Is this too close for warbirds ?

RE: Is this too close for warbirds ?

good point, if it was the wing of the wildcat, then there would also be a discernable shadow cast on the fuse of the sky raider, as suggested it is the horizontal stabiliser of the sky raider, which is casting the shadow on the sky raider fuse. obviously we do not know what time of day ,and on what compass bearing that the formation was flying, but it is my prediction that the sun was shining from the top right of the photograph, and facing the aircraft, we would prob see the sun at a mid to high two o clock position, but not low, because the angle of the shadow is quite large, from the horizontal stabiliser, and if the sun was very high, this angle would be even larger, almost pointing straight down. the angle at which the photograph was taken could also be misleading, as to the composition of th formation, since a photograph taken at a high angle from the normal, ie, horizontal axis of the aircraft would place the aircraft at a misleading position within the lense.

it is normal practice for aircraft to formate stepped down from the leader, because the airflow beneath the wing is much more stable than that above it, which could contain vortices and patches of very turbulent air, thus making it extremely difficult to fly accurately.

coanda

RE: Is this too close for warbirds ?

Firstly, are you sure that’s not the Horizontal Stabilizer’s shadow? It is a sizable piece of metal on the Skyraider. The picture is almost a pure profile shot and with telephoto effects, it is hard to get an idea of relative positioning.

To answer your point about displaying Warbirds, I doubt whether formations are going to cause problems as they are usually firly mundane and well within the limits of the aircraft. It’s excessive aerobatics that is the cause of concern. Some people don’t want to see warbirds flown in aerobatic sequences at all. I feel that this is purely just kneejerk reaction. Sensible aerobatics do enhance a display and give the spectator a much better idea of the aircraft’s performance and lines. A perfect example of a sensible aerobatic display I feel is that given by the Breitling Fighters in which the display is set out in such a way that the aircraft are taking plenty of energy into the moves. The formation they fly also gives plenty of escape routes in case of an incident. The same goes for Ray Hanna’s solo displays in the Spitfire.

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RE: Is this too close for warbirds ?

Ok i Concede that it was taken with a big lens which as you quite rightly say tend to compress the depth. However if you think where the sun would have been on a mid July day at Duxford then look at the shadow cast by the Wildcat wing onto the Skyraider it infers little separation.
Dont get me wrong i’m not doubting the skill of the pilots involved, nor do i profess to be an expert on air flows between aircraft and where to position yourself in formation. I am just asking whether we feel that formations of mixed ( or otherwise) warbirds is the correct way to do things.

RE: Is this too close for warbirds ?

Hard to tell. Looks like this may have been taken with a hefty telephoto / zoom which inevitably leads to a lot of foreshortening.

Could be a lot further apart than they appear.

Moggy

RE: Is this too close for warbirds ?

Phil,
it looks kind of strange, in this piccie the trailing aircraft seem to fly higher than the leader with an obstructed view.
What I´ve learned is that when flying in formation the trailing aircraft flies lower than the leader, or whichever is ahead of them, to give them a good view of it. I think that it´s something like half a span to a full span behind, the same below and to the side. The tricky bit is for all aircraft to have the same separation for it to look good.
I think that pilots try to keep the formation tight since then they would all be flying in the same gust. With a bigger separation the aircraft would be popping up and down independently when entering separate gusts or the same gust at different times.

No matter what, it´s a nice piccie!

Christer