Are you into WWII warbirds

Nikonitus

Senior Member
How many of you are into Warbirds? If so, here's a shot I got just a few minutes ago. There's some sort of demonstration at the local Ardmore aerodrome this Saturday involving a De Havilland Mosquito from WWII. I bet not many of you have seen one of these. My brother and I went out to the airfiled this afternoon and waited about an hour or so for the Mosi to make an appearance, but no go. We drove home and I was just sitting there when I heard the low drone of a twin engined plane. Grabbed the D600, ran outside,, its overcast like crazy but got just two shots of it as it headed back to the airstrip. I had the 24-120mm on which was not a good lens for this kind of shot and this kind of distance, probably about a mile away (1.6km) and rapidly disappearing, so I just pointed and clicked, as beggars can't be choosey. Here's a magnified, cropped shot. Sorry if it appears to be 'un-D600-like' but it's the best I could do given the circumstances...
 

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Dave9072

Senior Member
Warbirds are my passion and I'd love to get up close to a Mosquito. If not for the warbird fly-in down in Addison, Tx. this weekend, I'd probably head over to your neck of the woods. Just heard that they will have an Heinkel HE-111 on display that was used in the movie "Battle of Britan", along with their stable of restored aircraft, although I haven't heard for sure if the B-29 'FiFi' will be there or not.

Cavanaugh Flight Museum - Addison Airport, Dallas, Texas

Is this something they do with any regularity in Ardmore?

In case you're interested there is also a big airshow down at the Fort Worth Alliance airport the following weekend, October 6 & 7. It's going to be huge!

Fort Worth Alliance Air Show - North Texas
 

Somersetscott

Senior Member
I wish they'd hurry up and find those Spitfires buried in Burma.. not heard anything about it for some time now..

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
 

Fork

Senior Member
Where and when was this shot Nikonitus? I thought the last flying Mosquito crashed at Barton airshow in '96?
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Here is one.

On 17 January 1945, USAAF B-24J-15-CO LIberator, #42-73134 "Milady", of the 531st Bombardment Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group crashed after take-off on the Cox Peninsula west of Darwin in the Northern Territory. All of the crew were killed in this tragic accident. Some remains of the wreckage of "Milady" can still be seen on Cox Peninsula today.

The 531st Bomb Squadron was based at RAAF Darwin and "Milady" was on a practice bombing mission over Quail Island at the time of the accident. The aircraft caught fire and the pilot was able to fly the B-24 Liberator back to the mainland before it crashed killing all of the crew as follows:-

2nd Lt. Bobby T. Neal (O823712)
2nd Lt. Walter E. Scanlon, Jr. (O711027)
2nd Lt. William G. Ward, Jr. (O2064690)
2nd Lt. Richard W. Walsh (O777385)
Sgt. Francisco Caballero (38553915)
Sgt Gerald D. Sacre (17122357)

The above men were all buried in the Rookwood US Military Cemetery in Sydney before their bodies were exhumed and returned the the United States after the war. They may have been buried in the Northern Territory for some time before being relocated to Rookwood Cemetery

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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Where and when was this shot Nikonitus? I thought the last flying Mosquito crashed at Barton airshow in '96?

Fork,,
I live in South Auckland, New Zealand and Ardmore aerodrome is but 2 or 3 miles away from me. These two shots are outside my backdoor which looks in the general direction of Ardmore, at about 4:30pm (give or take),, no,, just looked at the photos - 17:04 (5:04pm). It was very overcast and about to rain. This weekend there is some sort of airshow on at Ardmore - just google "ardmore airshow september 2012" to find details... My younger brother works at the airfield and told me that the Mosquito has been under restoration for the past handful of years just a few doors up from where he works, and finally took its maiden flight yesterday morning. I took two pice, 1 of them as shown, when it returned to the airstrip just yesterday. Apparently there is another Mosquito on its way back to life but lord only knows how long this too will take. The Mosquito pictured is sold to an American "Jerry Yagen" and will be shipped to the USA after this weekend. It will have 3 flights during the day at 11am 1pm and 3pm...

Hopefully I am heading back out the the airfield this morning to try to get a few more shots. "IF" it happens, this time, I will be prepared. I am sure more pics will pop up as there were quite a few cameras out there yesterday, while we were there, but then again it didn't show so who knows... It was on the new here lastnight or at least on the current affairs program straight after it and it IS the only flying Mosquito in the world...

In this part of the world there are a few old warbirds flying around. I thought I saw an ME-109 a handful of months ago. It had its own sound and I had never heard this one before. I looked up and only saw its profile from underneath slightly in the distance but I swore it was an ME-109, then it was gone.. I heard later there was one being test flown, again, who knows... Spitfires and Mustangs and a Corsair etc are not uncommon around here...

Here's a link that I just found. I wont do a photo link here as it's not my photo but it shows the Mosquito in question at the place at Ardmore...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...98324657.28601.150073775005366&type=3&theater
 
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Nikonitus

Senior Member
Warbirds are my passion and I'd love to get up close to a Mosquito. If not for the warbird fly-in down in Addison, Tx. this weekend, I'd probably head over to your neck of the woods. Just heard that they will have an Heinkel HE-111 on display that was used in the movie "Battle of Britan", along with their stable of restored aircraft, although I haven't heard for sure if the B-29 'FiFi' will be there or not.

Cavanaugh Flight Museum - Addison Airport, Dallas, Texas

Is this something they do with any regularity in Ardmore?

In case you're interested there is also a big airshow down at the Fort Worth Alliance airport the following weekend, October 6 & 7. It's going to be huge!

Fort Worth Alliance Air Show - North Texas

Dave,

Warbirds is a kind of growing industry here and there are those at Ardmore airstrip who fix these old timers up are very devoted and usually very rich. From what I hear the Mosquito cost about 5 million to restore and about 6 or 7 years of work. There may well be another on its way too, so I hear also...

Warbirds airshows happen every now and then but usually they are done at the other end of the country, the most famous is the "Warbirds Over Wanaka" which happens mostly every year. There are also other shows not so regular at the likes of Ardmore (this weekend), but for some reason I am ALWAYS busy these weekends. I have to photgraph at a nationals event for a group of hobbyists Sataurday and Sunday, so there goes any chance of being at this airshow too. When I was a youngster, I was used to hearing many old WWII aircraft buzzing the skies here as back then not only were there quite a few but some of them were still in service - 50's & 60's in our small air force. Lots of WWII planes available very cheaply for some reason back then, so the air force scooped some up. There were Mustangs and Kittyhawks left by the Americans, Spitfires galore, Mosquitos and a small hoard of others around. I believe that's where this Mosquito actually came from. I am sure there are pockets of old aircraft tucked away in storage throughout the country. They feature on the news every now and then with prospects of flying the wide blue again one day...

I love warbirds too but seldom get the chance to see them up close.

Oh, Ardmore aerodrome is situated in South Auckland, New Zealand, where I live so it might be a bit of a journey to get to Forth Worth, but I'd love "IF" I could... I hope people will always appreciate the heritage behind these old battlers as they aren't just retired aircraft are they? They helped to shape us and cost many a good fellow human his life, on all sides...

Lest we forget...!!!
 

Dave9072

Senior Member
Duh....saw Ardmore and my little pea brain immediately thought Ardmore Oklahoma, which is about a 2 hour drive from here. Sorry Nikonitus!

Was kind of wondering how a restored Mosquito could slip into the state without a big announcement.
 

Nikonitus

Senior Member
You know,
that warbird keeps surprising me. It's obviously still around and it flies over every now and then. The sound of two Rolls Royce Merlin v-12's is unmistakable, especially when it comes straight at ya, full revs. Nothing quite like it... It just flew over me a few minutes back and then did a big circle in the sky then took off for parts unkown. I ran into my room and got the D600 out and although I managed just the one distant shot, tail on, I once again had the wrong lens on, the 24-120mm. It disappeared into the horizon and I changed the lens to the 70-300mm. I am going to sit outside ready for it, should it come back,, then hopefully...!!!

The other day it flew off in the same direction but never came back, at least not that same day. If it does today, I'll be ready. I'd head out to the airstrip but I have to be at home for the next few hours, shame but necessary...
 

Eye-level

Banned
Mustangs are like film cameras...F-4's are like digital! I love them all. Did you know that in WW2 at Rolls Royce they disguised the administration building I think as a church...it is still called the church. Spitfires and Hurricanes are the bomb! I like Stukas too and the ME 262 was just bad @ss...
 

Nikonitus

Senior Member
Well, you know I can imagine how planes like the above and the Mosquito (actually, ALL fighters etc) in WWII could have put fear into the enemies mind. I waited outside yesterday for the return of the Mosquito, armed with my camera and although I heard it, I never caught sight of it at all. It snuck right on by, albeit somewhat in the distance...

All I got was the first pic I took as it flew over on its way out, about half an hour before and it was only a dot on the picture, just above the trees... Hardly worth the pixels it occupied...
 

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PapaST

Senior Member
I just stepped out into my backyard today to test a UV filter I attached on my 70-300 lens. I heard an uncommon low drone engine coming in and pointed up at the sky and look what I saw. I was surprised to see a bomber plane flying around my neighborhood. It was cool seeing the gun turret on the belly of the plane and the "painted lady" on the nose. I'm not sure what kind of bomber this was.

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Nikonitus

Senior Member
That would cetainly make my eyes pop outa there sockets, seeing one of these...

I think they are also called a Flying Fortress or something, aren't they?

Nice...

At the local airstrip - Ardmore - I have also seen Spitfire, Hurricane, Corsair, Mustang and I am sure I saw an ME-109 Messerschmitt a while back... There are people there who specialise in restoration...
 
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Marilynne

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Every year the Collins Foundation brings the WWII Warbirds to Boca Raton FL. These are from Feb 2012 (prior to my owning a Nikon). The day we were there, no one shelled out the big bucks to go for a ride.
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