gnashings

That is precisely why I don't give numerical ratings - I think they are pointless. At the very least, you should have to include a comment with them to justify your position - good or bad. Those numbers are ridiculous and counterproductive - and I suspect, are a playground for people with agendas and various.. issues.

 

Say what you think - good or bad, forget the numbers.

August, you are one hell of a good sport!

Wow! You don't see this plane every day!

Nice catch!

My thoughts exactly. Lovely work - and I am convinced I would say the same even if these were not Spitfires! But of course its better that they are:)

*sigh....* :)

If form follows function, these planes had some ugly jobs to do :)

The crop is fine - actually, I think its perfect. This is a great shot - but I would definitely punch up the contrast a bit. Mind you, that would make this a different picture, so may just try it and see if you like it. I can't really tell you what I would do other than in terms of actual printing. Is this ever going to make it to an actual print? I hope so, a little effort in the darkroom would really make this sing.

Its really quite a shot - wether you look at it as a photographer, or as an aviation enthusiast! Either way, it has so much going for it on so many levels! I love it!

Gorgeous shot! With a little imagination, the power lines start to look like radar towers :)

August, I didn't even notice! Wow, especially the trailing plane is waaaay out. Its almost disturbing! The lead plane is a lot closer in blue-to-red proportions at least!

I am glad you shared it with us, this way.

August, Pat, point well taken - and agreed, I did fly of the handle. I just can not stand the whole "you should be thanking us for winning ole dubya-bubya two for yous, or y'all'd be speaking Nazi by now"... however thinly vailed. Especially if that vail is composed of a misconception about a subject so dear to my heart.

 

Bottom line is, when the Spitfire was built, it was meant to defend against incoming threats, corresponding to the British policy of night-time strategic bombing which did not require fighter escort.

When the Americans came with their lofty and misguided ideas of daylight bombing (ignoring lessons learned by their allies by that point because... well...anyhow), the British bailed them out by screwing a Merlin to a Mustang (thus getting the airplane they ordered all those years ago...).

 

Mind you, I have to brag a little, its a seldom mentioned fact that a Polish pilot from the 309th squadron had a central role in letting everyone know exactly how capable the Merlin engined Mustang was with a little unauthorized foray to Norway... Interesting story, that. I just don't know if there is any good descriptions of it in English.

 

Sorry about that little bit of national vanity:)

Illustrated beautifully in this shot is the failure of most model manufacturers, and the bain of the existance of a consumate model builder:

 

The famous (or infamous) gulled fillet between the trailing edge of the wing the fuselage. How many kits got this wrong, I can not tell you... How many scratchbuilt replicas? Countless.

 

Another haunting delicacy for the consumate Spitfire-phile.

 

I suppose the Mustang is a better photograph... but this IS a SPITFIRE. End of discussion, I need to save some cash and get me over there one year!

I am just green with ENVY!!! What a place to watch these beauties fly!

Look here for example of why digital B&W has no reason to exist. See these tones? And this is not even an outstanding example of B&W - merely a competent one, albeit of an extremely interesting subject. And even viewed here, in digital form on a computer screen it just screams of a depth and tonality, a real monochrome image, rather than a colour pixelograph with the only thing it has going for it - the colours - sucked out of it.

I love these photos by Mr Kamm, they are truly a treat and a diary of a life obviously in love with aviation!

Yes, but then he's get their bellies :)

 

This is actually harder than it looks - good choice of exposure, yes, the airplanes are a touch dark, especially the trailing plane - but there IS detail in all the shadows, they are far from featureless blobs, and the lead plane being more detailed than the trailing one actually works with your eye. Add to that a great composition, the most beautiful subject matter possible - and I think its an excellent shot.

One has to keep in mind that it is exceedingly easy to end up with "silhouettes" in such shots, and then one is forced to use many large words to explain to one's friends why that was intentional and how they don't understand art:) Not that I'd know... or anything... uhm... yes - moving along.

I can certainly appreciate the difficulty of "taming" this shot at live speeds! Obviously, I think it would have been stronger with both wings fully present - but because of the unusual angle, the immidiate nature of the shot, position of the plane - just the whole "here it comes!" feeling of it, overall I would still count it a success. Good job selecting the crop in such a way that the distraction of a missing wingtip is minimal.

I think I see what you were going for - but I have to say, I think there is more to be pulled out of this photo. I would suggest experimenting with printing this photo a grade harder - see if that does it for you. Perhaps a matter of a slightly lighter print, while still keeping the blacks at dmax.

 

Wait - is this print?

Much enjoyed, as all of them have been thus far - keep 'em coming!

ah, jelous me... I'd say that's close!

Even after a very brief foray into into this forum, specifically WWII related pictures, it is blatantly obvious that many of the folks who post the shots are also (perhaps foremost) extremely knowledgeable and studious afficionados of aviation and/or military history. Posting an idiotically ignorant comment like that in response to someone's opinion on relative aesthetics is something I am sure you're quite emabarassed about, in retrospective. If you're not... then I suppose anything I write here is a waste of time and space (which I suppose, in that case, would be amusingly fitting on some metaphorical level...).

 

But, forever the optimist, here I go (and please, I hope no one takes this as a slight to the US war effort and their contributions to the conflict):

 

The North American P51 Mustang was, in a way, a British invention. When the British Purchasing Commission visited the USA in order to make decisions on purchases of American equipment, they were somewhat underwhelmed by what was the state of the art in American land-based fighter aircraft, the P40. To make the long story short, North American was the only company which took on the near impossible task (given the time constrains) of making a fighter which would address all of the shortcomings of the P40 in the short ordered required by the British. No one else was willing to try. They made the Mustang. When the USA noticed what they had, they simply bought into the concept. A very flawed one, but one with a great potential. The P51 was an extremely mediocre fighter in its initial iteration, and as is generally known and already mentioned, it was the addition of the RR Merlin that made it the world beater it became. It does stand to be mentioned that when the war really hit, everything that could fly was employed, and many a P40 fought in British markings, as well as P38's, P39's, B17's, etc...

Also, the Spitfire was never outclassed outright. Various marks may have been out of step with their opposition, but the only notable example of that is the FW190/MkV disparity, addressed by the MkIX. And lets not forget that the tide of the German offensive was very much turned before a single Mustang fired a round in anger. Not many Mustangs over British skies during the Battle of Britain. Yes, fewer than "the Few", to put it mildly.

If you want kill ratios, kill numbers (claimed, disputed, according to German, British records, war-time, post war - you tell me which), broken down by year, theatre - you name it - let me know, I'd be more than happy to provide them... but in the interest of time, I suggest you take my word (as well as some basic WWII history) at face value. It will save you a great deal of time during which you will only lose self esteem continuosly faced with your own ignorance.

No one should be silly enough to dispute the P51's significance, but no one should be stupid enough to make off hand comments about statements they didn't take the time to understand, either - so let me spell it out for you:

The Spitfire was never outclassed. The Mustang was not meant to, and never did REPLACE the Spitfire. They both played their own, pivotal roles in the air war - side by side, often in different roles due to their designs stemming from totally different requirements (drop an e-amil if you want to know what those are, or better yet - read any book on the subject).

And the P51 can only be seen as attractive in a form-follows-function kind of way. Let's face it: that belly scoop made all of them look pregnant and obese, ungainly. The Allison engined variants looked like someone in need of a nose job, and before the (very brief due to stability issues) P51C model, the high-backed, Malcolm hooded Mustangs just looked fat.

 

Then there is the Spitfire, the most beautiful object ever crafted by human hands. And that is an indisputible fact :)

 

Man, I get long-winded when I get pissed off...

Simply gorgeous... x 2 !!!!

Definitely not your run of the mill warbird shot! COngrats - you suffered for your art (well, nearly suffered!:)). Its a captivating image and a perspective most of us don't get to see. At first I questioned the wing crop as it is now, but after looking at it more, I have to say that I am convinced - this is probably the strongest way to present this image. All in all, a job very well done.

Doesn't get any better... unless it was Merlin, Merlin, Merlin :)