Tony -

Great shot! You sure did fill the frame with that BigMa! Was this hand-held or did you use a mono/tri-pod? Nevertheless - talk about wind in your face flying! I've never had the pleasure; the closest I've ever come was in a few Piper Cubs and a few choppers.

It's a tad soft but that's OK. Unfortunately, when you use a relatively low shutter speed and pan with your subject's fly-by you run that risk - but then how else do you get to catch the prop spinning? BTW: I suspect 1/60-second would have taken that spinning prop full-circle.

Manual focus? Do you pre-set and than track the plane and shoot when you get to the shooting zone? Interesting. I would think you would rely no the auto-focus.

I use my E-1's auto-focus when I go shoot USN P-3 Orions and USCG C-130s (and others) when they do their touch-n-goes. It amazes me just how close these newer cameras (with shutter speeds quicker than 'only' 1/1000-second) come to actually freezing a prop during take-off.

BTW: You didn't happen to see my favorite single-seater from the WWII era, the P-47, did you? I know. I know, compared with the Spitfires and Hurricanes, the P-51 Mustangs and the P-38 Lightenings the P-47s are plain ol' dumpy looking - but those 'looks' are oh-so deceiving. There's nothing quite like high power output under the hood, and awesome firepower (in its day, that is). Tally-HO!

-leon