A very enjoyable day out for the fifth American Air Day to be held at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford even if the bus was delayed by traffic trying to get in. The sun was shining and with the prospect of a very nice, warm day in the offing, there were a lot of people who had turned out for the event. This was not an air show but there were elements of flying in it and unlike last year, there were no mixed formation flypasts by the USAFE and no HH-60 helicopter from Lakenheath. They were apparently otherwise busy in a lot warmer climate. The Hercules appeared to be having mechanical problems at Mildenhall and eventually arrived about 2 hours late but well worth waiting for to watch it reverse into its parking space in a big cloud of exhaust fumes. Although the majority of A-10 Thunderbolts that had been on deployment at Lakenheath for the last couple of weeks had returned home the day before, the enthusiasts were speculating at to whether or not the two that had remained behind were earmarked for an appearance at Duxford. If they were, then they didn’t turn up. There was plenty of flying from the Duxford based aircraft during the day with aircraft taking part in the show or departing to other air shows on over the weekend. The grassed area between the control tower and crash gate C was packed with American muscle cars and motorbikes. There were various other ground attractions and USAFE squadrons selling t-shirts and badges. During the afternoon the war bird flying was split into two half hour segments and photography wise, the clouds always seemed to roll in just as the flying started. A full report and picture to follow in the Air Show section of the DUXFORDfotoGALLERY.

I had taken delivery of a new Sony Alpha A35 SLT (Single Lens Translucent) camera two day before. The unique feature of this camera is that the mirror that usually flicks up and down in a normal DSLR to allow light access to the sensor but at the same time cuts off access to the Auto Focus sensor, is fixed in the A35 SLT. In theory this gives you continuous Auto Focus which would be handy when rapid shooting panning shots of aircraft flying past. I didn’t get much use out of it as I only had the battery that came with the camera, more are on order, and it had only been charged once and didn’t last that long. They need to be charged and used several times for them to retain a full charge. Unlike other DSLR’s that have optical view finders, the A35 has an Electronic View Finder which is a bit unusual to the eye to start with but as my first few digital cameras had EVF’s it’s not totally alien to me. I though the image quality from the A580 was very good, but the shots I took with the A35 on Friday seem to be a great leap forward in quality and sharpness. With two air shows coming up soon, I’ll write a proper user report on the camera after them.

Brian

(aka Pen Pusher)