The short answer: it's real!

Here it is in context:
http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/airshow05/riat05/partone/curtis.htm

Here's another picture:
http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/airshow05/riat05/parttwo/10su26.jpg

and here's a page on the whole air show:
http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/airshow05/riat05/partone/riat05.htm

I saw a similar stunt at Wings Over Pittsburgh a couple of years ago.  
If I remember correctly, the wings are very short, thus the small shadow 
width.  The poles the people are holding are very tall (long), and it's 
very logical that their shadows would be a lot longer that the peoples' 
shadows.  The plane went under the ropes that are strung between the poles.

Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> Howard Winter wrote:
>
>   
>>>         http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/airshow05/riat05/partone/curtis.jpg
>>>       
>
>   
>> The aircraft's shadows seem to be consistent with an aircraft flying low
>> and inverted 
>>     
>
> Several people have said this, but I don't get it.
>
> In the picture, the shadow (from wing tip to wing tip) appears shorter than
> a single wing from tip to body. 
>
> The shadow should be about as wide as the plane -- when looking from
> straight above (or at both from the same angle towards each). The angle
> we're looking at the shadow is different from the angle we're looking at
> the plane, but it is different in a way so that the shadow should appear
> wider, not smaller (we're almost at the height of the plane, above the
> ground). 
>
> Gerhard
>
>   

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