Photographing Planes in Flight
A Typhoon puts on the manoeuvres after taking off from RAF Coningsby. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 200.
Photographing machines is pretty routine for me. If you are familiar with my work, then you know a major part of it is photographing cars for magazines. But machines with wings? That’s not something I do very often. That’s why being part of a camera club or group is such a great thing, as you will inevitably come into contact with people who’s photographic interests are different to yours. Low and behold Lee, a member of my local club, invited me out one day to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to photograph the Typhoon fighter jets and, if we were lucky, perhaps something a little older. For those who don’t know, RAF Coningsby is home to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), where planes such as the Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and even a Lancaster bomber regularly fly as a tribute to the brave airman of the Second World War. As a display group they are also often participating in both commemorations for the war and royal events.
The surprisingly limited fencing gives clear views of the planes when landing and taking off. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 64.
Aiming my lens between the chains in the fence gave me a clear shot of the cockpit and the pilot. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 125.
Now I had seen the odd air display over the years and living near to Imperial War Museum Duxford I’d seen a fair few things up close. However, I’d never been to a working RAF base to see planes either modern or old in full and regular operation. I was particularly excited to see the Typhoons as they were something I had never seen before. After a lengthy drive I was surprised to see not just how close you can get to the planes on the tarmac but also how flimsy the fence around the airbase looked. I’m sure though that if anyone was foolish enough to climb over the fence there’d be a pretty quick and swift response. Close by there was even a dedicated viewing area just across the road where many people were already set up with their cars, caravans, and deck chairs. Something I’d never considered but very obvious when you think about it.
Take off is always the most exciting part with the roar from the jet engines. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 400.
Handily a display board tells you which planes will be in the air each day for the BBMF and whilst there were the usual Spitfires listed there was also the Lancaster, one of only two in the world that is still flying. The group of us began to get excited, whilst you never know what might be flying (if anything is flying at all) it looked like lady luck was on our side today. Based on Lee’s experience from being here in the past we stationed ourselves a bit further down from the main carpark on the South West side.
A head on view of a Typhoon. It proved to be surprisingly hard to get as you needed perfect timing and positioning. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 200.
Two Typhoons that had just landed head back to the hangars. 1/1600s 300mm F2.8 ISO 250.
First up were the Typhoons and my they were impressive. Initially we saw some of them come into land where we could get clear close-up shots of the cockpits with the pilots. They were obviously used to the attention as they gave appreciative waves to the spectators. It wasn’t much longer before we had them taking off overhead, jet engines thundering as they headed off to their destination, sometimes engaging in basic manoeuvres and flying in tandem with a second plane. To make the most of it I brought along my big 300mm F2.8 lens which was made for capturing fast action in great detail. Thankfully with the low fence we didn’t have to worry about obstruction, and it was easy enough to aim the lens through the holes in the chain link fence to get shots of the landed planes in the airbase itself.
My photo of the day. I couldn’t have wished to have taken a better shot of the lone Apache. 1/1000s 300mm F2.8 ISO 200.
As the day went on we were already pretty happy with what we had but a few more surprises were on the way. First up was probably the biggest in the form of an Apache helicopter, something of a rarity. We’d seen it flying around the airbase beforehand and when we saw it heading in our direction, we had our cameras at the ready. For me the close-up shot of the Apache was the photo of the day. I managed to freeze the body of the helicopter but there’s just enough motion in the blades to really showcase it flying.
The moment we had been waiting for. The Lancaster approaches overhead. 1/1600s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
As the Lancaster flew overhead I got this close-up shot with the pilot clearly visible. 1/1600s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
Then came the thing we’d been crossing all our fingers and toes for – the Lancaster. We’d seen it being wheeled out and fuelled up on the strip before it headed off to take to the air. The experience of this flying over your head is something else. The sheer noise, the thunderous roar, and its massive size has to be seen to be believed. It’s almost unthinkable to imagine what it would have been like during the war when planes were coming and going all the time. I was thrilled as well to get great photos of not only the plane approaching and then flying away, but also a close-up of the cockpit and another shot of it flying low over Tattershall Castle. Pure magic.
The thunderous noise and sheer size of the Lancaster is something you just have to witness in person to understand. 1/1600s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
Our final view of it was over the nearby Tattershall Castle. 1/3200s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
To round off the time there we also saw the union flag liveried plane from the Typhoon Display Team perform a few manoeuvres before touching down. Sadly I didn’t get to see the Spitfire take to the air and the Hurricane was only just being wheeled out as we were setting off to have a quick look at RAF Lakenheath. The Spitfires are special to me as my grandad flew them in the war, but they are also a common occurrence at just about every air show in the UK, so there’ll plenty more opportunities to see them. Unfortunately despite the drive there was nothing flying at Lakenheath as this is an American airbase and with it being Labor Day, everyone had the day off! Still, I think we’d been lucky enough already.
Our last surprise of the day was the appearance of the Typhoon from the display team. 1/3200s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
Touching down you could see more of its livery in detail. 1/3200s 300mm F2.8 ISO 320.
Thanks very much to Lee for organising and hopefully I can get out again this year to capture some more planes in action. If you have recommendations on places to go or tips to take better photos then please do leave them in the comments down below.
The Hurricane was only wheeled out of the hangar just as we were leaving. Another time. 1/400s 45mm F8.0 ISO 64.
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