I suspect that, in a number of posts over the years, I have talked about being lucky with the way that things work out. In this case, I had gone out with the intention of photographing a sailing regatta. I got to the shore, and the conditions were gorgeous. However, they were too nice. Clear autumnal skies, cool temps but warm sun and no wind. That last bit will explain why it wasn’t ideal for sailing. I waited around for a while to see whether the wind would pick up but it soon became clear that, even if it did, things were not going to be dramatic out on the water.

This left me contemplating the next step. I had a couple of thoughts – one of which was to stop off at Lee on Solent. The airport there has a café and a viewing area next to the tower. Since I was going to be heading by and this also being the base for the local search and rescue helicopters, I thought I might get some AW139 flying in nice light.

When I got there, there was no sign of any helicopter activity. However, a sunny Sunday gets plenty of light aircraft movements. Also, sitting by the tower was a two seat Spitfire. Seemed like loitering might be in order. The Spit had the canopy open with a helmet sitting on the frame so maybe it would be heading out.

It didn’t take long for the pilot to come out and fire up. Of he taxied and I was feeling pretty optimistic. However, that was the last we saw of him. I guess the plane is hangared elsewhere on the field and that was the destination. Meanwhile plenty of other movements so I got plenty to watch. It was great seeing families with small kids watching the planes and the kids getting so excited by anything whether it was a Spitfire or a Piper Warrior. I’m glad I hung around and it more than made up for the lack of sailing.