Sponsored by the Royal Air Force

Hey all,

Quick update on the video release schedule coming up in April. As mentioned in a previous post, the Royal Air Force sponsored two videos coming to the channel. 

• One video will be on the Supermarine Spitfire ft. the Spitfire Mk.IX
• The second video will be on RAF Air Operations during the Battle of Britain.

These videos, due to being sponsored, will be somewhat uncharateristically released within about a week of each other. This will most likely be Week 1 and Week 2 of April. I will have to wait for the RAF to get back to me about this, as they release a video on modern Air Operations on their channel first as part of the sponsored deal. For them, this is an attempt to get people interested and involded in Air Operations.

As mentioned before, without you on Patreon, the channel would never have gotten this far to the point where it appears on the radar of the RAF. This channel is still not, considering YT demonitizations and ad-rates, sustainable without all of you. So while this is a sponsored deal, I also see it as a thank you from me to all of you which is why I am trying to pour everything I have into this project.

For these videos, I visited the Battle of Britain Bunker near Uxbridge and Bentley Priory for location shooting. As well as that, we went to RAF Conningsby for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hangar where we filmed the Spitfire video. Sadly - and this really was disappointing - I was unable to get into the cockpit of the Spitfire. While this had been agreed upon, an unfortunate bureaucratic oversight or misunderstanding meant that the request had not gone through and the pilots seat had been dismounted. This means that the Spitfire video is only about 60-70% of the intended length. These things happen but I am sorry that I could not provide this part of the video for all of you. I am looking into finding an alternative Spitifre to mount into in the near future. 

With me was a camera crew that was organized via the RAF and an Agency. They captured some great quality shots that I hope will make this video into something special. At the same time, it gave me valuable experience how do improve my own video shooting. 

As I write this, I am rendering the final draft versions for the RAF (a first draft was already submitted) that I will send off in the evening. Hopefully, I know by Friday (unlikely) or Monday (hopefully) if the RAF would like to see some changes. I do have editorial control (something I insist on) but it is important that the quality of the video is high and thus a second, scrutinizing set of eyes is always appreciated. 

In other news, while these videos go live, I will be on a short holiday with my girlfriend from 30th March until mid April. This means there might be a few less updates coming up until I am back. We have not had a significant break for some time, so this is a welcomed moment to recharge the batteries. Have I checked whether some aviation museum is in the area? You bet I have ;)

As always, if you have any questions, let me know below!

o7
Bis