What is it about the Spitfire that is so magical?

As you may have guessed, I have taken photographs, almost exclusively, of landscapes. I have recently been to some airshows and my Red Arrows shots made one of my blogs last year. This year I went to a small local airshow for Armed Forces Day.

So, Armed Forces Day, a day when we celebrate the services that protect us and look after us. Some people appear to have issues with this, like the council at Luton that cancelled their Forces Day celebrations. I assume they have a valid explanation for this but none has been forthcoming so far, or John Blundell a businessman and Conservative leader in Coventry that didn't attend the Armed Forces commemoration at Coventry Cathedral because he was invited to the practise day at Silverstone, not an issue I would normally bother with except that he "tweeted" it as if it were something to be proud of. Don't label yourself as related to the ruling Political Party and then dismiss the Armed Services as being secondary to the practise laps of a race, it is simply offensive. Stupid man.

Enough of these imbeciles, myself and my wife showed our support and in the process were treated to the thrill of the year, a Hurricane, Spitfire and Red Arrows flypast. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

 

What is it about the Spitfire that is so magical? Yes, it is a truly beautiful aeroplane and the sound of that Rolls Royce engine is a joy to hear but there is something so iconic about it, so British, I am not sure another Nationality would understand the pride in something so mechanical. I get the same feeling with the Red Arrows, the Lancaster and the Vulcan. 

And before you accuse me of playing with Photoshop, yes, the plane is blue, it was an unarmed, lightly armoured aircraft that was used for photographic reconnaissance, it was painted blue as camouflage and made as light as possible for speed and it was absolutely breathtaking, the sound, the shape and the the display we were treated to, low and close enough for everyone to get a shot of. I genuinely can't remember seeing a Spitfire this close, I know that I must have though.

Finally it was time for the Red Arrows. Now I had been told that we were in for a display but on arriving I was told it was a flypast, that was fine except that when they said flypast I thought it meant a couple of runs, not simply there they are and there they go. Yep, they flew straight over, I didn't see them until the last minute as we had no idea what direction they were coming from but luckily I managed to fire off a couple of photos and the first one captured all 11 planes.

 

I couldn't be much prouder. I took hundreds of photos and most came out, it was a day that couldn't fail and I am now scanning the airshows looking for one the has the BBF, Vulcan and Red Arrows and I was amazed to see that quite a few airshows have all 3 of these so with any luck I will come over all patriotic and gushy when I see all my favourite planes in one day. 

*With the exception of Concorde and the Mosquito, also favourites of mine.