Greetings and Merry Christmas!  This post is to announce that I have some really great things planned for 2013!  I look to release some new and improved productions throughout the year, including several interviews.  One of the first things I have lined up is an in-depth look at a local restoration of an extremely rare WWII fighter/bomber.  All of the attention has been on New Zealand's Mosquito restoration that took its first flight in September.  However, very few people realize that there is an original Mosquito (bomber version!) being restored in British Columbia.  Also, I am hoping to get some interviews and a few status updates on an original A6M3-22 Zero with an original Sakai-21 engine here at Paine Field.  They've been making great strides in its progress.

In the meantime, enjoy this video I put together.  Please, share your ideas as to why you think we should (or shouldn't?) keep these warbirds flying.

http://youtu.be/2d-7eMf7uvo

IL-2 Arrival - Flying Heritage Collection

This just in!  Flying Heritage Collection at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, has just announced that its highly-anticipated IL-2 Shturmovick has arrived via ship at the Port of Tacoma early this (Feb. 2) morning!  I have not been able to get a time as to when it may arrive at the museum, however, they said it should be very soon.  I will keep you posted with news as it becomes available. 

They will be reassembling the aircraft in the hangar so visitors may be able to view its assembly process.  This is very exciting as it is the only IL-2 in the world that is in flying condition, out of 35,000 that were built during WWII.

100 Hour Inspection Complete

This last weekend was a nice tease of things to come for 2012.  Historic Flight Foundation finished the 100-hour inspection on their B-25D Mitchell "Grumpy" and took it out for its first flights on Friday and Saturday.  And sure enough, I was there to catch all the fun and excitement, with my camera in hand!

Winter Rumblings

 [edit] Ah, helps to have a working link!

With annuals underway at Flying Heritage Collection, winter is a great time to get a very rare view of the unique collection with inspection panels open, cowlings removed, and even the rare opportunity to view some maintenance runs. Friday the thirteenth was just one such day. The Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk and Republic P-47D Thunderbolt have recently finished their annual inspections so the FHC maintainers decided to take advantage of the nice weather to runup the engines. Below is the video I shot on Friday. If you enjoy the music of Warbird noise, you will enjoy this 14-minute video as a tease of things soon to come this Spring! Enjoy!

Summer Projects: Luftwaffe Day

Back in August my Sigma 50-500mm lens started having aperture problems, where it would just stay closed.  At first it would happen only occasionally, starting in July, but by the time "Luftwaffe Day" had approached, which was due to be Flying Heritage Collection's debut of the worlds ONLY airworthy Focke-Wulf 190A-5, I figured I better be ready for a backup plan and decided to bring my Canon camcorder along.

As I feared, the lens never recovered that morning, and I was forced to start shooting video.
This is the video that I shot that morning and thus began my conversion to shooting video exclusively:

This day represented the first time an original Fw-190 and an original Bf-109 had been in the air together since WWII.  The Fw-190 was piloted by Steve Hinton, and the 109 by Bud Granley.  Sitting behind me in a hangar was Legend Flyers Messerschmitt Me-262 which they had been test flying earlier that week.

Enjoy!

Collings Foundation Bombers....

What a gorgeous site to behold! Paine Field was home to three of the most recognized American bombers of World War II, the B-17, B-24, and the B-25. They offered tours through all three aircraft as well as the usual half-hour flights around the area.

I've gone through the B-17 and B-24 in the past and was just amazed then as I am now to see just how cramped it is inside these airplanes. It's obvious they weren't designed with comfort in mind. I was initially wearing my camera bag backpack when I got inside the B-17 and quickly realized there simply wasn't enough room to maneuver through the cramped interior. To get from the front of the aircraft to the back you have to walk through a tiny walk-way that goes through the bomb-bay.

The sound these beautiful machines make is pure music. The ground shakes as their radial engines turn over and roar to life. It was such a treat being able to hear these airplanes for the last three days at work.

To view and order prints of the photos I took of these magnificant airplanes, please click here.

Aluminum Overcast - EAA B-17G

During the last part of May the EAA-sponsored B-17G, "Aluminum Overcast" visited the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Washington. As always, I was there to tag along and try and get some shots. For years I've known Boeing Field to not be very photographer friendly so the disapointments of the days shots was to be expected. They have a very tall chain-link fence all around the place and NOTHING to stand on in order to observe the airplanes taking off or landing. One thing that I absolutly LOVE about Paine Field's Future of Flight museum is they have a series of hills right by their fence so you can EASILY see an unobstructed view of the runway. They're also placed in such a way it is impossible to jump/climb the fences. Nonetheless, I had to find some tricky places to stick my cameras lens to get some non-fence shots!

As always this bird is absolutly gorgeous and I can't even discribe the sound of those four radial engines! I've seen the B-17 many times before and it always leaves me in awe.

Of all the times I've seen the B-17 I still have yet to get a decent picture of it in the air! There is always something either in the way, or an incorrect setting that leaves them useless. But, I did manage to scrounge up a few good shots while it was on the ground.

To see my pictures from this event and/or order prints, please click here.