Autumn Aircraft

Late this afternoon the sun came out and I shot this aircraft flying towards the autumn leaves. It's a Slingsby Firefly T67 trainer, painted in the livery of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force. 

Earlier, against grey skies, I captured the BAC Strikemaster in extras. It's a weaponised, counter insurgency and light attack aircraft, a development of the Jet Provost and predecessor to the Hawk. It has a Rolls Royce Viper engine. It belongs to Aero Legends at North Weald who give flight experiences in ex-military jet aircraft. Prices start at £2,250.

Today is National Poetry Day so I've included this aviation haiku by Captain W. Patrick Gordon.

Darkness on the field
Engine ticking only sound
Day's work now complete 

I'm sure this scenario is familiar to my flying instructor son. I love the ticking sound cars make as they cool down after a brisk run.

The theme for NPD is counting. I didn't know this until this evening. When I saw the Strikemaster fly north I guessed that it would probably return after not too long. I counted them all out and counted them all back, as spoken by Brian Hanrahan in The Falklands war, popped into my mind.