Category Archives: military

An Aurora Is a Bit of a Rarity These Days

For many years, the majority of maritime patrol operators have been using P-3 aircraft. However, with the advent of the P-8 Poseidon, the number of P-3s is rapidly reducing. Canada operates its own version of the family called the CP-140 Aurora. With their continued operation, that are now becoming a bit of a treat to see. I had hardly ever seen one in action before so, when they were displaying at the show at Comox, I was really pleased to get a chance to get some photos of one.

As with all military jets these days (or so it seems), grey is the order of the day. Not the most exciting paint job but a different version of grey is definitely good. They threw the plane around with plenty of energy in the display so the photo opportunities were good including a pass with the weapons bay open. The replacement of the Aurora is currently being pursued so they won’t be around for much longer so good to get them now while the opportunity presents itself. Funny how little I was interested in P-3s when I was younger and now I am hunting them down!

Super Fast Frame Rate

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One of the features that was added to the Canon EOS R3 via a firmware update was a ridiculously high frame rate mode. The fastest frame rate in normal shooting is 30fps (which is clearly ridiculous itself for anyone that has been photographing for a long time). The extra mode comes with limitations. Once you start shooting, autofocus and exposure monitoring are suspended so you get a lot of shots with the same settings. However, this does allow you to get 194fps!!! Yes, that is not a typo. It will only do this for a maximum of 50 frames but that is raw capture – not a jpeg. You get to select how many frames are taken which I have to admit I didn’t realize until recently. I was shooting with a limit of 10 frames for quite a while and wondering why. I’ve fixed that now.

There are relatively few times when this mode is actually useful. The viewfinder does black out when you use it so, if you are tracking something, a little bit of predictive guesswork is in order. If you were shooting a baseball pitch being hit, this could be pretty handy. I decided to use it on the Blue Angels pair crossing during Seafair to see how things work out. The answer is pretty good. I include a sequence of shots so you can see what even this frame rate gives you for two fast jets head on to each other. A limited tool but one that could be utilized. I have also been using it for very lower shutter speed experimentation but that will be another post.

Thunderbirds Show Up (As Does Their Support)

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While Mark and I were in Arizona, we heard about the potential of Harriers being at El Centro. We decided an additional leg to our trip was worth it and headed for California. As we came up to the base after a few hours of driving, we saw something rather unanticipated over the airfield. The USAF demonstration team, The Thunderbirds, were flying around over the field. It turns out that they had gone to El Centro to spend some time working with the Blue Angels that were still there for winter training.

This had us worried. If the teams were going to be flying, that would stop the other base operations, and our trip would have been futile. Fortunately, they landed and were going to spend the afternoon on the ground talking about whatever demonstration teams talk about. Operations would continue. We did get one flight with a Thunderbirds call sign, though. The C-17 that had come to support them headed off. It had a Thunderbird call sign and did try a sporty take off and climb out. I’m not sure whether everyone was really buying it though.

This Stabilization is Amazing

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Another episode in the testing of the RF 200-800 for today’s post. This is more focused on the image stabilization in the lens. When shooting stills, I have commented on the slightly odd jerking effects visible in the viewfinder. I think this is most apparent when panning very slowly and I think the camera is trying to work out if you mean to stay still or not. However, one area which is really effective at showing the capabilities of the stabilization is video.

I have some footage below that is taken with the lens at 800mm and hand held. No tripod or monopod here. The rabbit was at the other end of our back yard while the bees were on the lavender plants in our beds. You can see that the image is remarkably stable. It is amazing to see it lock on so well. I have also shot some video of an F-35B in the hover, also at 800mm. It was interesting to see a lot of movement in the viewfinder for a moment and then it seemed to lock in on what it was doing and then things get really solid. This tech is most impressive.

F-15s Arriving for the Flyovers

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Seattle was hosting two football games in one weekend. The Seahawks had their season opener on Sunday and the Huskies were playing on Saturday. The 142^nd FW from Portland sent up three jets to undertake flyovers for both games. Each flyover involved two jets so the third was a spare should one be needed. After all, these jets aren’t young. Indeed, with the wing taking delivery of F-15EX jets, it won’t be long before the Charlie models are gone.

They showed up at the end of the day which made it easier to be there to catch them. Since there were three of them, I decided to use a relatively high shutter speed for the first jet, a slower shutter speed for the second and then lower still for the last jet. That way I should get a result on the early jets and hopefully would get something more dynamic on the last one if I was lucky. Things turned out well enough and the last jet even popped the speedbrake on touchdown which was welcome. The skies were a bit red as a result of the smoke in the are from wildfires but that might have softened the light a little.

Tango Really Does Like to Get Those Jetpipes Close

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Those that have seen photos from the air show scene in 2024 may well have seen the spirited departure that the Royal Canadian Air Force Hornet demo includes. The CF-188 gets pulled aggressively to the vertical and the speed of rotation is chosen carefully so that the engine nozzles get very close to the ground, but the airframe is already lifting and climbing so that no contact is made. It makes for some cool shots. At Abbotsford and Comox, I was nowhere close enough to get a good look at the moment of rotation, but Bremerton provided a better chance. Rather far away so a bit hazy but still pretty cool. Shame the special demo jet broke again, and we had the twin tub instead.

Erickson Makes the Bremerton Show Interesting

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The Bremerton Air Show had some interesting displays, but the biggest contribution came from the Erickson Air Collection. Aside from the Grumman Duck about which I have already posted, they brought a P-47 Thunderbolt, a P-40 Kittyhawk, a Bf-109 and an F4U Corsair. The Corsair was for the Legacy Flight at the end of the show, but the others went up together for a sequence of passes. Great to see these different planes out and about and congratulations to Erickson for having added so much to the show.

Burning the Runway Surface

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I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair. I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface. From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing. I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine. Interesting effect, whatever the reason.

After Many Years, I Finally See a Duck Fly

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My aviation interests are varied but my favorites are modern and recent jet fighters if I am pushed. However, vintage aircraft and warbirds are still pretty cool even if they are not something I know a huge amount about. There will be occasions when such a type might be enough to get me out and about. I was on the fence about going to the Bremerton Air Show but, when I heard that Erickson was bringing its Grumman J2F Duck to fly at the show, my interest was piqued.

I have seen a few of these amphibious planes in museum collections but I have never seen one airborne. It is such a quirky looking airframe; I was really interested in getting some shot of it flying so that tipped me over the edge with regard to heading down to Bremerton National Airport for the show. This is the sort of thing that then results in the plane going tech and me being disappointed. However, that was not to be the case this time.

Mike Oliver flew the display in the Duck. We were seated in a location close to where it was parked so got to watch it from start up to shut down. No great aerobatic performances for a plane like this but the nice thing was that they got their whole collection airborne together and then everything else went off to hold while the Duck took center stage. A few nice passes and then it came back into land. The light could have been better, but it was still pretty good. I finally have ticked it off. I guess now I’ll see them everywhere!

A Curious Old Drone

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The Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH was produced in the 1960s as an anti-submarine platform for ships that were too small to accommodate manned helicopters. I had never heard of it before and saw it on the ramp at Olympia during the Olympic Air Show this year. Apparently, there are some at museums I have been to before, but I guess I wasn’t paying attention. It is a small vehicle with a gas turbine and coaxial rotors. I understand it could carry a couple of torpedoes so now slouch. Now it is a museum piece, but it might have been interesting to see one in the air!