Duxford Spitfires

I spent the day at Duxford yesterday, I wanted to shoot some of the artwork on the aircraft but more of that in my next post.

As I was walking between hangers I was fortunate to be passing as they were moving two of the flying condition Supermarine Spitfire Mark1s. Both are in full flying condition and have recently been restored. In truth restored means that the original aircraft have been found maybe from a dig, the registration details have been salvaged and then along with maybe a few components a rebirth of what is almost a new aircraft takes place.

This first aircraft QV N3200 is being laid-up for the winter and I believe it will be seen on the show circuit around the UK next summer. The full story can be found here

This second aircraft J P9374 has been sold to a museum in the US. I believe that unfortunately whilst it is in full flying condition it will not be used as a flying aircraft but will just be used as a static exhibit which for me is a great pity.  The full story can be found here & here  

© Lionel Callow 2016

Autumn Colours

We took a short walk through the woods at Anglesey Abbey during a gap in the weather I took these few shots.

 © Lionel Callow 2016

Flying at North Weald

I spent time with North Weald Flight Training on Saturday taking loads of ground shots of the aircraft moving around.  The plan is to do some air to air shots of the club aircraft over some well known London landmarks but unfortunately due to the pressure on time, aircraft & pilots we could not get airborne. Hopefully we should be able to get up sometime in the next week or so, weather permitting. Here are just a few shots from the day.

Before every flight there has to be a flight briefing and preparation. The next few shots show some of the classroom and pre-flight checks

© Lionel Callow 2016

North Weald Flying School

A few more shots from yesterday’s session, I was just trying out a few ideas ready for my next visit. I will need to move the aircraft into a suitable position to get some good backgrounds.North Weald Flight Training

© Lionel Callow 2016

North Weald Flying

I am helping out an old flying friend of mine with some aerial photography. He runs the flying school on the airfield, North Weald Flight Training. Today was not the best of weather conditions for aerial photography the atmosphere was very murky but we decided to get in some practice as this will involve some formation flying. These few shots are our first attempts, more to follow very soon.

I have included this next shot to give some idea of the distance between the two aircraft as we approached to take our photos. 

© Lionel Callow 2016