This is part 1 of a two-part gallery featuring a small snippet of the images I captured on a visit to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford – a huge and impressive collection of aircraft, vehicles and tanks.
As you’ll see from the images below, I really enjoy finding interesting details amongst the greater whole of the vehicle – the moments where details and colour interact in a visually interesting way. I love complex machines and the details within – this place was heaven for that kind of thing!
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-001.jpg)
The mosquito is one of my favourite aircraft of all time; not pictured here is the distinctive twin-boom tail, which just made it a very interesting aircraft to look at.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-002.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-003.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-005.jpg)
The above image (and the two following) are details from Concorde 101 – the first test aircraft that was built to flight test the supersonic capabilities of the then-new aircraft. It completed 273 flights in its lifespan and represented one of only two supersonic commercial aircraft to ever enter use. There were plenty of drawbacks to the technology – high cost and limited capacity being two of the major ones, but Concorde 101 represents a hugely significant part of aviation history.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-006.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-007.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-008.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-009.jpg)
It’s almost as if the belly of this Hastings was designed to be side-lit and photographed. I’m in love with the muted metal and the rivets.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-010.jpg)
…my hope is that the display warheads were in fact, not radioactive.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-011.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-018.jpg)
The guts of another hugely fast aircraft – the SR-71 has held the record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft since 1976.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-019.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-020.jpg)
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-022.jpg)
Aside from being a rather cool training biplane, this particular Kaydet is an absolutely eye-watering blue and yellow combination. I kind of love it.
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-023.jpg)
This was one of those moments where the colours and textures of this tiny aspect of the F-111E (comprising maybe a square foot of tailfin) was so interesting I couldn’t ignore it. I really like how this kind of image communicates something of the essence of the aircraft whilst not picturing the entirety of it (something that is mostly impossible in a museum environment).
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/mfco/image/upload/q_auto:good/v1/mfco-content/Duxford-140705-024.jpg)
One of the reasons Duxford is so brilliant is the fact that many of the aircraft are still fully-functional. In previous visits, I’ve seen their B17 Flying Fortress flying around. This Tiger Moth is a decidedly smaller affair, but nonetheless stood out quite strikingly against the hazy sky.