Spitfire!
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Martin Overall flying Spitfire Mk 1a N3200 over Cambridgeshire, England 12th June 2021. My first ever 'air to air' shoot - absolutely brilliant it was!
Thought I would give some home studio photography a try using a model spitfire, loved making that and painting it.
White Cotton wool and some I sprayed grey against a blue background, a hand held light held above model for lighting.
Later edited in photoshop adding propeller blur
AR501 made her long awaited return to the airshow scene in the hands of Stu Goldspink at The Shuttleworth Collection May Evening airshow 2018. The aircraft is a geniune combat veteran and entered service with 310 (Czech) Squadron at Duxford in 1942.
The Spitfire living up to it's name.
It took three attempts to start so it had quite a bit of unburnt fuel in the engine.
This ground-to-air shot is of Spitfire Mk Vc, serial AR501.
The Mk V Spitfire was hastily introduced in 1940 to counter improved versions of enemy aircraft. Compared to the earlier Mk 1 & II Spitfires (Mk III & IV designations never went into production) the Mk V had an engine that was almost 50% more powerful and was also fitted with a supercharger, which enabled better performance at higher altitudes.
By late 1940, different types of wing armament had become available, and this aircraft is fitted with the 'c' type wing (also called the 'universal wing') that could accommodate some permutation of 4 x 20mm cannon and 4 x 0.303in machine guns - but not all at the same time, due to the weight. This Spitfire had 2 cannon and 4 machines guns - a very common Mk Vc arrangement.
Of interest are the fine wires running from the tips of the tailplane to the red circle on the side of the aircraft; they are aerials for transmitting a radio signal that enabled 'friendly' aircraft to be differentiated from 'foe' more easily on the crude radar sets of the day.
This particular aircraft has had its engine and exhaust pipes replaced at some point, the latter being non-standard for the wartime Mk V, which had the six pipes paired into three 'fish tails' on each side rather than the six individual pipes visible here.
This aircraft served with RAF No. 310 (Czech) Squadron from 1942 and was based at Duxford, just a few minutes flight from its current home of Old Warden.
This aircraft flies over our house most days taking people on a flight down the south coast. We often see it doing a loop over The Solent
Spitfire BM597 of the Polish Heritage Flight on a three day visit to the Ulster Flying Club and a chance to get up close and personal with her.
Sometimes, just sometimes, the light is perfect! The Shuttleworth Collection's Spitfire Mk Vc taking off from Old Warden.
I must confess, when looking at this picture, my main thought is 'I wonder how much that house would cost....?'!
Pilot Gabriel Barton at the controls of this Spitfire Mk Vc, serial EE602. The metallic, circular fuel filling point is clearly visible on top of the cowling.
A reasonably well resolved image - the stencilled 'Walkway' wording is clearly legible.
The six exhausts on each side of the engine are paired into three 'fish tails' - these both suppressed any flames emanating from the exhausts (which could be seen from a great distance in low light) and also created a tiny bit of extra thrust.
Based at Duxford, this Spitfire was photographed at Old Warden in August of 2024.
I've had this tiny little model plane sitting on my speaker for ages, but this morning I noticed the morning light hitting the plane creating this shadow. Of course, I had to grab my camera. :)
Capture One 22
© Mike Mulcahy 2022
IMG_9679 f
The poem, High Flight, has over the years become a mantra to pilots.
It is reproduced here as a tribute to, and in memory of pilots of all generations.
________________________________________
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
Written by John Gillespie Magee when he was 19 year old fighter pilot during WW11 - as he soared into the atmosphere during a high altitude test flight of a Spitfire V.
Magee died three month later in a mid-air collision.
RAF Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX TD314 displays above Headcorn Aerodrome during the 2020 Battle of Britain Air Show.
Spitfire - Compton Abbas, Dorset
I spent a really enjoyable morning in the sun yesterday photographing this beauty landing and taking off.
Sony A1, FE 100-400 GM
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More images on the Rosemary & Ian Locock Photography website.
A shot taking in the the cannon of a "c" wing set up on this Mk 5c Spitfire AR501 . Our photo workshop with this Spitfire gave us the chance to get into and upto the plane that was not usually possible .
A little more info on the " c " wing configuration :-
The “c” wing appeared in October 1941. It was a “universal” wing that could take eight .303in machine guns, four 20mm cannon or two 20mm cannon and four machine guns. Each cannon now had 120 rounds, compared to the 60 of the “b” wing. This wing was used on the majority of Mk V Spitfires, normally with the combined cannon and machine guns configuration. The “c” wing also had the capability to carry two 250lb bombs under the wings, or one 500lb bomb under the fuselage. If machine guns were used, they were used in the outboard position. The “a” and “b” wings were not used after the Spitfire V.
First time trying air show photography....not an easy task could have done with a longer lens (18-250mm) something like the Hubble telescope !!!
Full of admiration for the aircraft snappers !!