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Carlill Photography

The Photography of Tom Carlill - Things that move (mostly aircraft), people and history. Based in Stamford UK. All real footage, No AI. Please credit reposts

04/09/2026

Invader before the storm

Great to see the A-26 back in the UK last weekend at Shuttleworth Military Airshow (just before the heavens opened and the show had to be stopped while some of us fled for cover and a cup of tea).

This A-26 moved to Poland in 2025 and was piloted by John Dodd and its owner Marcin Kubrak (seen on the first shot).

Tough to get full disks on the A-26 as it’s a fast aircraft with slow prop speeds, requiring 1/50th second exposure for the 2nd and 3rd shots.

03/09/2026

The frontline and the future

It was fantastic to see so many SAAB JAS 39 Gripens at the Swedish airforce 100th anniversary including formation displays and dogfights. Gripens have been in Swedish airforce service since 1993 with the C (all grey scheme) starting in 2007.

The new E version (AI powered) began arriving with the Swedish airforce in 2025.
After a slow start the JAS 39 has now become a significant export opportunity for SAAB with at least 7 countries adopting it and more potentially due to follow thanks to its low operating costs and ability to operate in a wide range of environments, as well as Sweden becoming a NATO member.

The JAS 39 also has a number of unique features including the ability to deploy flares both from the upper and lower sides of the aircraft and also to burn fuel that is vented from the aircraft by angling the aircraft in such a way that the afterburner can ignite it (as seen in the first picture). It’s great to be able to see both these features being demonstrated at this airshow (unlike in the UK where flares aren’t allowed).

The music is by the Swedish band the Hives…

02/09/2026

Spitfires in Sweden

It was great to see the Rolls Royce Heritage mk XIX Spitifre in Swedish markings for the 100th Anniversary Airshow. Sweden operated 50 former RAF mkXIX Spitifres after WW2 as the S31. The Spitifres served until 1955 monitoring Soviet activity around the Baltic. The Spitifres were replaced by the the reconnaissance version of the Jet powered Tunnan.

Also in Sweden was the mkXVI merlin powered Spitfire that is based in Scandinavia with Biltema Airshow (flying with a P-51D).

The Slow Shutter Syndicate

01/09/2026

The vapour display

When it came to making vapour, Rafale Solo Display Officiel definitely was the display to watch at the Swedish Airforce 100th Anniversary

31/08/2026

A star in the storm

Despite the atrocious weather before the display the RAF Chinook Role Demonstration 2026 put on an amazing display at Shuttleworth Military Airshows including flying around rainbows!

The light for this display seemed to change every 30 seconds as you can see in these shots! I wanted to try and get as much prop blur as possible and these shots vary from 1/60th second down to 1/8th second (all hand held) giving full disks. The Slow Shutter Syndicate

30/08/2026

1940s classic jets

All these swept wing jet types first flew in the 1940s

The J29 Tunnan - 1948 (Sweden) from
The Mig-15 (Lim-2) - 1947 (USSR/Poland) from FUBAR AVIATION LTD
The F-86 Sabre- 1947 (USA) from The Flying Bulls

Both the J29 and Mig -15 had centrifugal gas turbines developed from the Rolls Royce Ghost (J29) and Nene (Mig-15). The wide diameter of the engine caused by the compressor had a significant impact on how the engine is packaged within the airframe. The F-86 has an axial flow General Electric J47 which has a much smaller diameter. Even so, there are a lot of similarities between the aircraft designs.

There is only 1 airworthy J29, 1 airworthy F-86 in Europe and 5 Mig-15 (Lim-2) in Europe, making this a very rare formation at the Swedish airforce 100th Anniversary at Malmen airbase.

The song is by the Swedish band The Hives ….

28/08/2026

The Swedish B 17

The Saab B 17 was the first all metal stressed skinned aircraft to be developed in Sweden with a similar role to the Helldiver or Dauntless.

Introduced in 1942, 326 were built of which this is the only remaining flying example.

As Sweden was neutral in WW2, the B 17 didn’t see active combat but it was used to train a force from Denmark ahead of a possible attack, though this never materialised due to the end of Danish occupation.

B 17s were used for target tugs and reconnaissance and also by Ethiopia (as well as various countries as a target tug).

Like many Swedish aircraft, versions of the aircraft were tried with Ski Landing gear as well and sea plane floats!

The Slow Shutter Syndicate

27/08/2026

Finnish flare

It was incredible to see the Finnish F/A-18C display at the Swedish airforce 100 year anniversary airshow last week, both in terms of its manoeuvrability and the large number of flares used in the display!

Finland selected the F-35 as a replacement for the Hornets with pilots under conversion training at the moment.

21/08/2026

Flying Bulls at Duxford

It’s was great having the The Flying Bulls in the UK this summer. Will be even better when the Bearcat visits 🤞

These shots were from the Duxford Summer airshow 2026

17/08/2026

It’s almost time

This weekend the Swedish airforce celebrates its 100th Birthday at Linkoping.

Here are a few shots from the last time I was in Sweden for an incredible day of air to air with Aviation PhotoCrew with some of the classic I hope to see again soon 😀

Also the band Europe are from Sweden…

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