I know planes are not sportscars, but they do have things in common, such as engines, exhausts, wheels, wings, and they make a lot of noise and go fast!  That connection was enough for me to start writing a series of photo blogs on airshows I’ve been to over the years, whilst waiting for my motorsport photography season to start. Before getting into motorsports photography, airshows were one of my major interests in my spare time. The first story of the series is on the Paris Airshow from a couple of years ago. Hope you like the photos.

The Paris Air Show is the world’s oldest and largest airshow and is held every odd year at the Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France. The 50th Paris Airshow was held in June of 2013. I’ve been to several airshows before, but this was my first time to the Paris Airshow, and must admit was overwhelmed by the size of the event. You could spend days at the airshow with all the pavilions, static displays on the air field, and flight demonstrations. Here’s a shot of the “old and new” with a Breitling Super Constellation airliner from the past in the foreground and a life-size model of an Ariane 5 Rocket Launcher in the background (Canon Rebel SL1, 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/100, ISO 100)

The Flying Bulls P-38 Lockheed Lightning under dramatic skies. The P-38 was a WWII interceptor and fighter bomber. I think the Flying Bull P-38 is the only flying example in Europe (Canon Rebel SL1, 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/80, ISO 100)

Also was brought “Back to the Future” with the DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine (Canon Rebel SL1, 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100)

AugustaWestland had on display Project Zero which is the world’s first electric powered unmanned tilt-rotor aircraft (Canon Rebel SL1, 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/250, ISO 100)

The airshow included the Dassault Rafale, which is a French-built twin-engined, canard delta-wing, multi-role fighter aircraft (Canon 5D Mark III, 300mm f/2.8L IS II with 1.4x extender III, 420 mm, f/4.5, 1/640, ISO 100)

Seeing the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, maneuvering only a few hundred feet above the ground was amazing (Canon 5D Mark III, 300mm f/2.8L IS II with 1.4x extender III, 420mm, f/4.5, 1/640, ISO 200)

Indoors, their were a lot of model aircraft on display. Here are some models of the Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng twin-engined regional airliner (Canon Rebel SL1, 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/2.8, 1/80, ISO 160)