Hurricanes At Night

I went down to RAF Northolt this evening for a night photo shoot. They are organised about twice a year and the money raised from them is going towards RAF Northolt Heritage Fund which has been set up to fund the restoration of the Northolt Battle of Britain Ops Room.

A number of planes are parked up by the a hangar and are lit, with the runways behind. As it is an active runway on a military base, security is reasonably strict, and sensible health and safety applies. There was probably in excess of 300 or so keen photographers and aviation enthusiasts there, all quietly going about getting the pictures they wanted. I overheard a Dutch guy that had travelled specially because there was a Swedish plane there that he has wanted to see for 30 years...

There should have been a spitfire there, but for some reason a Hurricane was sent instead. It drew quite a crowd. If you imagined what a pilot of such a plane looked like. Curly moustache, thin, dapper, well spoken then the pilot was exactly that. If you happened to be in the Northolt area this evening around 6pm you may have seen a small impromptu air display he put on, before landing.

You should have seen the rush when his crew chief asked for a hand pushing the plane into a hangar for the night. Thousands of pounds worth of camera equipment was dropped left right and centre as men (predominantly) rushed to touch the plane....I didn't I might add.

More photos, with a variety of old and new, British and foreign aircraft can be found here