perhaps both). This plane dates to 1912 although the engine is a later version. It has been in Shuttleworth’s hands since the late 1930s and it will fly if the conditions are right. Fortunately, they were when I was there for the Festival of Flight.

Unlike the two older planes that flew before it, the Type D seemed a lot more capable a plane and it was able to climb and manoeuvre around the display area with relative ease. The conditions were good to it, and we got to enjoy a lot of time with it before it landed. An amazing piece of history to witness on display.

The Bleriot Gets Airborne – Just!

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The Shuttleworth Trust has a Bleriot XI aircraft that is airworthy. This is not the first one I have seen because I saw the one Eric Presten kept in Sonoma, but I never got the chance to see that one fly. The Festival of Flight show at Old Warden had ideal conditions for flying the old planes and the Bleriot came out. They limit it to flying up and down the runway. No messing around with turns. Instead, they hop along the runway, turn around on the ground at the end and then come back.

It is not an overpowered aircraft, and I did wonder whether it would get airborne or not. It would bounce up off a bump and then fly along for a while, before settling back down. I don’t know how much they push the performance given that this is an extremely rare and valuable aircraft so maybe it could do more. However, watching it I did find myself wondering about what would make someone want to take something like this across the English Channel.

Getting the Moon in Some Shots

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If you are shooting at the time of the month when the moon is close to full, it should mean it will show up in the background at some point when you have afternoon/evening light behind you. Will it make it into your shot? Probably not. The angles the planes take vary and the moon is constantly moving in the background so, while you can anticipate it might work out at some point and hope accordingly, that doesn’t mean it will work. Of course, you can also forget about it for a while and miss a perfectly good moon shot too – who would do that though?

At various times when shooting departures are Seattle Tacoma International Airport, I did get the moon to show up in the shots. Would it be with the most interesting aircraft in the foreground? Probably not. More likely to be an Alaska Airlines jet since they are the most common departure (and also the one more likely to have made me not be getting a shot) but that is still fine. Here are some results from across various shoots.

An Epic Skirting the Sun

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Epic E1000s have shown up on the blog before and in less than ideal conditions. Sometimes you just have to work with what is available. It doesn’t stop me trying, of course, and when another one was due in to Boeing Field and the conditions looked promising, I headed out. When I was in place and they were getting closer, the sun was playing games with me. I would have some nice light for a while and then the clouds would drift back in again. They wouldn’t stay long and then sun would be back but the question was, what would it be like at the critical moment. At Boeing Field, I have often had good light further up the approach (and too far away), cloud over the ideal location and then sun again as they get to very short final but again too far for a decent shot. Would this be one of those days?

No! On this occasion, the conditions played ball and, as the E1000 came zipping down the approach, the sun was out in all the right places. I grabbed some shots and the blues in the paint really did seem to pop. I was quite satisfied. I did get one more Epic encounter at BFI before we moved away which was from the other end providing a different type of shot in good light but, after that, while there were lots of movements to BFI before we left, I didn’t have the chance to see them.

Arajet But Without the Paint

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Having Boeing on your doorstep means the chance to photograph airlines that you have a good chance of never seeing in their normal operations. Arajet, of the Dominican Republic, is one such airline. As they were taking delivery of some 737 Max jets, I was able to photograph them. On one occasion, I was out at Boeing Field when one of their jets was on test and I was looking forward to getting a shot. Unfortunately, I didn’t know it hadn’t yet been painted. Instead, I got a green plane with only the rudder and winglets giving away who the ultimate operator would be

I like the green of the unpainted jets and primer finishes on other planes also look good to me. I wasn’t so upset as a result, but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. Still, it looked pretty good on approach. I did get another airframe in the finished livery so I will stick that at the bottom to show what this one would ultimately look like. Not a dramatic livery but something different.

Gateway Airliners

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Mesa Gateway airport in Arizona does get some airline visitors. Allegiant was bringing some jets in while we were visiting early last year. GlobalX also had some coming in. Judging by how many of their jets I saw off to one side not looking too active, I assume they undertake some maintenance work there too. Not a ton of variety with these two but here are some shots of their planes. Makes a change to not show a GlobalX jet at Boeing Field!

Who Flies Over Our House?

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Our location in Winchester puts us close to the approach path to Southampton when traffic is on a southwesterly flow. I assume there must be some airspace constraints in the area because the standard arrival procedure involves overflying us at about 3,000’ and then entering a left descending turn to come back past us when established on the approach to Southampton. While things are a bit far away, I can still get shots from the front of our house.

There are a few airlines that are regular visitors along with a pretty steady flow of bizjets. Aer Lingus Express comes in with ATR72s, KLM Cityhopper brings in the Embraer E175s and E190-E2s, Loganair has some EMB145s and then there is an airline I had never heard of before – Blue Island Airways, which also operates ATR72s from the Channel Islands. After a little while, I have got used to them all and don’t spend a ton of time watching them, but I will still look up if I hear something – I haven’t changed that much.

After Sunset at SEA as Well

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The light at sunset can make for some of the most pleasing shots and I did used to take the time to go to Burien when SEA was on a northerly flow to get some of the heavies departing in the best light. Once the sun goes down, it is tempting to head home but I would hang around a bit longer. The blue hour could make for some pleasing shots too and even when it was getting pretty dark, the amazing low light performance of a modern camera meant you could get something different. Combine that with the super noise reduction capabilities of current processing software and you can achieve shots that would have been impossible a few years ago.

Someone Else Playing with Rotor Tracking

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I have come across some flying with Hughes 500s at Boeing Field when someone was using a strobe to track the rotors as part of the maintenance. I figured that would be a one off but another time I was there, the same thing happened – this time with a 369. I would have loved to have been onboard when this was being done to see how the tracing of the blades looks in flight when the strobe is flashing. I imagine it would be quite an interesting engineering thing to see.

The Conditions Are Calm at Last

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During my first show at Old Warden, there was a reasonable amount of wind throughout the day. This was in the back of all of our minds, and we wondered whether things would calm down enough to launch the Edwardian planes later in the day. The forecast was not for this to happen. As the sun started to get lower in the sky, I was quietly optimistic that the wind would calm but it was proving me wrong for the longest time.

Then, very quickly, things seemed to change, and the organisers realised that there would be a chance to get some more fragile types up in the air. Then it was just a question of what would be willing to fly. Getting these vintage types airborne requires, skill and effort but also a bit of luck. They didn’t all play ball, but the Avro Triplane was up for the challenge. I know it is a reproduction but that doesn’t stop it being great to see it fly in the lovely evening conditions.