Well I guess that’s quite a contentious statement to start a new post here… but one I feel can be quite the conversation piece within the aviation photography community.
I will freely admit most of my time is spent shooting fast jets and planes of that genre, however now and then a day at IWM Duxford or a brief sojourn to Headcorn or wherever I end up with some warbirds is nectar to the soul.
P-47D, Nellie B the largest and heaviest single seat piston engined fighter.
There are many that will say the airframes of yesteryear are boring, slow, no adrenaline ad infinitum, but have you ever thought that if you switch the computers off in the new fancy modern day airplanes they will likely just fall out of the sky, at least if the plank of wood spinning on our beloved warbirds stops, the airframe is remotely aerodynamic enough to afford the pilot and crew a chance to glide to terra firmer and carry on…
Spitfire mk24, Rolls Royce Griffon capable of 454mph and ceiling of 43,000ft
Warbirds for me offer a reflection of the past when boundaries of flight were still being explored, new alternatives in machining, designs, and understanding of the laws of flight were being discovered seemingly with each new mark of aircraft.
The sounds also play a huge part in the allure of a warbird for me, a purring Merlin engine at full pelt or the spluttering and lumbering rhythmic tones of a Pratt and Whitney in the Bearcat, and even the groundbreaking rotary of a Sopwith Pup, has to leave the most staunch of naysayers just slightly tingled, not forgetting the aroma of those fuel rich mixtures plodding past on the taxi to take off..
Grumman F-8 Bearcat carrier based fighter and my favourite
The photography aspect of a warbird throws so many different technique options our way, frankly we’re spoilt. Be it the never ending chase at a lower shutter speed for a disc, partial disc, no disk whatever your team is… or the admiration of a machine that’s been there, seen it and survived and shooting it static to get that epic angle.
Reflecting on those scene setting shots
I don’t think I could go a season and not photo a warbird, or gaze at them in wonder.. I think they fully deserve to be lorded over, despite what social media algorithms would have us think, maybe they aren’t glamorous with huge afterburners and the like counts don’t equal a mundane everyday grey jet shot, remember also most of these airframes are maintained with a passion and shoestring budget to do so..to that end I’m happier seeing them displayed and up in the air than nothing at all..
