Post by Gavin Conroy on Oct 14, 2012 19:32:32 GMT 12
Has been a bit of interest as to the Trojan camera ship we used alongside the Mossie a few weeks ago.
So to answer some of the questions I thought I would start a thread here.
Not sure if this is of a lot of interest but thought I would write it anyway.
Warren asked me if I would like to take the air to air photos of the Mosquito at the start of this year. We had spoken about it a few times but in May when it looked like the aircraft would fly in September I started to work on camera ship options but before that started we needed to do some research to find out what platform would be best to fly alongside a Mosquito.
We had a look through some pilot’s notes and decided that 180 knots would be the minimum safe speed for us.
180 knots would make things a bit easier for the Mosquito pilot should he loose an engine.
A Harvard at 140 knots was simply too slow and not safe and we also wanted the Mossie to be flying in its normal cruise attitude and not nose up and tail down or with flap down, that would have looked awful.
So to confirm I emailed Kermit Weeks as he had flown his Mossie for photos and agreed that 180 knots would be a good safe minimum so we then knew what we were doing was right.
Then we needed a camera ship, I was keen to get near head on photos, the Spitfire would have worked well as a camera ship except we could not get those shots due to it being a high back model.
Then I thought of the Trojan, we used that as a camera platform in 2010 to shoot a Spitfire, Mustang, and Kittyhawk. The good thing about the Trojan is that 180-200 knots is no problem.
The down side is that its either both canopies open or closed at the same time as they do not operate independently.
The photos came out well from that flight but the through draft from the open front canopy was a real killer.
So I thought we should look at removing the canopy from the Trojan but I could not find a photo on Google anywhere of a Trojan flying with the rear canopy removed so that was a worry.
Graham Orphan and Frank Parker contacted some people over seas for me who have a lot of Trojan experience but none of them had done it but could not see an issue with it.
What we did know is that the Trojan can fly with both canopies open right up to VnE so that was a good thing and with so much draft with them open I hoped it would be better with the rear section gone all together.
So as more research was done Rob Silich worked on the mechanical side of things to see if it was going to be easy or difficult.
In the end it was not too bad and with the help of the expert engineers at Avspecs we had the canopy off in around an hour.
It was then that everyone asked how it was going to go, my answer "Don't have a clue".
We never had time to go for a quick tiki tour, the wind was getting up and we had to go. Next thing I knew we were rolling out to the end of the runway behind the Mossie and I was nervous and though I thought it should go well, doing something unheard of with such a special aeroplane alongside tied my stomach up in knots!!!
Rob then ran the engine up and I was worried. At 2000rpm the buffet was high but under static conditions that was no surprise.
Rob then pushed the throttle through the gate and again it was rough but at around 60 knots it started to get easier.
On the climb out, what did I notice the most..................... the noise!!!! Boy it was loud and whilst we had some time I got myself in a good position and that was a bit easier as Rob had taken the stick out of the back.
The Mossie blew us off as it headed up for a big patch of blue but we were not that far behind and levelled off at 7000ft.
Once above the cloud we started to accelerate and at 140 knots it was similar to a Nanchang in terms of slipstream which means taking photos is a bit difficult but possible. So the speed built up until we were at 180 knots and looking at the ASI we settled on 190 knots and Keith said afterwards that we made it too easy for him and that is exactly what we wanted.
Keith rounded us up and it is funny that as I am about to push the button on the camera the noise goes away and off we go. We don’t talk we use hand signals and that was quite straight forward as well. There was a lot of buffet but taking photos was possible and we got what we wanted. The buffet from 170-200 knots was about the same.
After Keith broke away it was time for a bit of a rest until Rob decided he would chase the Mossie back down through the hole and it would be fair to say that was tough work as we went through 230 knots!!!!
The Mossie then headed off to continue testing and I put my head down for the trip home.
Was not even cold when I got out but slept pretty well that night.
So we got the job done, I did find it difficult to get comfortable at times and the ends of the shoulder straps kept smacking me in the face but I know that now.
I estimate the through draft was 30-40 percent lower with the rear canopy taken off and we did get the near head on shots and they are quite nice.
The canopy went back on well, took a bit of time but we got the job done and I never dreamt we would have got the Mossie above the cloud and below is a photo that most of you would have seen by now.
So all in all a job well done, special thanks to Warren Denholm, Keith Skilling, Rob Silich and the Avspecs crew, especially to Derek Smith so was supposed to have the day off but ended up spending most of his afternoon working on the Trojan.
Colin Hunter sent me these photos and copyright belongs to him, the Trojan looked very odd I must say!!!
This photo is courtesy of Bruce Salmon and is a still from a go pro in the cockpit.
So to answer some of the questions I thought I would start a thread here.
Not sure if this is of a lot of interest but thought I would write it anyway.
Warren asked me if I would like to take the air to air photos of the Mosquito at the start of this year. We had spoken about it a few times but in May when it looked like the aircraft would fly in September I started to work on camera ship options but before that started we needed to do some research to find out what platform would be best to fly alongside a Mosquito.
We had a look through some pilot’s notes and decided that 180 knots would be the minimum safe speed for us.
180 knots would make things a bit easier for the Mosquito pilot should he loose an engine.
A Harvard at 140 knots was simply too slow and not safe and we also wanted the Mossie to be flying in its normal cruise attitude and not nose up and tail down or with flap down, that would have looked awful.
So to confirm I emailed Kermit Weeks as he had flown his Mossie for photos and agreed that 180 knots would be a good safe minimum so we then knew what we were doing was right.
Then we needed a camera ship, I was keen to get near head on photos, the Spitfire would have worked well as a camera ship except we could not get those shots due to it being a high back model.
Then I thought of the Trojan, we used that as a camera platform in 2010 to shoot a Spitfire, Mustang, and Kittyhawk. The good thing about the Trojan is that 180-200 knots is no problem.
The down side is that its either both canopies open or closed at the same time as they do not operate independently.
The photos came out well from that flight but the through draft from the open front canopy was a real killer.
So I thought we should look at removing the canopy from the Trojan but I could not find a photo on Google anywhere of a Trojan flying with the rear canopy removed so that was a worry.
Graham Orphan and Frank Parker contacted some people over seas for me who have a lot of Trojan experience but none of them had done it but could not see an issue with it.
What we did know is that the Trojan can fly with both canopies open right up to VnE so that was a good thing and with so much draft with them open I hoped it would be better with the rear section gone all together.
So as more research was done Rob Silich worked on the mechanical side of things to see if it was going to be easy or difficult.
In the end it was not too bad and with the help of the expert engineers at Avspecs we had the canopy off in around an hour.
It was then that everyone asked how it was going to go, my answer "Don't have a clue".
We never had time to go for a quick tiki tour, the wind was getting up and we had to go. Next thing I knew we were rolling out to the end of the runway behind the Mossie and I was nervous and though I thought it should go well, doing something unheard of with such a special aeroplane alongside tied my stomach up in knots!!!
Rob then ran the engine up and I was worried. At 2000rpm the buffet was high but under static conditions that was no surprise.
Rob then pushed the throttle through the gate and again it was rough but at around 60 knots it started to get easier.
On the climb out, what did I notice the most..................... the noise!!!! Boy it was loud and whilst we had some time I got myself in a good position and that was a bit easier as Rob had taken the stick out of the back.
The Mossie blew us off as it headed up for a big patch of blue but we were not that far behind and levelled off at 7000ft.
Once above the cloud we started to accelerate and at 140 knots it was similar to a Nanchang in terms of slipstream which means taking photos is a bit difficult but possible. So the speed built up until we were at 180 knots and looking at the ASI we settled on 190 knots and Keith said afterwards that we made it too easy for him and that is exactly what we wanted.
Keith rounded us up and it is funny that as I am about to push the button on the camera the noise goes away and off we go. We don’t talk we use hand signals and that was quite straight forward as well. There was a lot of buffet but taking photos was possible and we got what we wanted. The buffet from 170-200 knots was about the same.
After Keith broke away it was time for a bit of a rest until Rob decided he would chase the Mossie back down through the hole and it would be fair to say that was tough work as we went through 230 knots!!!!
The Mossie then headed off to continue testing and I put my head down for the trip home.
Was not even cold when I got out but slept pretty well that night.
So we got the job done, I did find it difficult to get comfortable at times and the ends of the shoulder straps kept smacking me in the face but I know that now.
I estimate the through draft was 30-40 percent lower with the rear canopy taken off and we did get the near head on shots and they are quite nice.
The canopy went back on well, took a bit of time but we got the job done and I never dreamt we would have got the Mossie above the cloud and below is a photo that most of you would have seen by now.
So all in all a job well done, special thanks to Warren Denholm, Keith Skilling, Rob Silich and the Avspecs crew, especially to Derek Smith so was supposed to have the day off but ended up spending most of his afternoon working on the Trojan.
Colin Hunter sent me these photos and copyright belongs to him, the Trojan looked very odd I must say!!!
This photo is courtesy of Bruce Salmon and is a still from a go pro in the cockpit.
