Flying for Dummies: January 2011

Recently Ken Fenwick sadly passed away. He was an absolute legend who flew in WWII and was our CFI from the mid 50s to the late 70s, and I believe was still giving licenses out in the 1990s!! Our club patron from 1967 till present, I have a copy of his Fenwick Flying Manual, and he was a regular bar patron until a few months ago, where he would remember everything you had talked to him about even months before. Sharp as a tack, he will be much missed.

As a tribute to Ken, the Aero Club arranged a formation flyover at his memorial this Saturday just gone. The formation was to be three Archers and a 172 in what I would call a diamond shape (forgive me but I know very little about formation flying) followed by three Robins in a V shape. The aircraft would do a pass over the memorial then the four seaters would leave and the Robins would do another pass, with the lead aircraft pulling up to leave a hole for the 'missing man'.

I asked to come and photograph the formation, and the best place I could find was in the back seat of the left aircraft in the front formation. Having never done air to air photography it didn't occur to me to establish which way the formation would be turning, so most of my shots have the formation obscured by right wing. There was also no chance to get a spot in a Cessna, so I couldn't open the window, hence my shots needed a lot of work in Photoshop to make them presentable. The aircraft behind were impossible to see, so I just shot the front formation.

This was all a big learning experience for me, next time I will be much better prepared. Bring on next time!

So, here's the photos, hope you like them.
Shot with Nikon D90 plus 20-35 and 70-300 VR