Tag Archives: military

Reflection Removing – Choose Settings Wisely

A previous post had looked at what was, at that time, a development feature in Photoshop that removed reflections from images. Adobe puts development items in Photoshop first to get user experience with them before rolling them out to the software suite. Since Camera Raw and Lightroom’s develop module are basically the same, once it becomes a production item, it also makes it into Lightroom. Such is the case with the reflection removal tool.

I have used it a few times on shots, and it does work pretty well. It isn’t perfect but can be effective. I tried it out on a Typhoon that was refuelling from a Voyager. Shooting through the windows of the Voyager can be a bit tricky and the reflection removal tool can really help. I gave it a go, and the reflection was swiftly taken out. However, when I checked the rest of the image, I saw that a lot of detail in the shot was gone. It was at this point that I realised that the tool has three settings. I was on Preview. I switched to Best and, while the processing took a lot longer, lo and behold the detail was restored.

I have the overall photo above with the before and after versions for a comparison. Beneath I have two crops of the larger image with the Preview and Best settings. I won’t say which is which, but I think it should be pretty obvious. The tool defaults to Preview when you use it so, if you give it a try, don’t be put off if the initial results are disappointing. Make sure to experiment with the settings.

Paint Finish on the Other Bucc

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When I visited The Buccaneer Aviation Group’s event at Kemble, the second airframe was in the process of being prepared for repainting. That is well advanced at the time of writing but, on this day, the airframe had been rubbed back to prepare it. The resulting finish gave a mottled look to the jet, and I thought it could have made a cool idea for a camouflage scheme of its own. I found the patterns it made really appealing.

The jet no longer looks like this so it will be in a historically accurate scheme when next I see it. However, some of these details of the paint are definitely worth remembering.

Canadian Hornet Visits BFI

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Digging back through some stuff from last year and I came back across a surprise that I got at BFI. A Canadian Hornet had been visiting – presumably an overnight stop. It was heading off to its next stop and I have no idea whether that was back over the border or further into the US. Its presence had clearly attracted a fair bit of attention. There were loads of people out on the Modern ramp when it taxied out.

Hornets can get off the ground pretty quickly and I was hoping that the pilot would not be very high by the time he came by. With all of those people on the ramp, it would be nice of him to keep it low and he didn’t stay on the deck but still made a good effort. As he passed the perimeter fence, he pulled up a bit harder and was a bit too distant for a good shot of the vortices forming on the LERX, but I managed a hint of it.

Some Buccaneer Details

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Older jets were designed with some more brutal approaches to functionality. Modern fighters have a focus on fit, and finish and stealth/drag considerations will result in blemish free surfaces. The Buccaneer comes from a different generation. Wandering around then pair that were on show at Kemble, I did enjoy looking at the little details on these old jets. Here are some shots that caught my eye.

Fat Albert Takeoff and Video of Return

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When I was up the tower at Boeing Field for Seafair last year, I got to play around a bit with what I shot of the Blue Angels C-130, Fat Albert. The takeoff was a straightforward as it was departing in our direction so photographing it as it left the ramp and then rotated and climbed past was the obvious choice for me. However, when it came to the return to landing, I was wondering what to do.

The threshold is a long way from the tower, so any shots of the landing were going to be quite distant and, given the heat haze, unlikely to be that good. I figured I might try video and, with the 200-800 having such good stabilisation, thought this might be practical. It turned out surprisingly well with the original video being pretty stable. I did apply a little extra stabilisation in Resolve afterwards. The worst elements are down to operator error where I had a few moments where I ended up moving the camera very jerkily and there is nothing that the post-production can do to fully disguise that! Shame I didn’t plan ahead enough and avoid having that happen when near the flare!

A Visiting Spit While We Wait

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During the Buccaneer event that I went to at Kemble, we spent some time in an enclosure out near the taxiway. This would be good for the first part of the event, but I was out there quite a while before things were due to kick off. While hanging around, the purr of a Rolls Royce Merlin came to my ears and, downwind there was a Spitfire. It flew a nice curving approach and touched down before taxiing in quite close to where I was standing. It was a two-seat example and presumably had come to provide rides for some enthusiasts. I didn’t see it head back out, so I don’t know whether it was a brief visit or whether it did some rides and then left. Interesting markings on it, though.

Bournemouth Aviation Museum

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I posted some shots of the Chichester Miles Leopard in another post and some of the Vulcan cockpit – both exhibits at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. I haven’t shared some more general shots of the museum, though. I stopped over there late one afternoon. They weren’t due to be open for too much longer, but I did have some time to wander around. Being the end of the day meant it was quiet, so I was able to have a bit of freedom taking shots of the planes on display.

There is an interesting mix of types on show will military and civilian types to see. Some are full aircraft while others are fuselage sections that have been saved when the whole plane was being disposed of. The cockpits of many were accessible. Planes like the Jaguar have a soft spot for me so I liked taking a look at them. Others were less of interest but still worth a peak. I did like seeing a Cri-Cri – the world’s smallest twin (at least when it came out in the 80s).

Some of the types have a connection to the flight testing that this part of the country is associated with. Bournemouth is not far from Boscombe Down which has been the centre of UK military flight test for many decades. The BAC 1-11 is an ex-Boscombe asset. Others are just interesting types. If you are in the area and like planes, do swing by. Don’t make a significant detour specifically for it but do check it out if nearby.

KC-10s Are Consigned to History

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The retirement of the KC-10 Extender by the USAF caught a lot of attention when it happened. I was intending to write something then but got distracted by other things. I won’t put much together to be honest. Our team at Global Aviation Resource made a better effort of that so check that out if you are interested. Instead, I am just going to post some of my favourite images of the Gucci tanker. Strange to think it has gone given how effective it can be.

Buccaneer Event at Kemble

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The Buccaneer Aviation Group has charge of a couple of retired Blackburn Buccaneers that it looks after at Cotswold Airport at Kemble in Gloucestershire. They held an open day in April that included some taxiing of one of the jets and I decided this would be a good way to spend a spring Saturday. They were going to start up the jet, taxi it around on the ramp, run through a sequence of tests on the airframe and then go out to the runway for a fast run before returning to the ramp to shut down.

There would then be a break while they repositioned everything to their ramp where everyone would be able to spend some time up close with the planes and get pictures as required. The jet that was going to be taxied was one of the last Buccaneers built and is painted up in retro Royal Navy colours as worn by 809 Sqn jets when serving on Ark Royal before the carrier was retired. I don’t think this jet actually had any RN pedigree but that isn’t a big deal.

The second jet that they have is in the process of being prepped for painting in the standard RAF camouflage. Currently it is stripped back ready for paint, and I have to admit I found it rather cool looking with the random patterns that are visible. This will show in another post. The two jets were lined up together in front of the hangar to allow everyone to get their photos.

I was one of the first cars allowed through the gate to the second part of the day which meant I was able to get some images before everyone else showed up and it started getting busy. However, they did have a good level of organisation to it all so, after giving everyone some time to get up close, they pulled everyone back a bit to leave it unobscured for photos. I did notice some steps off to one side of the ramp and asked I they might be moved in to get a higher angle on things, fully assuming that wouldn’t be possible. I was wrong. They were more than happy to bring them in which made for a better angle on the shots.

The day had started out with some damp and windy conditions. It did rain a bit during the taxi section of the day. This was quite handy in that it made the grey paint look like it would on a carrier at sea, i.e. wet! It also showed up the blowing of the wing when they carried that out and resulted in a cool vortex in the inlet being visible. As the day progressed, the weather got a lot better. It was quite sunny by the time we were on the ramp with the jets.

The team were in no hurry to kick us out and, as the afternoon wore on, the number of people thinned out and the light got nicer. I hung around with a guy called Matt that I had met, and we were able to pass the time talking about planes, cameras and places. Finally, we were the only ones around and the crew started putting the jets away. The steps were still out so I was able to get a high angle as they pulled a jet beneath me. It was a tight fit, but it all worked out well. A top day out and many thanks to the tea baggers at TBAG.

A Couple of Military Hovercraft

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No shock to regular readers that I might swing by the Hovertravel facilities when on the Island. A pleasant surprise was to discover that it wasn’t just the Hovertravel craft that were present. A couple of smaller military craft were also parked up. I had seen pictures of these online but didn’t realise that they were still present. I don’t know whether they are ex-military that are being repurposed or new builds for the military. Whatever the story, here they were. It would be better to see them moving but it was the weekend so not a surprise that they weren’t going anywhere.