Shuttleworth's Finest Pageant (non-DSLR) - UPDATED

[Hatstand]

What a show! Beautiful weather, and Old Warden at its finest: a wide variety of planes in the air, many that are unique, many that are a rare sight even by Old Warden's standards... the Edwardians took to the air, and so did the fabulous, beautiful, magnificent, historic Comet. All Killer, no filler. Excellent day out!

There were a few "hairy" moments... the Shuttleworth Gladiator lost a small inspection panel from its upper wing, which tore off a thin strip of fabric as it "departed"...

Then there was the Wren... The times I've seen it before it was barely able to get off the ground, and only made short "hops" a few feet off the ground. Sunday was no different... until the last pass where the pilot somehow managed to get it several meters into the air...! And then rapidly started running out of runway! He looked to be heading for a rendezvous with the hedge but managed to bank steeply to perform a 90-degree turn (an eye-popping sight for the Wren!)... to land it safely.

And finally... the Comet: a "goosebumps" flying performance, and its landing even more so! Apparently it can only land in one direction down the Old Warden runway, and on this day that meant doing it with a slight tailwind. The speed at which it shot down the runway and disappeared down the other end of the airfield... raised more than a few eyebrows! But the pilot got it down safely, to much applause.

1. Duxford's Gladiator


2. Shuttleworth's Gladiator, damaged upper wing...


3. Avro Tutor


4. Desoutter I, and EON Primary glider landing


5. ANEC II


6. Hawker Cygnet


7. DH60X Hermes Moth


8. Percival Piston Provost


9. Miles Magister


10. Chipmunk


11. BBMF Spitfire and Hurricane


12. Avro 504


13. Blackburn B2 and Avro 504


14. Hawker Tomtit


15. Tiger Moth


16. Sopwith Camel


17. Polikarpov PO-2


18. Tiger Moth, Polikarpov PO-2, Hawker Tomtit


19. Hawker Tomtit


20. Blackburn B2


21. BE2e


22. Two BE2es


23. BE2e


24. M1c


25. Bristol Fighter, Storch, Lysander


26. Hawker Demon and Hawker Hind


27. Hawker Hind


28. Hawker Demon


29. English Electric Wren... a wee bit high and requiring an "interesting" manouevre to avoid the hedge...


30. Bristol Boxkite


31. Avro triplane


32. DH88 Comet


33. DH88 Comet


34. DH88 Comet


35. DH88 Comet, "warp speed" landing...


36. ...but safely down


All taken with my Panasonic FZ1000 bridge camera (non-DSLR), red dot sight fitted.
I hope you saw something of interest!

EDIT: MORE ADDED BELOW

[Exiler]

Very, very nice. Lovely Comet shots!

[Ian G]

Outstanding pictures, cannot pick a favourite out of that bunch! The light looks awesome and they are pin sharp, well done!

[stillcrazy1]

Absolutely outstanding. The depth of focus on some of the shots is unbelievable.

[Slinger65]

Some lovely shots in there - great low speed shutter work on the Provost and <that> Comet landing (how low was your shutter speed on that one??). I thought he had no flaps down at first, but on closer inspection there are some "nominal" flaps inboard of the engines, but hardly worthy of the name perhaps.

Our first trip to OW and undoubtably not our last. Still chugging through my RAWs at the moment, will post a few of the better ones in a day or two. Based on your results, the FZ1000 looks a seriously capably piece of kit.

[PanamaMan]

Another great record of a truly vintage OW - you've done it justice!

[DanO1978]

That's some camera you have there, and you're really wringing every last drop out of it. These put many, many DSLR users to shame in their sharpness and composition. Very well done indeed.

[Hatstand]

Thank you very much, for the comments and kind words everyone!

Regarding the Panasonic FZ1000, it is indeed an impressive bit of kit. Leica branded lens, 25-400mm, f2.8 - f4, high speed, high performance, and chock full of goodies. If anyone's interested in finding out more, THIS GUY can probably tell you about it, better than I can. (Start reading from his Aug 6th blog post, and work forwards)

Here's a few of my "ground" shots from Sunday:

37. Bucker Jungmeister


38. Gladiator


39. Taking the Comper Swift for a walk


40. M1c and Storch


41. BE2e pair


42. The Edwardians coming out to play


Thanks for stopping by!

[johnr]

Really good shots. Captured the day nicely. I was thinking of amending my post to add some of the usual suspects bot you seem to have them covered.
John

[Airwolfhound]

A fabulous post, not really equalled from what I have seen. Awesome

[ArthurG]

Amen to all the above compliments. You've certainly captured a day that will be remembered for a long time. Love the variety of shots, but I guess that's what is so good about O.W. - the right crowd and no crowding, so you can move around all day long without fear of loosing your spot on the fence. I think we must have been standing next to each other on more than one occasion.

[LN Strike Eagle]

You make that camera sing - these are magic. Love the M1c.

[AlexC]

Great shots! Old Warden is a magical place. Couldn't get to the Pageant, but hope to visit for the October event.

[corsair F4U]

You really get the best out of your camera wonderful set

[planemadbird]

Stunning set, nice work

[Mictheslik]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!