Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe, there was a warbird flyover yesterday. I went to the Washington Monument, picked my spot among the photographers and tourists, and waited for the first aircraft to come over.

Flyover Crowd

Photographers waiting for Airplanes

The aircraft were sequenced in roughly the order in which they played important roles in the war. The trainers started off.

Boeing Stearman

North American AT-6/SN

I'm skipping some of the smaller airplanes that I didn't get good shots of. Along came a PBY Catalina flying boat. The rear window is full of photographers.

PBY Catalina

The announcer highlighted the role of the P-38 in the Yamamoto shootdown.

P-38 Lightning

I think I liked the bombers best, maybe because they are so much bigger than the fighters and easier to photograph.

B-24 Liberator

B-17 Flying Fortress

B-17 Flying Fortress

I did get some decent shots of the Mustangs.

P-51 Mustang

I went to US Army parachutist school while I was in ROTC. I made my five jumps and got my badge and I remember being more scared than I have ever been in my life. And I jumped into smooth air, with no flak going off around me. And no one was shooting at me when I landed. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the jumpers who dropped into Normandy the night before the major invasion. I can't let this post go by without including a Skytrain like the ones that the Normandy jumpers used.

CH-47 Skytrain

And I'll end it with the bomber type that ended the war.

B-29 Superfortress

It was a hot, humid day with crappy skies for backgrounds. I did my homework ahead of time to find out what camera settings to use. The consensus is, use shutter priority and try for about f8. To avoid stopping the propellers, slower is better, 1/125 to 1/250. Well I knew that wasn't going to work. I was using a 300mm lens; there's no way I was going to hand hold that and get sharp shots. So I had to settle for a little propeller blur, shooting mostly at about 1/500. Because it was so bright at noon when the planes came over, I was getting f22 in the meter. I dropped the ISO to 100 and hoped for the best. In the end, all of the shots have enough propeller blur to show motion, barely. I also dialed in +1 exposure compensation to deal with the bright skies and dark aircraft.

My lessons for my next aircraft shoot: bring a polarizer, and maybe a neutral density filter too. If I'm shooting jets, then I'll just crank the shutter speed up to get sharpness. Propellers should be shot below 1/500, but at least those aircraft are slower.