RAF Coningsby Air Combat Power day\night shoot

[XWP29]

Spent a rather windy late afternoon and evening at RAF Coningsby on Saturday during Storm"Brian". Not the best conditions for long exposure photography and several of the shots have the "remove before flight" tags fluttering about in them

Organised by the COAP the event went ahead despite the high winds, although many of the lighter aircraft and helicopters where tied down and surrounded by refuelling bowsers and snow ploughs to protect them from the wind. Thanks to the RAF for allowing this to happen and to the COAP for organising, and in particular to all the RAF personnel who stood around for hours for us. Here are some of my results.

1. Panavia Tornado -GR.4 ZA560 41(R) TES Sqn. Under the ramp lighting by XWP29, on Flickr
1a. Panavia Tornado -GR.4 ZA560 41(R) TES Sqn. Under the ramp lights at RAF Coningsby by XWP29, on Flickr2.Typhoon FGR4 by XWP29, on Flickr
3.Panavia Tornado -GR.4 ZA560 41(R) TES Sqn. Under the ramp lighting by XWP29, on Flickr
4.Panavia Tornado -GR.4 ZA560 41(R) TES Sqn. by XWP29, on Flickr
5.Boeing P-8A Poseidon VP-26 USN at RAF Coningsby. by XWP29, on Flickr
6.Boeing P-8A Poseidon VP-26 USN at RAF Coningsby... by XWP29, on Flickr
7.English Electric Lighting F6 XP765 (XS897) 29 Sqn (R) OUTSIDE 29 Sqn hangar at RAF Coningsby by starlight by XWP29, on Flickr
8.A400M by Fire Engine Light RAF Coningsby by XWP29, on Flickr
9.C.5 by fire Engine Light by XWP29, on Flickr
10.Chinook battenend down during storm Brian by XWP29, on Flickr
11.Hercules C.5 206 (R) Sqn ZH 866 by XWP29, on Flickr
12.Boeing P-8A Poseidon VP-26 USN at RAF Coningsby. by XWP29, on Flickr
13.AIRBUS 400M ATLAS C1 180 ZM408 @ RAF Coningsby by XWP29, on Flickr
14.AIRBUS 400M ATLAS C1 180 ZM408 @ RAF Coningsby. by XWP29, on Flickr
15.Boeing P-8A Poseidon VP-26 USN at RAF Coningsby.. by XWP29, on Flickr
16.Typhoons a Tornado and a Poseidon RAF Coningsby by XWP29, on Flickr
17.Typhoon FGR4 by XWP29, on Flickr

If you made it this far thanks for looking

[James Cutting]

Hello Nick,

Got some great shots here mate!! Really jealous...Glad I've now signed up to COAP!

Take care and see you soon.

James.

[Redfoot60]

Hi

I love these, clearly I need to look into what COAP is. The blurred tree behind the Hercules is excellent, love the feel of that shot.

Peter

[PaulN]

Hi

Very nice

Nice to see the P8 , but it is a VP-5 , (LA tail code) machine not VP-26 (LK)

Thanks for posting

Paul

[XWP29]

Hi

Very nice

Nice to see the P8 , but it is a VP-5 , (LA tail code) machine not VP-26 (LK)

Thanks for posting

Paul

Hi Paul,
Thanks, strange as that's taken from a USN list. May have misread it.

[Dave934]

Fantastic. I love night shots !!
Dave.

[paddyboy]

Hi Buddy

Awesome shots

'Course, No. 7 is THE star

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

[XWP29]

Hi

Very nice

Nice to see the P8 , but it is a VP-5 , (LA tail code) machine not VP-26 (LK)

Thanks for posting

Paul

Hi Paul
This is where I found the info.
http://www.oja.link/htmlfiles/databases/usn/dbp8.htm
168998 998 P-8A 44939/5623 VP-26 act

Can you let me know where I can find more up to date info.

[XWP29]

James,Paddy and Darren, thanks lads looking forward to the weekend

[TeeJay]

Good set Nick, well done braving Brian
It certainly looks like it was a good event
All the best
Trev

[PaulN]

Hi

Very nice

Nice to see the P8 , but it is a VP-5 , (LA tail code) machine not VP-26 (LK)

Thanks for posting

Paul

Hi Paul
This is where I found the info.
http://www.oja.link/htmlfiles/databases/usn/dbp8.htm
168998 998 P-8A 44939/5623 VP-26 act

Can you let me know where I can find more up to date info.

Hi Nick

That is from Scramble , could be it is ex VP-26 , as frames move around units , you have photographed it with the LA tail code of VP-5 , cannot get more up to date than that , after all that's where Scramble get their info from , peoples sightings

HTH

Cheers

Paul

[kingsown]

Black tape to hold our boys planes together

[XWP29]

Black tape to hold our boys planes together

Some of it is to keep the tags in place on stand, would usually be in a HAS rather than on stand in the windy weather on Saturday? The tape around the canopy though is a little more puzzling.
Sadly as most know this aircraft is going at the end of the month.

2017_10_21_9999_25 by XWP29, on Flickr

[NigeF-51]

The tape around the canopy is just an extra layer of weather protection.

[Wallace]

Your night shots are good, they would be even more spectacular if they were colour corrected, getting rid of that yellow colour cast.
The best way is to do this at source either by a manual white balance using a grey card or manually adjusting the Kelvin value while looking for something that looks right in Live View.
Every night shoot is a practice for the next one, they do get infectious.

I think the moving tapes and trees give a mysterious feel to the images rather than a sterile static shot. The Herc is really good in that respect.

That COAP is one of the best aircraft night shoots that I have seen in a while, maybe I too should subscribe to their newsletter.

[XWP29]

Your night shots are good, they would be even more spectacular if they were colour corrected, getting rid of that yellow colour cast.
The best way is to do this at source either by a manual white balance using a grey card or manually adjusting the Kelvin value while looking for something that looks right in Live View.
Every night shoot is a practice for the next one, they do get infectious.

I think the moving tapes and trees give a mysterious feel to the images rather than a sterile static shot. The Herc is really good in that respect.

That COAP is one of the best aircraft night shoots that I have seen in a while, maybe I too should subscribe to their newsletter.

Hi Wallace
Thanks for the advice, its all personnel choice and opinion I guess. The white balance is set up with a grey card. The ramp lights delivered that cast and I prefer the shots to be as near as they were taken as is possible, each to his own I suppose. The Herc and A400M were both taken with the ramp lights off and the extending column lights of the fire engine on.
The side on Tornado was taken with the ramp lights off and a light from the RAF Regiment tent area. However these lights were only available for a very short time but delivered some nice results. The fire tender gave more of a white light than the Tungsten light of the ramp lights. It was just far, far too windy for the COAP planned lighting which is unfortunate. Most of my efforts went into working out where to position my body to try to windbreak the tripod and not letting anything get blown away

[MMA1]

Some nice pictures on the post, thanks for showing them off.