As promised, my second diary for the third day in Oshkosh, covering things that were in the air during the day. It started with some older stuff, then some aerobatic maneuvers, then the aircraft shown above. I apologize if that’s just too many shots of the F-22 and F-35; it was the first time I’d seen them in the air. Also, I love watching water vapor form around aircraft, and I captured a lot more of it and from different angles than I’d been able to at previous air shows. Also, these two did their solo displays just before sunset, which made for nice light for some of the shots (though the matte finishes on both were definitely distracting).
From a technical point of view, almost every shot here was taken with a 400mm prime lens (haven’t checked, but probably mostly with the built-in teleconverter, so effectively at 560mm) mounted on a Nikon Z8.
But as I said, we start with the old stuff.
Or maybe a stuntman first? That’s the only shot I took of it. I don’t know why, but it was the first shot I took that day (in the air).
RAF, represented.
Who the hell designs an airplane with pusher and puller propellers? I believe this was a Vietnam War era military plane, but maybe it was just a surveillance plane?
This monster flew past.
One of these C-53s flies (slowly) over us
Or two. It doesn’t matter. It’s fun to have one with D-Day stripes and one without, though.
Another T-28? I can’t remember.
A Canadian coach?
Definitely out of control; as you might guess from the colors and what I said above, this B-29 flew just before the F-35 made its solo appearance
And he flew with the Lancaster, but so far apart that it was difficult to get both of them in the picture
OK, now for the more serious aerobatics (seriously, I think two were current or former world champions). I have to admit, though, that I don’t find aerobatics in general that great for photographing. But they are certainly fun to watch; the level of precision in their control is truly astonishing.
I’m not sure what happened here. I’ve seen it perform before and it’s cool to watch (it can reverse itself, among other things). But this picture from before it did anything interesting is the only one I have.
This is one of those world champions in a very steep climb.
The same, with better angle and better lighting
I would just like to point out that one of the problems with photographing aerobatics is that the smoke can sometimes be a serious hindrance.
Speaking of inversions…
Only one move forward, although the lighting was nice again.
Definition of “endless loop”: see “loop, endless”
Because of the blurry wings, I suspect this was part of a roll.
Rolling while climbing? Probably. But that was my favorite shot of the show (and the last one)
OK, now we come to the military demonstrations we mentioned at the beginning. We started with the A-10. A very impressive aircraft, but not nearly as impressive if you can’t see it firing its main gun. And it’s not fast, which probably largely explains why it’s being retired. I still love it and am sad to see it retired.
Very shortly after the start
Yes, they can also invert.
Basically just a beautiful view from above.
Another reversal, but a better view, I think
“Low and slow” pass. I love the snake around the gun.
I’m descending, presumably for a simulated bomb drop. Apparently a 500-pound bomb, which, after reading so many reports on the Ukraine war, means a lot more to me now than it did before.
Now we come to the F-16 “Viper Demo”. It only did a few flyovers and this was the only shot I liked.
Call sign Viper? No idea.
And a few shots of the F-22 that led to the formation shot above.
I especially like this because of the enormous backflow.
Here’s a little more of it as it goes away.
And now we’re going back. I love the water vapor formations here because a) you can see that they’re not touching the plane and b) they really do look like vortexes.
Beautifully lit shot of an otherwise boring pass
Basically the same, but with the bottom
Much more exciting climb
Ok, back to the F-16 for a moment. He flew another flyover after they formed up, as shown above.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get another shot of an F-16 trailing that much steam.
The F-22 also made it. Just barely.
Nice lighting here too. And I think it’s great how you can recognize the pilot.
And then there was a performance by the Canadian Snowbirds. All nine of them.
I didn’t see them take off. This is my first photo of them, between some trees.
No trees. And now we can see the treetops.
One of them makes a solo flyover (I think), much closer.
And another one goes in the other direction.
A slightly different angle. I’m wondering about the post that protrudes on the right side and there is none on the left side.
A slightly stronger perspective
All of them again. I think this one is my favorite.
Bank shot.
Last formation of all.
Finally, the solo performances of the F-35 and then the F-22. It was a lot of fun to watch them.
Take off again.
A few seconds later; still very close
As mentioned, the sunset gave this curve a beautiful light
Things are getting serious
Shows the bomb bays from so close that this is barely cut off
I have never taken this shot before (although I have seen it in magazines once or twice), but I am confused as I thought this happened at the moment of transition from subsonic to supersonic and I don’t think they reached supersonic in this demonstration.
Got everything. Clean plane, water vapor everywhere and heat distortion from the backflow.
I kept another one because of the lighting. And despite the paint job on the plane. Imagine that with a straight aluminum body; the whole plane would be orange.
Ok, we finally made it to the F-22 solo demonstration.
Start at full throttle: Hard start with vectored thrust
Another great help is the setting sun that passes over us
Another great view of the water vapor in a sharp, banked curve
Another great lighting aid, this time from above.
Climbing for space?
Another hard, low bench
Another hard climb from a different angle
Another flyby of the bomb bay. This one was so close that after a few shots the plane was too big for the frame.
Another shot from above
Climbing again. I don’t know how you get that much steam without seeing the engine bang. But I absolutely love that you can see the swirl shape of the steam again.
Looks like I ran this shot through a pointillism filter or something, but it’s all backwash. The engines are definitely not off.
I don’t remember how they both ended up in the picture. I don’t think they were flying in formation before.
I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures. As mentioned, I’ll have another one with shots from the night air show. And hopefully they came out; I haven’t looked at them yet. I guess I’ll start editing/sorting them tomorrow and post them on Saturday. And then I’ll have to go through the Wright-Patterson shots. Cheers.
