Spitfire Photos - John Dibbs

[megan]

For you Danny. Daily Mail good for something after all. Enjoy everyone.

Photographer John Dibbs captures pin-sharp images of the final 55 airworthy Spitfires | Daily Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3598540/The-Photographer-captures-pin-sharp-images-final-55-airworthy-Spitfires-using-just-handheld-camera.html)

[Art Smass]

Stunning photography - I wish my pictures were 1/100 as good as these

[thunderbird7]

Absolutely stunning pictures

[Cazalet33]

Gorgeous.

Only very slightly off topic: what was the purpose of the yellow strip on the outboard leading edge. Was it some kind of icing mitigation thing?

[Wander00]

so why do I try taking aircraft pics........these are outstanding

[Tankertrashnav]

Thank you for posting megan. Fantastic photos, and I had no idea there were as many as 55 Spitfires still flying.

[OMG Itz Fulovstarz]

Mr. Cazalet33,

Excuse an intrusion from the civil side - the yellow leading edges are an identification feature for the Northern European Theatre, along with the "Sky" coloured spinner and rear fuselage band.

These were introduced, in 1941 I think, when Fighter Commands camouflage scheme was changed from the "Temperate Land Scheme" of green and mid-earth, to the "Day Fighter Scheme" of green and ocean grey. The switch to the DFS scheme was brought about due to the change in tactics in 1941, which saw Fighter Command take the war to the Luftwaffe in France.

The yellow leading edges were not used in other theatres, such as South East Asia Command (SEAC) as the Japanese also marked their aircraft with yellow leading edges. However, in the Pacific theatre, the Aussies marked their Spitfires with wide white leading edges, again as a recognition feature.

I'll take my anorak off now.....

[Ogre]

"using just a handheld camera"

....and a heck of a lot of post processing.....

I'm only jealous, because I wish I could take photos with that clarity of anything!

[jolihokistix]

Wonderful megan. Many thanks for the link.

[S'land]

WOW!
I just wish that I was one tenth as good a photographer.

[Nige321]

"using just a handheld camera"

....and a heck of a lot of post processing.....

I'm only jealous, because I wish I could take photos with that clarity of anything!

What 'post processing'...??

[MPN11]

Curious to see so many inaccurate roundels applied to some of those aircraft.

Type C1 on upper and/or lower wing surfaces. Do they think the thin yellow outer ring looks pretty?
Type B with patently incorrect proportions. Red centre should be 2/5 diameter, not as shown by MH434.

Broadly speaking, for WW2 schemes, Type B on upper wing surface, Type C lower wing and Type C1 on fuselage. Come on chaps!



PS: Fabulous photographs! Thanks for posting the link, megan :ok:

[hum]

Super shots. An inspirational story behind the scenes too.. the camera ship pilot is a disabled veteran :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQXVPIpleI

[OMG Itz Fulovstarz]

Mr. MPN11,

My anorak, grey socks and brown open-toe sandals are now on:-

Type C1 roundels on upper and lower surfaces are correct for fighters attached to the 2nd. Tactical Air Force, which in late 1944/early 1945, were instructed to remove the "Sky" spinner and fuselage band I.D. markings; fuselage band was painted over, spinner colour changed to black. Think they lost the yellow leading edge too - this was to reduce their visibility when parked up on forward strips etc. as by that stage the main threat posed by the Luftwaffe was a Bodenplatte-style attack on airfields.

IIRC fighters assigned to Air Defence Great Britain usually kept the older markings.

Pity that AR213/G-AIST wasn't painted up in the markings that it (she?) wore when used as a "jumper" a/c at 57 OTU:-

http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/Skydancer_photos/AR213%2057%20OTU%20jumper.jpg (http://s694.photobucket.com/user/Skydancer_photos/media/AR213%2057%20OTU%20jumper.jpg.html)

It/she was flown by Ginger Lacey.....

Anorak and related paraphernalia removed again.

[MPN11]

Interesting detail .... thank you! I'm less current on the ropic that I once was, and certainly didn't dig through my library in great detail. I appreciate the response!

So, 2 TAF wanted to maximise the camouflage on the ground by replacing the upper surface subdued Blue/Red Type B with the rather more colourful Red/White/Blue/Yellow Type C1. What were they smoking at 2 TAF? :)

[Danny42C]

Megan (#1),

Thanks for the link ! But it only gives me the DM text - no pics. As other folk are getting it OK, it has to be me.

What haven't I got, or what am I doing wrong ? Dunno - tried on Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, (which is all I've got), but no joy.

But thanks all the same ! Danny.

[MPN11]

Danny, that page contains a lot of high-resolution images. Are you giving it time to download them?

Try again, pop the kettle on, and come back and see if that works? :)

[Tankertrashnav]

And maybe another shovelful of coal in your computer's firebox? ;)

Seriously though, I hope you get to see them - they are quite fantastic. I use Chrome as my default browser and they are coming up ok for me.

[Danny42C]

On 2/6/16, in error, on "Gaining a Pilot's Brevet" Thread, I Posted (#10775) the following:

"....On the subject of the Spitfire pics, no luck. Says "Error 1" or something like it. But thanks for the advice. Could somebody else print them on a Post, so I could see ? (or is Copyright a bar ?) ...."

So here my plea is now, on its proper Thread.

Please ? Danny.