Wingtip-to-wingtip flight with a Spitfire

Morning all,

Getting very, very excited now, as on Saturday, weather-permitting, I should be doing a wingtip-to-wingtip flight alongside a Spitfire! This is the whole reason why I upgraded to a DSLR, and why I've been getting as much practice in as I can.

I've just taken delivery of a new Tamron 70-300mm VC lens, but I think I'll probably be using my 18-55mm VR Nikkor for most of it, looking at how close the two aircraft will be getting!

I've read the excellent guide by Moose Peterson, so have got an idea of settings to be using, but if anyone else has got experience of this sort of thing, I'd welcome extra advice.

In addition to taking photos, take a few moments to just enjoy the experience! Have fun, and good luck.

WM

absolutely agree with that - I don't want to live my life through a lens. thanks

Whiskeyman said:

In addition to taking photos, take a few moments to just enjoy the experience! Have fun, and good luck.

WM

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Well said.

Wow ... most impressive. Strap in, hang on tight, and shoot lots of pictures. Looking forward to seeing your photos of the experience.

It's going to be a 30 minute flight, chock to chock, with 15 minutes alongside the Spitfire. I'll take loads, don't worry, but as others have said, will also give myself plenty of time to take mental pictures too - gotta savour this moment!

robstopper said:

It's going to be a 30 minute flight, chock to chock, with 15 minutes alongside the Spitfire. I'll take loads, don't worry, but as others have said, will also give myself plenty of time to take mental pictures too - gotta savour this moment!

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Rob,

Assuming that you will be in another Spit (or similar) I would suggest that you take the physically shortest lens that you have as there will not be much room; you may not even be able to get the camera up to your eye. I have flown in light aircraft with a friend who has a pilots licence and I would have difficulty taking photos out of the side window on my side with anyting other than a compact camera.

Anyhow I'm not at all jealous of you:livid::livid::upset:!

Hope that the weather holds out for you and you enjoy your flight; as a matter of interest where are you flying from?

God, I wish I was doing it from another Spit! We're flying in a DH Rapide (old biplane short-haul airliner for those not familiar), so we'll have a bit more room, but as it's not exactly a 747 inside, I'm guessing that my 18-55mm lens will be the best bet for maneuverability.

We're flying with Classic Wings out of Duxford, about 45 minutes from me. It's £400 for the flight, but will be money well spent I reckon. I'd love to go up in one of the two seat Spits, but they start at about £2750............

check out their website or their Facebook page, you'll see how close you get! We should be flying with MH434, one of the most original, genuine WW2 veteran Spits. It's never been fully restored, just serviced, and got two Fw190 kills to it's name.

Can't wait!!

A couple of minutes of video would be nice.

I hope it goes well for you. Many years ago, my private instructor had an acquaintance with a two-seat P-51 in South Florida. Somehow, he convinced the owner to take me along on a short flight. Unfortunately, the flight had to be cancelled because of serious maintenance issues with the P-51, and I never did get the chance again since I moved out of the area. I've had a similar opportunity since then, but as a paid client, and that was more than I could justify spending once I had a family. I don't fly any more, but do sometimes miss it, so I am really envious our your opportunity.

Have a photo plan for the flight, paying very close attention to plane positions and lighting angles, and be very involved with the flight planning and mission brief to maximize your shooting opportunities. Let the pilots know then what you need for the best photos, and also communicate with them once in the air, if you can. If they fly photo shoots, let them share with you what works and what doesn't. And stretch your muscles well before getting into the seat, because you might have to really contort your body above the waist once you get in the air!

Again, good luck!

WM

I won't have that much say in the matter WM unfortunately, as there'll be up to 8 of us in the Rapide - we go where they take us lol. These are regular, organised pleasure flights, not something I've organised myself.

Oh bugger. Didn't happen today - weather was OK, but MH434 decided that she didn't feel too well today, oil leak issues somewhere in the engine, and they quite rightly didn't want to risk damaging such a priceless machine. We'll reschedule for next month.

So, finally, after another two months, we got up alongside the Spitfire today. What an amazing experience, worth the wait and experience. "Spirit of Kent" looked so beautiful and graceful in her natural element. I took many, many pics, but this one has to be my favourite

And a couple more that I'm happy with

Very nice photos, Rob. One heck of a thrill, I'd wager. Many thanks for sharing the photos here.

Thanks Max. You're right - it was one of the three best things I've done in my life!

There's a few more pics here, if anyone is interested in seeing them......I won't spam the board here too much with them! That's my dad and my mate Andy standing by the Spitfire by the way - part of the package was a printed picture of each of us alongside it, so I snapped a couple extra at the same time.

Wingtip-to-wingtip With A Spitfire by rob_harris001 | Photobucket

thank you.

I followed the advice from people on here - took photos, took video, and also gave myself time to just sit and use my own in-built camera and video recorder to save some memories in the organic databank!