To take half-decent air-to-air shots, it was often a case of being in the right place at the right time. Looong before the days of digital multi-shot and post production editing, I used my trusty Canon T-70 with a 35-200mm zoom and Ektachrome 200. I always used 1/500 speed priority and spot metering - compose, zoom, trap settings and shoot! No getting the subjects to pose either!
In June 1987 we were trailing some Lightnings out to Akrotiri for the last Lightining APC detachment. A formation of 2 x VC10K plus 4 x Lightnings. One VC10K did the first couple of brackets before returning to Brize and we took the 4 x Lightnings the rest of the way.
I was lucky enough to capture this shot of the 4 x Lightnings and the other VC10K over the Alps - underexposed for 'atmosphere':
This was quite a popular photo and I sold several having found somewhere which would make good quality large format prints at a decent size. As with all my air-to-airs, the other pilot was flying the jet at the time
A little while later, OC101 was entertaining the famous aviation photographer, the late Arthur Gibson RIP. Arthur saw my photo and aksed the Boss who'd taken it. So at his behest I went through to the crew room and Arthur said "Did you enter that in the RAF Photographic Competition?" I said that I hadn't, as I didn't know that there was such a thing. To which Arthur replied "That's a pity - I'm the chief judge and I would have insisted that it won!". He saw my advert on the crewroom wall and asked if I had any left (The prints were v. expensive and I'd set the price to break even, with an allowance for damaged prints). He insisted on paying me and wouldn't accept any change! What a nice chap - but his comments had been priceless!
I took quite a few air-to-airs during GW1, which appeared in various publications. I 'loaned' some for various purposes, but only AFM returned them after use. When some ar$e at Group started trying to demand them for their use under some 'Crown Copyright' pretext, I told him that they were my property and I'd disposed of them..... An aviation artist asked for some (from which he made a painting..) and never returned them. Airfix even used one on the 1/72 GW1 Tornado GR1 box art without my permission, but I wasn't that fussed
I was disenchated with early digital due to the time delay between pressing the 'shutter release' and the camera firing; a change of my situation meant less opportunites anyway, so I stopped bothering with air-to-air photgraphy.
Nowadays a lot of shots are ultra pin sharp, but seem to lack imagination....