It was another year of back to back weekends, long days, endless drives and adventures, not to mention the thousands of photographs that will provide material for the next decade. For Full Disc Aviation, the highlights of the season were those “first time” shows Seymour Johnson, Beaufort and Chino, or the epics Thunder Over Michigan and Oshkosh. But there were still those “backyard” shows that are “musts and nevermisses".

We made our way across the field with Sam through shin-high grass as Loco taxied the Raptor to the end of the very long runway. It was a hot day, and the heat haze produced a mirage with warbly mirror images of the distant Raptor as Loco slowly repositioned for takeoff. We waited in the calm before the storm, sweating under the mid afternoon sun, until we heard thunder from the far end of the runway.

My first air-to-air sortie was to be an evening shoot with the Military Aviation Museum’s Messerschmitt Bf-109G-4. I had laid eyes on this magnificent machine earlier in the day, it was my first time seeing a 109 and I was beside myself. I spent quite some time alone in the hangar with the 109, familiarizing myself with different angles and aspects I wanted to try and capture.

This past August, the airspace around Ypsilanti MI was taken over by one of the most feared warbirds of WWII. Ypsilanti is home to the Yankee Air Museum, who plays host to the annual Thunder Over Michigan Air Show. The theme for this year was “Corsair Crazy”, and they did not disappoint.

This serenity would suddenly be broken by a sinister sight in the sky, as the Spitfire’s arch nemesis (or rather a distant relative of that nemesis) as not one but five Hispano Aviacion HA-1112 Buchons lifted off in quick succession, disappearing to form up as the Spitfire formation broke formation and proceeded a well choreographed tail chase in front of the crowd. They would then begin landing one after another, taxying slowly back to their original positions before shutting down.

The years go by and the endless road of good intentions never took me west of the Mississippi. During that time, I became a follower and admirer of Craig’s photography and his two favorite subjects, the Northrop N9MB Flying Wing and that pilot… David Vopat. This year, I finally had enough of my promises and good intentions… I accepted Craig’s invitation and I was heading for Chino.

Each year, I have found myself in a ‘real’ moment, where everything synchronized and all of my life’s concerns disappeared. This year, that day was Saturday, the best single day of shooting aircraft I have had since I started in 2008. The Saturday twilight USAF F-22 Raptor Demo against an absolutely epic sky, with massive storm clouds in the distance bathed in an unbelievable orange sunset light that will be talked about for years.

By the time we had our lighting rigs in place for the shoot and the sun started her slide behind the trees, our list of aircraft had grown from one...to six. SIX. Due to the way things had to be organized with the tug and parking spaces, we worked out the order, set up our cameras and waited, enjoying the peace of an airfield sunset with our first photo subject: an authentic Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

What truly brings people out to this fly-in year after year however, is the atmosphere. This was only my second time attending and I can attest that the sensation of a close knit community of friends and family all sharing a passion for flight was apparent upon arrival. Think Oshkosh but on a much smaller scale and central to the aforementioned aircraft types. As the afternoon moved on and the sun lowered, the grounds truly take on a magical appearance.

The journey starts at the Academia da Força Aérea Portuguesa. It is there that the cadets are introduced to the academy’s fleet of de Havilland Chipmunk MK 20 (Modif.). By graduation and once commissioned, the former cadets will have accumulated approximately forty flight hours in that type.

...Before rolling into the restoration shop at Duxford. During the complete restoration, they stripped her of her paint and guns, with the goal of highlighting the beauty in the design. The elliptical wing, the thin fuselage, the gorgeous curves...and removing the lethal element further pushes the timeless aura about this aircraft.

Before we knew it, it was time to take a breath, sit back and appreciate what had just happened; the first simultaneous night engine run-up with the only Mustang-Corsair formation flying team. Cooling off, the engines were ticking quietly after the roar of internal combustion fell silent, and I'm sure a few of our camera shutters were smoldering too.

It’s stories like these and those of the remaining veterans of WWII that are important to capture and remember and ensure the younger generations are told. The remainder of those veterans won’t be around for much longer and so to see them with their families and the children of today at Daks Over Duxford was very special. There were school trips in attendance which was great to see and children there in school time but with their parents. What better way to take a day off school!

It really depends on how much I’ve been able to fly and how proficient I’m feeling on that particular run. If it’s been a while I’ll usually take it easy until I get back into the groove. Also have to take into consideration what’s on the jet. If there’s an ARS pod it’s easy to exceed the speed limits, and if the jet is slick it’s easy to break the number lighting the burners.

Yeah. It's really good. And you know, I've only been in the program for short time...about three years, which is really nothing compared to some of the leadership back on base who have been in it for eight or ten years... and I think even for them, they're taking a lot of [joy from the feedback] but the pride factor of the airplane lies generally in the non-airshow stuff...what we show at airshows is super cool and impressive, but it's the tip of the iceberg of what makes the plane cool.

Having only returned from a rain soaked NATO Tiger Meet at Mont-de-Marsan in the South of France the week before, I’d decided that Sunday was the day of choice at Duxford as that was the only day of the F-15E/P-47/P-51 flypast……... And there I was. In the rain. Again.

It's a poignant reminder that there are real men and women underneath these uniforms, with real stories and real experiences. I hope that sharing some of them might inspire, motivate, or comfort others with similar stories, goals or obstacles.

As I stood there, I remembered my brother wanting to fly helicopters for the Army and in front of me were a collection of past Army helicopter pilots and some Army helicopters. I always have a set of my brothers dog tags with me and today was no different. I had thought for a while now that it might be cool to get the tags flown in a old warbird, like a Mustang or something. But this was better, this was perfect.

Even more rare is hanging out on an airfield through sunset and blue hour. The night before the 2019 Leaseweb Manassas Airshow, James and I got to do just that on the Manassas Regional Airport ramp, with our friends RJ Gritter and Chef Pitts. RJ Gritter flies a red, white and blue Bellanca Decathlon, and Chef (Clemens Kuhlig) flies a Pitts S1S in an iconic red and black scheme.