photoartflightAvro Lancaster Mk. X FlyBy
I am cleaning up my external Hard Drives and came across some images from an airshow at Willow Run Airport, Michigan in 2003. So this is a different kind of “bird”, a Warbird as they call them. This is a series of flyby images of a British WWII Avro Lancaster Mk. X heavy bomber. It was built in Canada in 1945 near the end of WWII. And looking it up it is amazing it still flying with the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. All images were taken with a Nikon D1X, with a modified expanded buffer to shoot up to 14 NEF Raw files before buffering to the card. This was state of the art in 2003, a whopping 5 megapixel camera. With a final image size of ~15meg. The D1X also had a crop factor of 1.5x. All images here were with a Nikon 80-400mm lens, Full Frame Camera field of view on the cropped sensor Nikon D1x is ~ 120-600mm with the 1.5X crop factor. I had also photographed this plane at other airshows so it gets around. But my photos for many years now are of birds & birds in flight. They are more challenging and rewarding to me these days!
photoartflight 
That is still one elegant-looking aeroplane! Great detail and photographic framing. That’s a nice bird. I want one (the real thing that is). Please deliver to my home. Thank you.
Thanks! Will it fit in your driveway? Or do you have to lengthen it? Probably also have to widen it quite a bit also! Plus it might leave a lot of oil stains on the driveway!
With a tailgunner no less – father-in-law was a tailgunner in a B17 over Europe and every time I see one of those I am awe struck by their bravery. Nice pics Reed – although not as erratic (at least these older warplanes), still requires many of the same techniques as with your birds in flight these days.
Thanks and say hi & thanks to your dad! Yes, it is hard to get full “prop” circles unless you went to quite “slow” shutter speeds. So I was happy with some prop movement and some panning as they go by. Also the early DSLRs were quite “light” on the megapixels! The early Fuji S1 was 3 megapixel & S2 was a little more megapixels, but more noise. But I used them all commercially! My studio also tested some of the early digital cameras for some manufacturers and was an early adopter of digital imaging. Thanks again!
I love these old planes. Very nice, Reed!
Thanks Belinda! Just thought I would post something different than my usual!
Now that’s a classic!
Yes! I am amazed they still fly it regularly at air shows & events! It is ~75 years old and still going!
Lovely shots Reed. There is still one Lanc that flies over here in the ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ along with Spitfire and Hurricane. They do flypasts at the big drag race meetings (Santa Pod was the base for the 92nd bomb group). We have also had a B-17, Dakota and the Red Arrows display. Got some nice shots but never put them on my blog.
Thanks! Please put some on your blog! Would love to see them!
Cool shots, Reed!!
Thanks Donna! I used to do a lot of aviation photography. But bird photography is more challenging and rewarding to me now!!
Nice shots, Reed! They don’t make ’em like that any more.
Thanks Steve! It used to be fun to go to airshows, especially on military bases. But you really baked out there sitting on a tarmac with the sun beating down on you for hours & hours! Now I prefer “feathered” birds and landscapes!! Thanks again!