Westland Lysander Target Tug

The reason for the unusual (for a warplane) bumble-bee paint scheme -

one of the leat enviable jobs in the business - a target tug! This

airplane towed a sleeve on which trainee pilots sharpened their

gunnery skills! Any and all comments welcome, thank you for

looking:)

If you get a chance try a different angle. This shot shows what the subject is but isnt very dynamic and the background could be better. Have fun with it. Just my opinion.

I agree completely - I was disappointed with this air-show because the aircraft were so crowded that it was hard to get a lcear shot of anything. And with the size of the objects, it was difficult to try manipulating DOF. My original aim was to make sure nothing "modern" was in frame, but I had to give up on that...

Thanks for hte input - much appreciated!

That's the hardest thing to do is get a clean and clear shot of planes and cars that one could only see at a show and you can't control the conditions to shoot. Right when you think you have the go ahead to take it, a kid or someone absently walks through. I like this view!

Nice angle on the Lizzie, Peter. Framed a bit tightly, but I know that was to eliminate clutter.

 

I question the choice of b/w here. Color would really make this paint scheme pop out. When I get to see this plane, which I hope will be this summer if it's flying in time, I'm going to try to make an abstact composition out of the fuselage or tail where you have the yellow, black, and red/white/blue of the markings coming together. On a sunny day this bird will beg for Kodachrome!

 

 

August - you are absolutely right about the choice of B&W - I have C41's as well (I should have had some tranny with me!). The best time to shoot these on the ground is right before they put them away for the day - still, clutter is difficult to avoid. The interesting thing is that the floor in the hangar is very glossy, and either myself or a friend of mine (I can't recall right now) has a colour shot of the airplane in the hangar, with the brilliant paint scheme reflecting in the floor. Hope you make it to Hamilton, its really a nice little museum and the annual roll out is a great place to look at airplanes. Thanks for the input on the shot!

Peter, I used to be a regular at Hamilton back in the late 1980s when they used to put on a very decent World War II airshow. I shot many pics of their much-missed aircraft (Hurricane, Avenger, Corsair, Mustang). Then I moved away from the area and although I have visited the new museum, I have not seen most of their recent restorations in the air (Lanc, Firefly, Canso). I have heard that the Brantford airshow is a good place to see their fleet flying, and I owe some kin there a visit, so perhaps this summer.

 

CWH's fleet of trainers has always been so beautiful in those yellow paint schemes that I would love to get almost any of them alone on the turf for a really thorough photo session. Never have had the opportunity though.

 

Thanks for the enjoyable discussion and comments on my stuff.