The American airshow, Duxford, May 2016.

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Kinda makes a guy on this side of the Atlantic question the expense of going to see aircraft half a mile away in flight after staring into the sun all morning and then having it at 90 degrees to your right when the planes are in the air. Glad I went and saw what I did. The museum aircraft are amazing but flight line alignment leaves a lot to be desired from a photography point of view.

The company and bevvies were fantastic!!!!!

Jeff
 
Thanks very much chaps.

Glenn, I'm not sure exactly, but it seems that the whole weekend involved commemorative events for the 8th and 9th USAAF right across East Anglia, with the event at Eye, the airshow at DX, and a ceremony at the US Military cemetery at Maddingley, just down the road from DX.

Andy, from what I could see, the main display axis appeared to be between the hard runway, and the southern boundary of the airfield, where the ground rises. The closest most 'acts' got was roughly over the hard runway, or perhaps slightly more towards the crowd line.
Some aircraft seemed to be a bit closer later in the day, but nothing like the really close fly-bys we've seen in the past. The closest the Eurofighter Typhoon got seemed to be about over the hard runway, with the rest of the display being fairly high and further out. I don't think I have any shots where the subject would fill the frame with the lens pulled back to, say, 200mm, and at 300mm, only take-off shots, or those over the the same axis, got near to filling the frame.
Below is an example, with an un-edited shot, taken as far as I remember at full zoom of 300mm, showing 'Sally B' turning in the circuit after take off - this would normally be at least half as big again, so even the circuit seemed wider. However, some of this might have been due to the weather, as later in the day, when the murk lifted, the circuits did seem closer.

 
Typical summer's day at DX, I see...

Nice pics guys, that Osprey is something!

Airframes said:
It looked better in its 'BoB' movie colour scheme, and those with just the lower cowling panel in yellow don't look too bad, but the new scheme and yellow nose makes it look bigger and flatter at the front.
Click to expand...

Is that John Romain's machine he sent to Wanaka - this one?

 
Andy, the road along the south side of the field, and the access road to that mound, were closed for the duration of the show, and Police vehicles were parked in strategic points to prevent access by individuals. This has been happening for most shows since at least last year, but since Shoreham, it's really being enforced. Bear in mind that we positioned ourselves very near the center of the crowd line this time, just to the west of the tower by maybe 100 meters, so at the furthest point from the hard runway. The 'tank bank' and the eastern threshold area of the crowd line are a bit closer, and we were going to sit at the latter, but the wind, from the north and east, meant take-off was from the right as viewed, so we went for a central spot. Just as well, as the main car park and entrance for shows is now at the western (tank bank) end, and the crowds there were much deeper than the central area.

Grant, yes, it's John Romain's Buchon, re-painted, I think for a movie - maybe the forthcoming HBO series on the 8th AF ?
 
Ah, a 'Dunkirk' movie - that would make sense, to an extent, regarding the colour scheme, although at that time, the mottle and yellow nose had yet to be introduced.
Just sorting some more shots, and I'll post them later today.
 
Yes, they've been trying to do so along Grange Road for years, but as it's a public right of way, it needs special dispensation, and the cooperation of the local Police. It looks like the Shoreham accident has had the effect of quicker cooperation, and the road, and the other access tracks up to that mound, were sealed off, with Police vehicles and foot patrols in evidence.

Back to the B-17 / Mustang / 'Messerschmitt' display, and a few shots of the individual aircraft - again these are a bit grainy, due to the weather. The sun was trying to break through by this time, but the warmer air created a haze, evident in the pics.
It looks like the fighters were possibly landing on the grass beyond the hard runway, rather than the 06 /24 grass runway, to the north of the hard runway.

 
Thanks Terry; they acted fast on that, then. The Yellow nose does make it look fatter and shorter, oddly.

Terry, do you use an auto setting for your images or fiddle with exposure settings, f/s etc?
 
Nice Photos Terry. I just found and joined this forum in a quest to find out if there was any relationship between the design of the Grumman Bearcat and the FW 190...
 
Thanks very much chaps, and welcome to the forum Adam.

Grant, I shoot on Shutter Priority for ground to air, and anything on the ground with a moving prop. I use a Nikon 55-300mm lens on the Nikon D80, normally at 1/320th of a second or slower, at 400 ASA/ISO, and sometimes, but rarely set it to 'Auto' for fast jets, and use the image stabilisation for all shots, with the camera mounted on a custom-made stock, adapted from a 'Stedi Stock' butt (shown below).
Static shots are done with either the Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm lens, settings as above, or 'Auto', and I also use a little Fuji 'bridge' camera, the S1000, set on 'Normal', which is auto exposure, but compensating for natural and artificial light.
With the weather at DX on Sunday, I should have really increased the ISO rating, but, being 'old school', I still think in terms of increased grain with higher ISO, and left it at 400 - next time, I'll make some changes if it's dull !

Jeff, I didn't get to look around the hangars this time around, apart from a brief visit to the refurbished and re-arranged American Museum, after the show (pics later), so I didn't see if the Victor has yet been re-painted. I'll have a look in July, when I go to 'Legends', unless I get there earlier.

Here's a few of the BBMF contribution, again not up to standard and somewhat 'grainy', having been enlarged and cropped from the center of the image, with all pics taken when it was still dull and hazy, with the sun almost making it through.
The BBMF 'Dakota' had gone U/S, one of a few aircraft that didn't display on the Sunday. One of the Fennecs had already dropped out, and the second one, which did display on Saturday, 'went sick' and stayed on the ground on Sunday - it sounded more like a bag of spanners than usual, when it passed over the edge of our campsite on Saturday.
The Dutch Mitchell was a 'no show', and the resident P-51D 'Ferocious Frankie' also remained parked up, on Sunday at least.

 
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