DanO @ Fly Navy III

[Dan O'Hagan]

A rum old airshow this. Decided late on Saturday to go on the strength of the weather forecast, and to try and get the Lancaster "round the bend" again. In the end a show which was hugely enjoyable, simply because it's Shuttleworth, but equally deeply unsatisfying because it promised to be so much better than it actually was. Star items went up early in the poorest light, too many of the heavy warbirds were "boom-and-zoomed" leaving very limited photographic opportunities, and the "corner" was clearly out-of-bounds, for reasons unknown. Star performers were the Dragon Rapide, for a superb take-off and genuinely entertaining display, the Lancaster for at least trying to give us what we wanted and the beautiful Moraine MS.317 - a really lovely aeroplane and one I'd like to see at Shuttleworth on a regular basis.

Let's hope the bend is back for the next show, as without it displays at Old Warden lose an awful lot of what makes them so special. NIMBYism was the rumour...

More pictures to be added, but a few that jumped out on a first pass:

navy014 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

Navy005 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy010 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy011 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy013 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy003 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy021 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy020 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy002 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy016 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy007 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy009 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy018 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy012 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy008 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy006 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy017 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy004 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

[Tbolt]

Really great set of shots. It was frustrating not to get a Swordfish topside.

[Tuckat]

Lovely, sharp photos and interesting subject matter. Cant help but giggle at the first one though, is he the strongest bloke in the world? ... a giant? ... a supersize model collector? or perhaps the subject of a caption competition. Very clever photo, thanks for sharing.

[AlexC]

Cant help but giggle at the first one though, is he the strongest bloke in the world? ... a giant? ... a supersize model collector?

If it had been me I would have been yelling 'get out the way!' (but only inwardly of course!) but you've used the opportunity to obtain something better and rather amusing!

[Stagger2]

Great shots from a event that was 'dying' on programme content & weather forecast issues. Just goes to show!
I spent the day nearer the tower & was spitting-wild that only the Anson broke left to fly the cross-runway axis. Why? Allegedly due to complaints from the adjacent village due to displays overflying their dwellings!
This if true, does NOT bode well for Shuttleworth or numerous other venues, where their wimpish NIMBY attitude affects so many on so few occasions? Simple solution for the manic Locals is go out for the day, or move-house forever!
Totally agree with comments regarding self-indulgent displays by the Wildcat, Corsair & especially the RNHF/Navy Wings Sea Fury which provided the least engaging display of the day! For photographers only the last pass for any of these 3 presented an opportunity to get a decent shot. Not Good!

[LN Strike Eagle]

Very nice pics indeed - lots of colour and life about them. The Gazelle shot is excellent, I was too busy snapping the red one to notice.

[cg_341]

Totally agree with comments regarding self-indulgent displays by the Wildcat, Corsair & especially the RNHF/Navy Wings Sea Fury which provided the least engaging display of the day! For photographers only the last pass for any of these 3 presented an opportunity to get a decent shot. Not Good!

Bloody good job the pilots don't do it "for the photographers" then!

[LN Strike Eagle]

Great shots from a event that was 'dying' on programme content & weather forecast issues. Just goes to show!
I spent the day nearer the tower & was spitting-wild that only the Anson broke left to fly the cross-runway axis. Why? Allegedly due to complaints from the adjacent village due to displays overflying their dwellings!
This if true, does NOT bode well for Shuttleworth or numerous other venues, where their wimpish NIMBY attitude affects so many on so few occasions? Simple solution for the manic Locals is go out for the day, or move-house forever!
Totally agree with comments regarding self-indulgent displays by the Wildcat, Corsair & especially the RNHF/Navy Wings Sea Fury which provided the least engaging display of the day! For photographers only the last pass for any of these 3 presented an opportunity to get a decent shot. Not Good!

I would stop short of calling them "self-indulgent" displays, personally, especially so when the pilot of the Wildcat has given us some of the very best Shuttleworth topsides I've ever photographed, including the Spitfire at the previous show, the Hurricane at the season premiere and two shows last summer. He also flew a lovely topside in the Wildcat anyway, so is certainly someone that tries to keep everyone happy with his displays. All it needs is more pilots like him to offer the audience both elements in their display. I'd prefer a nearer 50/50 split, rather than one or two passes at the end of a 7 minute aeros display, but at least he tries to keep everyone happy.

I will certainly agree with you that the RNHF Sea Fury was a massive let down though. I was expecting something more like this...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBfVaDr84R0[/youtube]

[Dan O'Hagan]

Both Furies were massively disappointing yesterday, as were the bulk of the heavy warbirds. As Dan says, a mix between aerobatics and "photo passes" should be the Gold Standard pilots aim for. "Self-indulgent" is maybe harsh, but certainly in Chris Gotke's case yesterday one got the impression he was more keen on enjoying himself than showing the crowd his Sea Fury up-close.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Another pass of the memory cards, and that's me done...

navy023 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy050 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy037 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy042 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy038 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy051 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy032 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy044 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy025 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy041 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy049 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy036 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy033 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

navy035 by DanOUKAR, on Flickr

[danspuggti]

Love the shots of the Gazelles
Was good to see a 2-ship display from the team.

[boff180]

Got to be honest Dan, on my calibrated monitor a lot of these shots appear dark with a lot of the detail lost in excessive shadow. Looks like the camera exposed the sky rather than the subject. They are sharp though.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Got to be honest Dan, on my calibrated monitor a lot of these shots appear dark with a lot of the detail lost in excessive shadow. Looks like the camera exposed the sky rather than the subject. They are sharp though.

On my PC they do look a little dark, but that's not at all the case on my two Apple devices with Retina displays.

[jalfrezi]

If your Retina displays have 'Auto adjust brightness' enabled, this will also change the gamma, which is possibly why they appear differently on your Apple devices. Some people recommend turning it off.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/208433/why-is-auto-adjust-brightness-washing-out-my-retina-display-on-el-capitan

[boff180]

Got to be honest Dan, on my calibrated monitor a lot of these shots appear dark with a lot of the detail lost in excessive shadow. Looks like the camera exposed the sky rather than the subject. They are sharp though.

On my PC they do look a little dark, but that's not at all the case on my two Apple devices with Retina displays.

I find my Retina Apple devices all show images to be brighter than they actually are, even my new iPad Pro does it and it's supposed to have a true-tone calibrated display as standard.

[rambo]

In fairness DanO, the pilots probably see your photo's, and think "Whats the point of giving topsides when its amateur hour down there"

[Dan O'Hagan]

In fairness DanO, the pilots probably see your photo's, and think "Whats the point of giving topsides when its amateur hour down there"

Tell you what, come back when you've mastered the apostrophe.

[Blackbird]

The first Lanc topside in the second set is a cracker

Andy

[rambo]

In fairness DanO, the pilots probably see your photo's, and think "Whats the point of giving topsides when its amateur hour down there"

Tell you what, come back when you've mastered the apostrophe.

HAHAHA, I'll assume that's "point taken" on your behalf then, seeing as that's all you had to cry about!

I guess I could come back with something like "Tell you what, come back when you've mastered the art of not being an obnoxious, airshows are only organised to impress myself, I'm a better pilot than most display pilots, ****", but its pretty obvious anyway

[Georgeconna]

In fairness DanO, the pilots probably see your photo's, and think "Whats the point of giving topsides when its amateur hour down there"

LOL

[MiG_Eater]

In fairness DanO, the pilots probably see your photo's, and think "Whats the point of giving topsides when its amateur hour down there"

Tell you what, come back when you've mastered the apostrophe.

HAHAHA, I'll assume that's "point taken" on your behalf then, seeing as that's all you had to cry about!

I guess I could come back with something like "Tell you what, come back when you've mastered the art of not being an obnoxious, airshows are only organised to impress myself, I'm a better pilot than most display pilots, ****", but its pretty obvious anyway

What a weird comment...

I think these pictures are decent, no darkness issues with me. I guess they are darker than some i've seen but it comes down to taste.

Nice to see some photos that give a bit of the OW atmosphere as well.

[UKTopgun]

Displaying very dark on my Retina display, Spitfire almost a silhouette!

[GeorgeP]

Nice set, as usual. All look fine to me and I suspect that the Spit was meant to be a silhouette. Love the mix of people and machine images.

[Dan O'Hagan]

Nice set, as usual. All look fine to me and I suspect that the Spit was meant to be a silhouette. Love the mix of people and machine images.

Thank you George.

Indeed the Spitfire is intentionally backlit. Good to see this forum does still have some users with double-digit IQs.

A lot of the darker ones are the aeroplanes coming from right-to-left, the direction of the sun. The lack of topsides round the bend necessitated that - I only tend to bother to photograph aeroplanes with the cockpit/pilot visible. But hey, let's not let that get in the way of a bit of the dim bulbs and their DanO-baiting eh?

[blackcat]

Look Good to me,