Tag Archives: air show

My First Shuttleworth Show

For someone that is a keen aviation enthusiast, it is very strange that I have only been to the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden once and that was a quiet weekend day in the late 80s. I have never been to a show until now. They were holding their Military Air Show, and I wanted to be there. I had heard that the flying could be good with a display line that is close to the crowd and an interesting variety of planes taking part. I headed up there on the Saturday morning and was a little disappointed that there was an accident closing the A-1 so I had a slightly cross-country route to get there. However, this didn’t really cause a problematic delay.

When I got there, I parked up and was pleasantly surprised how easy the walk was to the main area of the show. Not only was it not a long walk but it was alongside the main runway, so I got to watch some movements as I headed in. It was like the show had already started before I even got there. It is true that this meant my walk took longer than it should have done but this was good for me.

When I was young, my interest was all about modern aviation so the types of planes that were at this show would not have been my thing. Now I am interested in a far wider range of subjects. However, that doesn’t mean I am very knowledgeable about them. First World War aviation is a bit of a mystery to me. This show got me familiar with types that I might have heard about but could never have previously picked out.

While it was a show with a military focus, there were other types taking part. Sometimes there might be a slightly tangential reference to their role in developing other planes as was the case when the de Havilland Comet took part, but I appreciated the variety. There were planes I knew nothing about in the flying display – some of which were unique examples. With so many shows including displays by types I have seen many times, this was a definite plus.

The conditions were pretty good for the show with good light throughout most of the day. We did get a period when the clouds got a little heavier and some of the dark paint on those older planes can really suck in the light. The bigger concern was the wind. It was a rather gusty day on occasions. This had me a little concerned. There were actually two flying displays. The afternoon display and an evening show. If the wind would play ball, this might be the time that the Edwardian aircraft could come out. More of that on another day’s post.

Between the afternoon and evening displays, I finally took time to walk around the grounds. I hadn’t paid to go and see the house and I shall probably do that at some point in the future. However, I did now go and look through the aircraft parked up on the flight line and the infield. There are also the hangars for the collection. This had grown substantially from what I saw when I was last there in the 80s! The collection would definitely fit the term eclectic!

It was funny watching a flying display when the Spitfires would be considered the modern aircraft. A recalibration of what constitutes an old aircraft for sure. The evening light did work out pretty well. For some of the later displays, the sun had crept under the cloud layer to make for some nice photography conditions. With it being summer, the flying could last late into the evening. It meant it was well into the night by the time I got home. It was well worth doing. Thanks also to Chris and his friends for providing good company throughout the day.

Chichester Miles Leopard

Leave a Reply

The late 80s and early 90s was a time when a lot of unusual planes were being developed and, much like the later time when VLJs were the trend and now with the EVTOL craze, most of them never made it past the test phase and in to service. One such plane was the Chichester Miles Leopard. I originally saw this plane at a Farnborough air show when it was displayed by their test pilot – a guy that also flew our Jetstream when I was on my Cranfield flight testing course as part of my degree.

Even at the time, I thought the thing looked ridiculous. It had this angular fuselage shape and was a tiny thing. The prototype was powered by a little turbojet by a company called Penny and Giles. I had never heard of them before, and I imagine the engine came from some sort of missile or other. Supposedly the plan was for it to be replaced by some (slightly) larger turbofan which would have improved performance, reduced fuel consumption and the noise! I don’t think that ever came about.

The Bournemouth Aviation Museum has an airframe on display. Looking at it closer up than I was able to at Farnborough showed just what a strange concept it was. I remember it looking spindly when I saw it previously but now it looks so fragile as to be hard to believe. The fuselage is stripped out, but it doesn’t look like it would have made for a comfortable ride. I will have to do some reading on how the testing went. All I can ponder when I see this is that someone thought it was worth spending a ton of their own money on. I wonder how those around them felt about it.

Refueling the Hornet

Leave a Reply

Two quite different versions of the same thing here. The Comox Air Show this year included demonstrations are aerial refueling with the RCAF Hornet. The first of these was perfectly sensible because it was the Hornet formating on the C-130 Hercules fitted with refueling pods. The Hornet took up station behind the drogue units to demonstrate how refueling would be done.

Later in the show, there was a slightly odder version of things. A USAF KC-135R Stratotanker (which was carrying Kadena tailcodes which might be a first for me) was airborne and the Hornet formated on this too. Some KC-135s do carry hose drogue units on the wings or a drogue adaptor on the end of the boom but this was not one of them. Instead, they simulated the boom refueling. The Hornet can’t refuel from the boom but, since it was just an airshow, I doubt too many people were bothered by this.

Why Land When a Flyby Would Be Better?

Leave a Reply

The view from the tower at Boeing Field is excellent (which makes sense, of course) but, when planes are landing from the south, they will have touched down long before they get close and so are not going to give the best photo opportunities. A small price to pay for having such a good spot to hang out so no complaints from me. However, I was rather pleased with the USAF F-35A demo when it completed its show.

It came in on a curving descent towards the runway but, as it got lower, up came the power and the gear was cleaned up. Keeping it low, the pilot gave us an impressive show as they blasted along the length of Boeing Field’s runway before pulling up aggressively into the downwind. The second time, they did actually land. I would have been fine with a few more of those passes but I guess I shouldn’t be greedy.

Shocking Times with the Blues

Leave a Reply

One of the highlights of the Blue Angels’ demonstration is the Sneak Pass. The main formation heads off in one direction and the crowd’s attention follows them. Meanwhile, one of the pair comes running in at high speed and low level from the left catching many people by surprise. Just as this is done, the other of the pair comes at high speed from crowd rear and most people jump again. I am most interested in the first pass because it offers a couple of possibilities. If the atmosphere is humid, you can get some vapor on the jet around the shock waves and expansion fans. If there is a background other than the sky, the other opportunity is to have the refraction from these phenomena distorting whatever is behind.

Seafair does provide a background with Mercer Island providing the backdrop to the pass. The downside is that the display line is a long way out over the lake, so you are stretching the reach of lenses to get a close enough look at the jet. This year I did have the benefit of the long end of the 200-800 so I could get something of the shot I was after. Perhaps not the best of shots but at least there is something of the refraction to see.

Growlers Head Home Together

Leave a Reply

During Seafair, the USN Growlers from Whidbey Island did a display earlier in the schedule. Once they were done, the jets headed home in midafternoon. They didn’t have a long trip home so getting back to base was probably a simple call. What made it better was that they undertook a section departure and the view from the tower was really cool. The tricky thing about a section departure from a photographic point of view is which plane to track. Which one looks dominant in the shot early on and which is dominant later in the pass? It changes but tracking is harder to switch. Small problem, I know, but a little tricky.

Departure of the USAF F-35A Demo

Leave a Reply

Being up the tower at BFI during Seafair was a fantastic opportunity. I have photographed a bunch of F-35A departures at Boeing Field in recent years, but an elevated location was hard to beat. The A and B jets were parked together on the far side of the field so a little distant for a clean shot but, as they taxied out, it was still worth a go. Passing the Golden Knights jumpship and all of the people watching from the ramp was also rather cool to see.

The takeoff is a brutal affair. The power of that engine is impressive and, as they got airborne and held it low, you knew that anyone at the north end of the field was in for a treat as they blasted across the airfield perimeter. Looking down on the jet was epic. I was taking a chance with some lower shutter speeds but letting the camera make up for my lack of skill by letting me have a lot of shots to choose from. What a moment of sensory overload!

Flares Aplenty

Leave a Reply

The USAF has started using flares more in some of their displays recently. I have seen shots of the F-22 Raptor demo pumping out flares at the top of a loop to great effect. The willingness to use flares is dependent on where you are – no point starting a wildfire for a display. Seafair is over water so no risk at all there. Consequently, The F-35A demo this year incorporated flares too.

I was pleased to get some shots with the flares being dispensed. They were not thrown out in quick succession, which was a shame as a closer spacing would have made for a better shot. Even so, having some flare shots was a nice addition. Seafair’s display axis is a long way from the shoreline, so things were a bit distant, but they were still not too bad.

When the TFR is Suspended, Everyone Moves!

Leave a Reply

During Seafair on the Sunday, I was up the tower watching the departing and returning performers. For much of the time, a Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR was in effect which meant that no one was flying in the area other than the performers. There was a part of the schedule in the middle of the afternoon that did not involve the high-performance aircraft and, during this time, the TFR was suspended so aircraft could get in or out of Boeing Field.

It was rush-hour at the airport. The first arrivals showed up and seemed to be diving for the runway. Others had been waiting to get out, so they were firing up and taxiing for departure. We had a steady stream of smaller planes and corporate jets making their moves. I don’t know whether the arriving planes had been holding somewhere or had just timed their arrivals well. Whatever it was, it seemed that everything got moved in or out smoothly before the next fast jet display was on the schedule and the TFR was reintroduced.

Boeing’s Contribution to Sunday at Seafair

Leave a Reply

The fast jet displays were the stars of the Seafair performances but the home manufacturer, Boeing, also provided a contribution on each day. On Sunday, that contribution was in the form of the 777X development aircraft, a 777-9. I was at Boeing Field on this day so got to see the aircraft launch and recover. An elevated view of an aircraft as large as the 777-9 is most impressive.

Since the plane is so large, I wasn’t going to use a longer lens to shoot it because I would have had way too much lens for the jet as it came by. Consequently, I was a bit short of lens when the aircraft was on the take off roll and rotating. Not enough time to change bodies so the compromise was okay. I still had a decent view of the jet even at 105mm.

The display was a long way away from where we were, but we did get to see the jet as it periodically popped up above the hills. It looked like they were really throwing the jet around. I imagine it looked pretty impressive for the crowd down on Lake Washington. I did stick with a longer lens for the recovery of the aircraft to get a good look at approach and touchdown. There is something really fun about getting to photograph a large jet like this from close proximity.