Helicopters, bubble canopies and quotations

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"Definition of a helicopter: a conglomeration of spare parts flying in close formation."
Anonymous

"Helicopters are like horror movies: you know something bad is going to happen, you just don't know when."
Anonymous

Helicopters don't fly, they just beat the air into submission.
Anonymous

I remember once reading an article about the invention and development of the photocopier, during the course of which the author said that many engineers engaged in the task felt that what they'd created was so complex, with so many parts, it really shouldn't work at all. The latter suggestion has been made about the bee and its ability to fly. And, as the three anonymous quotations above suggest, the helicopter is viewed in pretty much the same light.

Perhaps it was the fact that the first helicopter flew a long time after the first aircraft and sufficient time had passed for people to become comfortable with what a flying machine should look like. The appearance of a gawky craft without wings, tailplane, fin and with no long thin body, that when airborne wobbled alarmingly, and always crashed if the motor stopped - no gliding possible - must have immediately sown seeds of doubt about the safety and future of the helicopter, thoughts that haven't entirely disappeared from the general public's mind even today.

I recently went to Newark Air Museum in Nottinghamshire, a quite large private collection of military and civil aircraft of various types. Today's photograph shows a Westland-built version of the Bell Sioux, a military version of the Bell 47 that first flew in late 1945. Like many early helicopters it has something of the dragonfly's appearance, with a large perspex bubble cockpit at the front and a steel lattice-work "body" (more a skeleton) that ends with a tail rotor. Above are two rotor blades with, below, the same number of landing skids.

This particular helicopter was on display in one of two large buildings that hold most of the aircraft. The plastic cockpit was reflecting the multiple skylights of the roof, and the pattern they made drew my eye and suggested a photograph. I took this shot knowing that I would crop it to square and vignette the background to emphasise the bubble with its mannequin pilot.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 24mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/20 sec
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation:  -1.00 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Serendipitous photographs

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One afternoon on my recent visit to Settle, North Yorkshire, I saw the bright yellow helicopter of the North West Air Ambulance descending into the valley, clearly intent on landing in fields by the river. Since our route took us near to the place that it uses we made a short detour to grab a couple of photographs. Fortuitously the path on the road bridge over the River Ribble gave a good vantage point from which to look down at the comings and goings around the helicopter, now at rest next to the town's football pitch. As I noted in an earlier post, the fun fair was in town, and unfortunately the showmen's lorries and caravans were parked near the bridge, slightly impinging on the photographs that I wanted to take of the helicopter on the ground.

But, serendipity is a wonderful thing, and as I stood with a few other onlookers, waiting for the helicopter and its passengers to depart, I spotted the shadows that we were making on the side of one of the large caravans slightly below us. The image I took is, to my mind, better than the shots of the helicopter that I intended to take. That's me on the right framing this shot!

I don't know about you, but I find that my best photographs are often taken in circumstances such as these. You know the scenario, you've a day to spend in an historic and scenic city, or you're going on a walk through some beautiful landscape, but all you come back with are boring and predictable shots of places and things that have been photographed to death by everyone. However, you also have a collection of much better shots of things that you happened to notice, such as street signs, fence posts, cafe chairs, people or brickwork, images that could have been gathered just about anywhere! Two of the important lessons I've learned during my forty years with a camera is that good photographs are available anywhere and everywhere, not just in the "special" places of this world; and, photographs often have a great way of finding you, rather than you always having to search them out.

photographs & text (c) T. Boughen

Photo 1 (Photo2)
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 119mm (238mm/35mm equiv.) (40mm (80mm/35mm equiv.))
F No: f5.3 (f5)
Shutter Speed: 1/500 (1/1600)
ISO: 100 (100)
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 (-0.7) EV
Image Stabilisation: On (On)