Aviation and Airshow Photography
by Andrew Critchell
Welcome to Aviationphoto.co.uk!
I'm Andrew Critchell and I've been pointing cameras at planes since 1984!
My passion is the great piston engine warbirds from World War Two, a focus honed by many visits to Great Warbirds Air Displays, Fighter Meets and International Air Fairs when I was growing up. I would avidly read the Airshow magazine each year published by Key and dream of taking pictures as good as Duncan Cubitt and Steve Fletcher, and maybe one day getting one of my own photographs in there! (This did happen in the 2003 edition!)
Published works
My first published photograph, an image of the remains of Hawker Hurricane MkI V7350 at the Brenzett Aeronautical Museum in Kent, was in a Battle of Britain Special in 2000, and my first article, on the museum itself, appeared in Flypast shortly after. Since then I have been lucky enough to have photographs and articles published in both UK and International magazines including Aeroplane, Aircraft Illustrated, Flypast, Pilot Magazine, Klassiker der Luftfarht and Spotter Magazine.
My articles are based primarily on aircraft restorations, operators and Second World War history and I always look at add original research to my historical pieces, for example, being able to prove the squadron code letter VY-L for the Cambridge Bomber and Fighter Society's Hurricane MkI L1639 restoration.
One of my biggest achievements so far has been turning my article writing into a book, A Tale of Ten Spitfires being published by Pen & Sword in 2018. It tells the combat history of Supermarine Spitfire Vc AR501, currently owned by the Shuttleworth Collection and regularly displayed at their many airshows throughout the year, and the next 9 Spitfires on the production line, AR502 to AR510. It is as much a story of the RAF's battles with the Fw190 and the intense aerial activity over northern Europe in 1942/43 when the MkV was prevalent in Fighter Command, although AR510 made it all the way to Australia before being lost to engine failure during a scramble.
The book sold very well and is still available at:
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/A-Tale-of-Ten-Spitfires-Hardback/p/15274
If you're not sure whether to buy please check out the great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads!
Air to air photography
The most challenging and rewarding type of aviation photography is air to air and this is an area I am keen to continue to develop and learn in. Highlights this year were planning, briefing and executing a sortie with the Rolls Royce Heritage Flight's P-51D Mustang out of Biggin Hill and joining the Centre of Aviation Photography (COAP) to photograph B17G Fortress 'Sally-B' on its way to North Weald from Duxford.
This shot of BBMF Lancaster B1 PA474, taken at the Shuttleworth May Airshow in 2023, was one of two runners up in the 2023 Airfix aviation photography awards.
I shoot on Nikon DSLRs and edit primarily in Adobe Lightroom CS.
Please feel free to check out my portfolio, read some of my articles, see examples of published works and browse my yearly galleries.
Have a question? Please contact me and I will get back to asap.
I hope you enjoy all of my aviation and airshow photography on aviationphoto.co.uk!
Thanks for visting and see you around!
Cheers
Andrew