Some B&W aircraft

Browsing some old shots i decided to have a go at giving them a more vintage flavour,all were shot in jpeg and messed up in elements.
First shot was given the quasi HDR treatment with topaz adjust first.

[Wombat]

Great nostalgia shots. I really like the one of the Hurricane. (Is that a late model, with the four machine guns sticking out like that?). Nos. 2 ,3 and 4 could do with a bit more contrast, IMHO.
Lovely series.

[fractal]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Nos. 2 ,3 and 4 could do with a bit more contrast

Agree there.

That first shot is great though!

[vespa]

Its very late wombat,the last one ever-rolled of the line in 1944.She's a Mk 2c with 4 20mm cannon and belongs to the RAF battle of britain flight.Never actually saw combat as she was bought back by hawkers and painted with the inscription "the last of the many".

PZ865 is currently painted to represent Hurricane IIc BE581, ‘Night Reaper’, the aircraft flown by the Czech fighter ace Flt Lt Karel Kuttelwascher DFC* during night intruder operations from Tangmere in 1942 with the RAF’s legendary No 1(F) Squadron. In only 15 night intruder missions ‘Kut’, as he was know to his colleagues, shot down 15 enemy bombers (3 in one night on 5 May 1942) over their own airfields in France; he also damaged a further five bombers and shot up several steam locomotives and ‘E’ boats. The single-seat Hurricanes were not radar equipped, so targets could only be found visually and without the benefit of modern aids to night vision. With their Hurricanes fitted with long-range drop tanks, night intruder pilots flew long sorties of 3 to 3½ hours, often in poor conditions and completely alone. ‘Kut’s aircraft, BE581 ‘JX-E’, wore the ‘Night Reaper’ motif on the starboard engine cowling and ‘Kut’ had swastika ‘kill’ symbols painted under the cockpit on the port side. When his three kills from the night of 5 May 1942 were added there were 11 swastika symbols displayed (‘Kut’ eventually achieved a total of 18 confirmed kills). The aircraft’s rudder and a panel on the port wing had to be replaced with black-painted items from a ‘Turbinlite’ Hurricane (BD770) due to ‘flak’ damage incurred by BE581 on that sortie. This is all faithfully replicated on PZ865 as a ‘snapshot in time’. ‘Kut’ survived the war but died in 1959 from a heart attack – he was only 42.

[dannyb]

photo 1 is definitely the best, nice series

[Scottnorwo]

great series. I think the first photo just brings you back in time.

[Wombat]

Fascinating history, Vespa - you've obviously studied it thoroughly. My father was in the RAF during the War - flight mechanic, working on bombers - and I got my love for these old planes from him.

Got any more of them?

[vespa]

A few more from the same day playing with the settings a bit,uncalibrated moniter so its a bit pot luck how they appear to others.I shoot in RAW nowadays which i think could give a bit more latitude in getting a nice result.

[dcmsox2004]

wonderful pic of the hurricane.... looks like 1941...
i've always found the hurry to be my favorite....
the beautiful spit gained so much notariety, but the
hurricane was invaluable.....

[Hey Elwood]

These shots look great. They would also look awesome as HDR shots. Could give you a cool nastalgia painting look.

[Sailor]

Very nice series; your conversions make the images appear to have been taken when the planes were new.


Jer

[vespa]

Originally Posted by Sailor

Very nice series; your conversions make the images appear to have been taken when the planes were new.


Jer

That got me thinking so heres a quick and dirty attempt at a 50's shot.

[Nowhere Matt]

The first image is really great. I think the second one is blurred from perhaps motion a bit but it works, giving the effect of a 90 year old photograph.

[8540tomg]

Nice series vespa.

I liked the Hurricane as well. Black and white seems to suit the old war birds well.

Tom G

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by vespa

That got me thinking so heres a quick and dirty attempt at a 50's shot.

Yep, that's dirty allright! Gloucester Meteor? What a day out you had - I'm green.