Avro Triplane air to air sorties

[Manonthefence]

I was recently extremely fortunate to be offered the chance to fly a couple of air to air sorties with The Shuttleworth Collection’s Avro Triplane replica.

Having been a fan to the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines for as long as I can remember it was an opportunity of a lifetime. It was however not without its challenges.

The Brief was to get at shot of the aircraft with the Hangars and flight line in the background. The limitations of the aircraft meant that at best, the camera ship would have a 15 mph overtake speed on the target aircraft. This and the poor weather made for a challenging time. I had the highest workload I think I have ever had in the back seat of an aircraft.

The camera ships were the Collections Magister and TigerMoth (if anyone has shots of me in the Tiger on the morning of the first show of the season I would appreciate them) flown by Chris Huckstep and Paul Shakespere. The Avro was flown by Trevor Roche. I was just the guy pushing the button, these guys made the pictures you see below.

Enjoy, I had a great time taking them.













A couple of interesting shots of the views from both sides of the lens (with thanks to Darren Harbar for the use of his pictures).

The view from the ground, picture by Darren Harbar


The view from behind the lens


Again the view from the ground (this is when it got exciting!). Picture by Darren Harbar.


The view from the air



Finally, a very big thank you to Rob for giving me the sortie and the Chief Pilot for having the faith in me to get it done. Last but not least, thanks to the engineers and ground crew. If you are at a show and see the guys and girls in the white overalls be sure to give them a big round of applause. Without them it simply wouldn’t happen.

Thanks.

[TAdan]

Great shots and a beautiful airplane.

[The Inspector]

Great shots!! And I salute you for the extraordinary efforts you went through to get them. You've captured some really beautiful images with great depth and balance in what looks to have been very tricky lighting-kudos to you and all your pilots sir-
Sorta wish the promoter or others would have had the presence of forethought to have all the cars and vans moved behind the hangers before the flight as them being in the air to air shots as it just makes it more difficult to see if Benny Hill is sitting on the veranda of the control tower wearing his fire brigade brass helmet...................

[bdk]

I had the distinct pleasure of spending about 30 minutes talking to Chuck Wentworth at the Chino Airshow a few weeks back specifically about flying WW1 vintage aircraft. Chuck is probably one of (if not the) highest time WW1 vintage aircraft pilots around, at least in the US. Chuck has also flown a number of WW2 era warbirds, in fact he owns and flies his own Corsair and TBM. Getting to the point (finally!), when I asked Chuck how these WW1 era aircraft fly, he said something to the effect of, "Poorly!" He said the control harmony is very bad on most, and that the top speed, cruise speed and stall speed are not that far apart. When I asked how they stall, he said, "I don't know, I would be too afraid of getting into a flat spin to stall one." He really likes flying them, but he is VERY wary of their flying characteristics.

I found his perspective quite interesting.

Great photos as always Nick!

[warbird1]

Again the view from the ground (this is when it got exciting!). Picture by Darren Harbar.

Wow, awesome shots, MOF! Thanks for sharing those with us! This is an awesome picture! Obviously the long range lens has severely compressed the depth on this picture, as it looks unsafe, but I highly doubt it was. What was the real distance on this shot between the two airplanes?

[corsair166b]

God, those shots from Old Warden just make me homesick....and I'm not even from England. Beautiful stuff as usual Nick....but I kept looking at the background, the buildings, the gift shop, places that I've been and missed so much since I was last there back in 2001. It's a magical place, full of history, and never have I spent an evening in the middle of summer (we always went the week after the Duxford show, mid July) as cold on a summer's eve as I was those two shows in 2000/01...If you guys ever get a chance to go...please do so...

The photos are spectacular.

Mark

[Manonthefence]

Warbird1

You are right, the lens has forshortened the distance. I was zoomed at 100mm and the picture is cropped. I wouldnt like to estimate a distance but its further than it looks.

Mark

You should have been there today, the first day of Flaming June was anything but!!

Thanks for the comments chaps.

[Jack Cook]

Isn't that the one the Field Marshall (Burgermeister or who ever he was)
flew in Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines?

[Manonthefence]

No, it the one flown by Sir Percy Ware-Armitage. (played by Terry Thomas)

[airnutz]

Isn't that the one the Field Marshall (Burgermeister or who ever he was)
flew in Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines?

Nooo..Gert Frobe performed his role with the sarcastic bovine monicker of Col. Manfred von Holstein.
Loved his martial band warmup during preflight!!

The bird he flew also doubled..with a few superficial mods...as the Japanese entry.

[k5083]

Those are excellent pics especially given the extremely specific and challenging assignment you were given. Both pilots deserve kudos especially the one in the camera plane who must have had to do most of the maneuvering. Well done and those pics will do credit to the brochures that they will no doubt grace.

August