Aircraft Sound Recordings

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This is my virtual museum of aircraft sounds I have recorded at various airshows and events in the UK during the past few years. All my recordings are of the highest quality I can manage. From a typical show of 3 or 4 hours, I usually expect 30 minutes of usuable recordings due to commentators, spectators and incorrect placement of recording equipment. I classify all these recordings as field recordings as none of them are staged or processed after the recording.

Aircraft are difficult to record well as they tend to move quickly and not always in a way that works well with mic placement. I tend to leave around 18 - 20dB headroom if I'm expecting anything to fly close and up to 25 db if there's a prospect of anything with a jet engine. With aircraft and places I know well I usually shift around mic placement to get different recording dynamics. For places I don't know or new aircraft I'll make a call first then leave it that way and see what happens. I guess this is quite like how people that record birdsong will work.My usual kit comprises of a Rode NT4 or Audio-Technica 822 into a Fostex FR2-LE. Some of the older recordings use HI-MD Sony Minidisc.

The recordings are arranged by manufacturer and type and vary from early aircraft (Sopwith Camel, AVRO 504k, Bristol Fighter) through World War 2 Warbirds (Spitfire, Hurricane) and bombers (AVRO Lancaster) to modern jets (Hawker Hunter, BAe Hawk), including classic trainers. In some cases, they are recordings of the only remaining flying examples of the type.

In some instances I have included spectograms of the audio file. The spectograms have been generated using software from the freesound project and used in accordance with the licensing under which it has been released.

Also check out The Hawker Hurricane Society.