100 Years of US Naval Aviation

[Chris Dodkin]

Big show in San Diego today - 100 years since they flew a plane on and off a ship docked in the bay, so we got a fly-over of 100 years of naval aviation history.

Took the 5D2 with the 600 f4 - and the 1D2 with the 28-70 f2.8 for wide shots.

Got up at 6am, headed out at 8am, got our spot by 9am, show started at 1pm.

Had the 5D2 and the 600 on the tripod and a gimbal mount

Show kicked off with the Blue Angels flying their diamond formation over the bay

Man, they were way high compared to their usual airshow altitude - doesn't look like I'll be getting planes in front of the cityscape...

Age before beauty, WWII first:

Seaplane

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Chopper Squad

Half chopper, half plane - The Osprey

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Stepping up in scale

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Jets:

Lots of jets!

This last shot is the complete wing of planes from a carrier - all in the air at the same time!

So, not a bad day - a little frustrating due to the high altitude fly-overs, but the first outing of the 5D2 on the 600mm went well

 

[Pete Askew]

Nice shots Chris and I just love flying boats so a Catalina was a treat.

 

[Vic Shaw]

Liked the WWii set, these planes seem to have so much grace. Coupled with the fact we owe them and the people that flew them so much always makes for an emotive shot.

 

[Hamish Gill]

That osprey thing is pretty crazy looking ... As is your tripod!
Good work!
My favorites are the ones with the city in ... The one with the 4 choppers etc ... I like the context ...
You would make a good plane spotter with image quality like that though eh

 

[Darren Turner]

Balls to the planes ........LOOK AT THAT F00KING LENS.................. jaw drops..........!!


very nice set of pics though Chris, i like the ones that inlcude the city in the backgrounds as well.........!!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

The initial passess of the WWII era planes were so high that they're really small in frame

After that they dropped in altitude a little, which was good, but not far enough to get them in frame over the buildings.

The choppers however did come in low, so I got their formations over the cityscape with the 28-70.

Darren - never figured I'd ever have a 600, but one came up on EBAY in the early 2000's, from a new seller who didn't really know EBAY, and had a buy it now price which was a bargain.

10 mins after it posted I spotted it and hit BUY! LOL

If he'd left it to a proper auction he'd have got more money for sure - his loss, my gain

It's actually easy to use in the Manfrotto Gimbal mount - almost a weightless feeling allowing full freedom of movement.

You wouldn't want to be hand-holding it - it's bleepin heavy at 6kg!

 

[Thomas brookes]

great shots chris!!!! you can almost "see the whites of there eyes" with that lens they could have mistaken you for AAA!! thanks alot for posting them i enjoyed them alot!