1. RF-111C A8-126. The unique ‘dump and burn’ so synonymous with the F-111, seen here at RAAF Base Amberley during an airshow. This unusual image shows the underbelly of the RF-111C, revealing its reconnaissance heritage, one of four RAAF F-111 to be converted for that purpose. F5.6 @ 1/500 and 200 mm lens.

2. Cathay Pacific Cargo 747-8F B-LJN taking off from Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport (WTB) on 12 January 2021. The shot was taken at 6.30 pm local time, about 20 minutes to sunset. The challenges were two-fold. Cloud was building and I lacked an optimal shooting line to the take-off as the ramp was cluttered by various passenger stairs, vehicles and other equipment. At the last moment the passenger stairs were taken away and I had a small arc to shoot through. I adjusted ISO to 400 and used f/5 @ 1/1600, a 135mm telephoto setting with a seven image burst, panning as the aircraft rotated, each shot as good as the next! Luck was with me with the sunlight, lack of shadows and the last minute moving of the passenger stairs!

3. DHC-2 Beaver ZK-WKA. In 2015 Auckland Seaplanes acquired a second Beaver, an amphibious machine that they based at Ardmore airport near Auckland. In the flesh it’s one of the finest Beavers I have seen, a Beaver that had once been the equivalent of a Jeep and is now a Cadillac. We flew ZK-WKA to Man O’ War Bay on Waiheke Island. Timing is everything and once landed at this fabulous setting I found the sun setting rapidly over a hill and I had a ten minute window at best to both begin and complete the shoot. I love the result, a wonderful New Zealand coastal setting, great light and a great angle on a the aircraft. The image was taken in 2015, f/8 @1/250 and lens setting of 44mm. Of note is the lack of a country identifier on the aircraft, many aircraft that fly internally in New Zealand do not carry the ‘ZK-‘ country identifier.

4. Air North E170 VH-ANT. 14 March 2016 saw the first Air North flight from Wellcamp to Melbourne. VH-ANT is seen here becoming airborne to Melbourne that day. Taken from the airfield, I particularly like the angles on the E170 in this image, taken at f/5.6 @ 1/640 and 150mm.

5. Blackhawk A25-202. I had access to a high rise building at Surfers Paradise for one of the Gold Coast Indy races. I rapidly developed a respect for race car photographers who cover these races, those cars go at the speed of heat! Fortunately, pre-race entertainment featured aviation assets including Blackhawk A25-202 seen happily amongst the high rises, weavings its way around the racecourse. This is an unusual image and the engagement with one of the loadmasters lifts the image further. The image is taken at a setting of f/5.6 @ 1/250, lens set at 105mm.

6. RAAF F-111C A8-140. Access to a high rise building for one of the Gold Coast Indy races revealed a different world as F-111C A8-140 put on a performance amongst the buildings. The race cars may perform at the speed of heat but the F-111 was on a different level altogether! The major challenge was to pan accurately with the fast moving subject, f5.6 @1/350 and 200mm, and sharp focus!

7. P-51D Mustang VH-MFT. No selection of images would be complete without the P-51 Mustang being given a mention. My father, Collin Bayliss, flew the Malcolm Hooded version of the aircraft, designated as the Mustang 111 by the RAF. This particular Mustang is a P-51D manufactured by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and now on the warbird circuit registered as VH-MFT and bearing art work ‘Snifter’. Its seen landing at Watts Bridge in 2006, shot at f/10 @ 1/400 but still able to obtain some blur in the background, likely due to the high speed of the aircraft.

8. Singapore Airlines A350 9V-SHO. Here’s a shot in the dark! Each Thursday night during COVID we have a visit to Wellcamp by a Singapore Airlines A350. The aircraft is a long range passenger aircraft that, like many airliners during COVID, is currently carrying cargo only. Uplifting produce for the Singapore markets it generally arrives onto a dark runway about 30 minutes after sunset and has recently attracted my attention. I make no claims to this being anything other than an experiment on my part. This is my second attempt. The first attempt was in early January 2021 shot at ISO 12,800 and yielding 1/20 of a second, too slow for sharp focus. This image was taken 14 January 2021 at 7.32 pm, about 40 minutes after sunset using ISO 51,000 and telephoto of 165mm yielding 1/125. I saw little more than the aircraft lights on a dark runway, the camera saw a lot more! Shot from the perimeter roadway!

9. DHC-2 Beaver Air Whitsunday VH-AWI. Sometimes a treasured image can arise without planning. I was on a reef exploration vessel on Hardy Reef in the Whitsundays in 2012 when VH-AWI commenced its take-off run, happily I had the camera handy and managed to capture this image of a float plane Beaver seeking the sky. The sunlight was ideal for this shot, taken at f/9 @ 1/320 and 75mm lens setting.

10. ‘Hong Kong Trader’ 747-8F Cathay Pacific Cargo B-LJA. This image is one of a number of images that record the very first cargo flight by Cathay Pacific Cargo from Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport to Hong Kong. It’s now a regular weekly flight know as Flight CPA 2022. I particularly liked the elevated angle on this aircraft in its special ‘Hong Kong Trader’ colour scheme. It was a big day for Toowoomba and the airport and Australian Aviation magazine was there to cover and report the event. Image is from a AW119 Augusta helicopter with open door; f/7.1 @ 1/800 and 58mm lens settings.

11. RF-111C A8-143. This image is both highly satisfying as an image and for its historical context. Published in Australian Aviation at the time this may be the only published image of the operational use of the RAAF F-111. The F-111 was only used once operationally, when RF-111Cs performed reconnaissance flights over East Timor in late 1999. As can be seen from the image its very much a ‘first light’ taxi for take off in beautiful sunlight boldly presenting the lines of the RF-111C. The RF-111C is carrying long range fuel tanks and the crew paused briefly for the camera before carrying out their mission. The image was taken during the wet season build up and I sweated the weather overnight until the day dawned with full sunshine, wow! This was the final flight over East Timor. In April 2018 Australian Aviation reported upon the preservation of one of the RF-111C by the Australian War Memorial.

12. Bell 214 P2-MSA. Great to be able to photograph a water drop without there being an actual fire. McDermott Aviation’s Bell 214 P2-MSA capabilities were on display at Watts Bridge in 2016, clearly showing this helicopters operational methodology in good sunlight. Shot at f/5 @1/400 with telephone lens set at 170mm. Firebombing aircraft and helicopters are now part of the summer bush fire season and a growing force in Australia to combat this lethal foe.

13. Qantas A330 QF169 VH-QPA. The very first international passenger flight out of Wellcamp airport took place on 23 October 2016. The Qantas A330 flight was bound for Shanghai. Shot at f/7.1 @ 1/800 and lens at 65mm. This image was taken from the airfield and required special supervised escort for several news and media outlets. The image worked well even though it’s a cloudy day and captured the rotation of the aircraft with its special decals commemorating the Toowoomba to Shanghai charter.

14. C27 Spartan A34-002. A night shot on a well lit ramp shot. I was given a local ‘heads up’ that a new to service RAAF Spartan of 35 Squadron would make its first visit to Toowoomba as part of some night training. The aircraft arrived on sunset and the crew spent some time on the ground waiting for full darkness before continuing on their way. The ramp at Toowoomba Regional Airport (yes, we have two airports) is quite well lit, however, short notice and oversight meant that I did not have a tripod in the car. As the aircraft prepared to taxi I handheld f/4 @ 1/10 and fired a burst of five frames at 35mm. To my mind a shot on the go like this works well if the aircraft is stationary though a tripod would have yielded a great result and would have been essential for a tarmac with less lighting.

15. Cathay Pacific 777 B-KQQ. This is a technical shot that I’m very pleased with, deliberately set up. B-KQQ is landing at Wellcamp airfield in late morning light, via Runway 12. An ideal set up for a landing shot save for the perimeter fence that runs in the foreground. This is a hand held panning shot f/20 @ 1/100 at 165 mm lens setting. The effect of the panning at slow shutter speed with a fast moving aircraft is to substantially remove the fence in the foreground, blurs the background and foreground and highlights the 777 relatively unobstructed. The challenge is to keep the aircraft in sharp focus.

16. DHC-2 Beaver Tasmanian Air Adventures VH-AQU. Discussions the night before with the operator as to what could be achieved at the docks, everyone was on time (actually early) and the sunlight was magical. One of those plans that worked perfectly without any glitches and probably a tick for getting the planning and communication right to begin with. The reflections were a bonus, courtesy of the early start before the wind rose. f/8 @ 1/250 and 30 mm settings.

17. Aerowork Aerial Spreading PAC Cresco ZK-LTZ. I love this image and its right up there with my best images ever! I was bushwalking in Tongario National Park and knew that Aerowork operated several PAC Cresco in the region. In discussion with the senior agri manager I arranged to visit Taihape not far south of the national park. I overnighted at Taihape as agricultural pilots tend to get an early morning start. The weather was a concern as Taihape is known as the Gumboot Capital of the World and many roads were in poor condition due to recent savage rains. An early start found the airfield in fog and that’s how it stayed for some time, time for a good discussion of photography and agriculture and then glorious sunshine as the Cresco operated from the field for several hours. For me, this shot captured the lines of the Cresco, combined with a wonderful propellor rotation and great background blurring with a slow shutter speed. f/16 @ 1/100th and 55mm lens setting, plus a great lunch talking to experts in their field.

18. Former Virgin Australia B777 VH-VPD. VH-VPD became the tenth former Virgin Australia aircraft to go into storage at Wellcamp airport. Seen landing on runway three zero 27 October 2020. Its arrival saw all former Virgin Australia 777’s in storage at Wellcamp where they currently remain awaiting their future. f/5 @ 1/1250 and lens setting of 135mm.

19. USAF F-16C 86-322 18th Aggressor Squadron. An unusual visitor to Australia. I liked this profile of the F-16 and its unusual colour scheme, a relatively rare sight in Australian skies. In addition, it’s not immediately apparent if this is an air-to-air image or taken from the ground (it’s actually the latter). The Squadron normally resides in Eilson in the interior of Alaska and is one of two F-16 Squadrons operated by the USAF to provide aggressor training and enhance interoperability with allies. Note the map of Alaska on the tail and the Alaskan designation of ‘AK’.

20. DHC-2 Beaver VH-IDQ. For me a classic portrait of an agricultural Beaver in its natural operating environment, fence, thistles and all. The location is now sign posted as ‘Beaver Place’ at Walcha in New South Wales. It was at Walcha in 1950 that Tom Watson of Aerial Agriculture organised the first aerial spreading of superphosphate in Australia, carried out by a Tiger Moth VH-PCB. The advent of aerial spreading of superphosphate lead to significant increases in the number of sheep that could be carried per acre in the New England Tableland and increased wool yields. Tom Watson identified the DHC-2 Beaver as the answer to the shortcomings of the Tiger Moth and eventually would be responsible for importing 69 Beavers into Australia, the second highest operator of Beavers in the World after the United States armed forces.