“The photo in this post came about because my young nephew at the time was madly interested in aeroplanes, particularly the Blackbird,” said Robin Harbour.
Robin Harbour, who took the photograph mentioned in the article, explained that although he has never made any money from his photographs, he has always been aware of copyright issues and feels that every picture should carry the photographer’s name with it as proof of “ownership.” He said that, sadly, the internet is a place where some people think they can come along and freely “steal” both images and words.
Harbour revealed that until around 2017, he had never really worried about anyone “stealing” his photographs from Facebook. He first became aware that someone had “stolen” the photograph in 2016, after he had posted it on one of the Facebook aircraft groups, when someone alerted him to it having been reposted on a “fast jet” site without any mention of him as its photographer. He contacted the “thief” and also the half-dozen or so administrators of the site; only two of the admin team bothered to answer and apologize and said that they would have words, but he never heard back from the alleged thief.
Then, earlier in 2019, Harbour came across his photo with a link to an article published on an aviation site; it was being used in a totally unconnected article about a low-flying Blackbird. However, when the founder of the site told him it was quite popular, he was stunned.
Harbour explained how the actual photograph came about, saying that his young nephew at the time was madly interested in airplanes, particularly the Blackbird. In late 1989, he discovered that the penultimate Blackbird that was to leave the UK on its return to the US was scheduled for January 9, 1990. He fancied the idea of going along to photograph it, as he would obviously never see it at an airshow again. He then asked his sister if his then 10-year-old nephew would like to go too. When the answer came back as yes, that was it—they were going.
Harbour said that they set off early on the 9th, and as they were traveling along the Northampton ring road, he spotted a school bus. “Are you supposed to be in school?” he asked. “Yes,” came the reply, “but Mom’s phoning in to say I’m off sick.” He said it hadn’t even crossed his mind. Once at Mildenhall, they set themselves up along one of the fences and waited. The plane took off and did two or three low passes before heading for home; his much-reposted photograph is of the aircraft’s last pass. Just to make his nephew’s day, he then took him to IWM Duxford, where another of his favorites resided, Concorde. Harbour noted that he’s not sure how his nephew kept his mouth shut about his “sickie,” but they both had an enjoyable day out, and the time off never did him any harm, as the nephew now has an MA in English Literature and is the Senior Editor of an international publishing house and editor of numerous science-based journals.
Photo by Robin Harbour
