Torbay Air-show - Spitfire & Hurricane

Today I have been putting the finishing touches to a third and final French Horse battery for the game
and was concious that our house was under the flight path for today's Torbay air-show.

It's always fun to head out into the back garden as the throaty roaring crescendo of noise heralds the approach of the Red Arrows, but there is always one sound that guarantees my full attention every time I hear it.

The unmistakable elliptical wings of the Spitfire mark 1 or 1a, machine-gun armed, stubby exhausts Battle of Britain veteran

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight of the Royal Air Force is a regular treat at this show and very often they are accompanied by the Lancaster.

I recognised those throaty Merlin engines immediately and grabbing the Fuji Finepix was in the back garden like a shot to get these pictures of the Spitfire and Hurricane as they headed back from the show.

Considering how quickly these chaps were moving and how little time I had to get the viewfinder on them I am really pleased at the quality of the final shots, with both sets of under-wing roundels identifiable once I had cleaned them up on the computer.

The picture of the Hurricane below comes out rather like a gun-camera view from some old WWII footage.

The rear underside view of the Hurricane 1 as it passed over Chez JJ this afternoon.

These were a real treat and I thought I would share them literally minutes after I took the shots.

Spitfire in Cornwall - 308 (Polish) Squadron

I  was working in sunny Cornwall today and happened to be driving past Newquay airport, formerly RAF St Mawgan.

RAF St Mawgan - History

Having just cleared the boundary of the airfield I passed a house with a very interesting exhibit in the front garden. I only had the phone with me to take some pictures.

It looks like a Spitfire Mk IX in Invasion Stripes in the markings for 308 (Polish) Squadron which carried the ZF code from September 1940 when it operated Spitfire IIA's until its disbandment in 1946 when it was on the Mark XVI.

The Spitfire is the most beautiful fighter aircraft ever, and I prefer to see and hear them flying, but a "stuffed" one was a nice thing to see on my lunch break, and I put some money in the "Preserve the Spitfire" collection box.