Old Bricks, how ever did the observer cope with blur using 500mm or 1000mm lenses in the vibrating environment of a Chipmunk? You must have had some
very high ISO film! For air-to-air I used a Canon T70 with a 35-200mm zoom, ISO 200 Ektachrome set 'T
v' and let the camera set the aperture after spot metering the target. But I was taking happy snaps, not sneaky beaky stuff.
And before any d*ckhead smart Alec comments,
never when I was the operating pilot and
always with the camera on a neckstrap well clear of the aircraft controls!
Regarding cameras, certain folks in London were rather pleased when I'd taken some Bear shots in my early days on the VC10K which I'd taken with my own camera (Olympus Pen-FT with 150mm telephoto lens). So much so that they immediately procured 4 x Canon SLRs with 300mm telephoto lenses for us to take along on tanker Q trips, plus LOTS of film. In fact the 'official' photos in
'The Secret Squirrel Book of Planes' of the Bear H were taken from the flight deck of a VC10K.
Always wanted to know what was on the tapes we sent off when listening in on the Bears' chat frequency - I did hear that certain night time frolics involving the Havana ladies, plus copious rum and vodka were occasionally discussed...
I always took a copy of
The Sun calendar with me on Q, to hold up against the big window of the VC10K for the benefit of the Ivans in their little rubber hats. Little did Samantha Fox know the part her parts played in perestroika!