Pic(k) of the week 33: 1930's Racing aircraft

Those of you following me on social media, probably know I had a blast over the last two weeks when it comes to attending top-class Aviation events; it started with Airventure 2015, The Worlds Greatest Aviation celebration in Oshkosh,(WI,USA), followed by the Wings and Wheels show at Old Warden, (UK) and finally fly-ins like the "Zeeuwse Luchtvaartdagen" at Midden-Zeeland, (Netherlands) and the Tail-wheel meeting at Overboelare, (Belgium). 

I'm still in the process of editing the backlog of images which will be followed by a few Aviation Photography blogposts. 

One image that stood out amongst the Old Warden bunch, was the one below of two extremely rare birds that over the years have written plenty of aviation history.  

1930's Racing aircraft

The beautiful red aircraft on the left is one of only five built; a 1934 de Havilland DH.88 Comet. The vintage twin broke several records during the Golden age of long distance air racing: starting with a Mildenhall (UK) to Melbourne (Australia) record in 1934; London to Cape Town (1937) in 45 hrs and a record breaking London to New Zealand time of just over 104 hrs. Being over 80 years old, she took to the skies again last year, after a extensive restoration by the fine guys (and girls) of the Shuttleworth Collection in Old Warden. 

The white single-engine aircraft on the right is equally important in British Aviation history; in the 1930's it was the first civil aircraft to fly faster than 200mph. This specific Percival Mew Gull, broke the England to Cape Town record for light single engine aircraft, flying to the Southern tip of South-Africa in less than 40hrs in 1939. A record which stood for more than 70 years! During the war, the aircraft was hidden in a French barn and was eventually flown again in the early fifties. Being a tricky aircraft to fly, she has been through multiple landing accidents over the years; each time needing a major rebuilt.

Image details:
Fujifilm X-T1 with the XF18-135 f3.5-5.6 LM OIS WR Fujinon lens
ISO 200, 22mm, f11, 1/400s
RAW development in Iridient Developer 
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Pro contrast filter
Lightroom CC for cropping (16:9) 

More of my Aviation Portfolio images can be found here.

BJORN

   


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