CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Yesterday was Scotland's National Airshow at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, just a few miles from our home base in Dunbar.  I hadn't been to an airshow since I left the Royal Air Force in 1996 and I thought it would be a good opportunity for another high speed test the new Autofocus software on the X-T1. The stars of the airshow was going to be a display by the world famous Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic display team and with the Hawk jets moving at speeds in excess of 400mph I decided this was going to be the display to test the version 4 software to the max. Using the XF50-140mm f2.8 I set the X-T1 autofocus to AF-C and to single point AF but switched to zone tracking halfway through the display. The 50-140mm, with its 210mm equivalent maximum focal length probably isn't long enough for single aircraft displays but for the nine aircraft display it was perfect as the Red Arrows flew right in front of us at low level.  The new Fujinon super...

This afternoon I headed out to East Fortune to watch a fly past by the last remaining airworthy Avro Vulcan.  XH558 is the last of Britain's 1950s / 60s nuclear deterrent before Polaris submarines replaced the airborne nuclear weapons. However the Vulcan will be best remembered for the daring raid on Port Stanley during the 1982 Falklands War where one Vulcan bomber flew from Ascension Island in the Mid Atlantic down to the Falklands and bombed the only airfield on the island's capable of supporting the Argentine jet fighters.   It was more of a propaganda show than an effective bombing raid but it announced to the Argentine forces on the island that Britain could hit back and the Royal Navy and the Army were on their way to defend British territory.  Four more raids followed in support of the Task Force that was there to retake the island. I also have a personal story of a flight of a Vulcan.  On the 30 June 1982 I was taking part in a pass out para...