Aircraft Photography

We had a nice day at the museum this past Saturday, so everyone got to take rides in the smaller planes, even my kiddo who has never flown before.  We were supposed to go to Oswego in Whiskey 7 for a Mother's Day pancake breakfast, but the weather decided to rain on our parade, and the event has been postponed.  But I did get some pics of Whiskey 7 in the sun, and the kiddo in the L-16.

Turns out she loves flying.

Lucky kid! Perhaps you planted the seeds for her to be an aviator one day...

The Collings Foundation are in town again, making the rounds of the local airports and filling the air with the sound of glorious radial engines... I took these photos with my phone as we were walking to a local eatery. The B-24 flew right over us. The B-17 not so close...

A Spitfire from airshows past.

Weird, Wayne, the picture shows up and then disappears.

This weekend was the Helicopter Scale Masters at our R/C flying field.  Most of these are turboshaft powered, some electric.  AT first thought it would seem helicopters would be easy to photograph, but all that goes out the window when you try to keep the illusion of the rotor blades moving.  It becomes a task to keep motion blur at bay when shooting at 1/250 and lower which keeps the blades from looking stopped and leaving the viewer wondering why the machine isn't falling out of the air.

http://yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/WDA/20190511HSM/2019hsm.html

A restored Huey belonging to EMU   http://www.hueyvets.com/  flew in and gave some rides:

An Mi-8, I think it weighed 65 pounds:

Huey:

Here's my contribution, some pics I took from the national ww2 museum in New Orleans, they have a nice B-17 and a F-4U, among others

All the pictures are herehttps://waihobbies.wkhc.net/index.php/11-museums/142-world-war-two-museum-2#

Here's the F4U

This past weekend was National Warplane Museum's Greatest Show On Turf.  I didn't get a ton of pics like I wanted to, but I got some at least. 

We had 4 C-47's this year.

Virginia Ann, Luck of the Irish, Second Chance, and Whiskey 7.

Second Chance.

Luck of the Irish.

Whiskey 7

A few of the A-10

Movie Memphis Belle

Me and the kiddo were fortunate enough to take a flight in MMB and W7 while we were there helping to get ready for the airshow.

Good stuff, Keyda. Thanks for sharing...

fotofrank

Good stuff, Keyda. Thanks for sharing...

 

Thanks!

I've got some more.  I was asked to go along with Whiskey 7 to Conneaut Ohio for their D-Day event last weekend.  I got some good shots of her and the B-25 Mitchell "Georgie's Gal"

B-25 "Georgie's Gal"

Whiskey 7

Canadian SAR in training

castelnuovo

Canadian SAR in training

 

What's at the end of that line coming out of the helicopter?

I saw this thread and thought I'd share a few photos from the recent "Luftwaffe Day" at the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum last Sunday (8-24-19) in Everett, WA. 

Although "Luftwaffe Day" is the headline, the only Luftwaffe planes flying were a Bf 109E and a Fiesler Storch. The FW 190A-5 was out of commission due to a couple of injectors that needed repair. The show was worth it though -- in addition to the 109, we had a P-47, Spitfire Mk V, and a Hurricane. 

If you are ever in the Seattle area, the museum is definitely worth a day trip. I was mesmerized by some of the planes on display - the FW 190D-13 in particular (more on that later). They are also close to finishing the restoration of a Ju 87 Stuka. 

Enjoy the photos! 

There was a hook of some kind, maybe for lifting people from the sea (photo was taken from a ferry)

Don't know if this is reserved for military aircraft only, but here are some pics of Friday's early arrivals for the 2019 Fly-in at Ranger Antique Airfield in Ranger, Tx. One of the last municipally operated grass strips in the country.

Air Tractor

Navion 225

Old Cessna

Vultee BT-13

Stinson 108

Travel Air 4000

Piper Cub

In flight pics are still on my DSLR, waiting to be downloaded.  Will post some if there is interest.

Saw thes SAR helicopters the other day, probably on training

Anda floatplane on a typical west coast abiance: low clouds and big mountains covered in trees

Spent the weekend at the museum for a volunteer camp out.  Which meant lots of flying.  I got the chance to do some air to air shots which was rather challenging.  But I managed to get a few good shots. 

These were taken from a Aeronca L-16A.  It's an Aeronca L-16B, and the newest addition to the hangar at the museum.

We had a PT-26 and a Stearman visiting, both with a similar paint scheme.  I got to fly in the Stearman.

And of course a few of Whiskey 7 taking off for a ride flight.  I am sometimes torn between flying, or standing near the runway taking pics of her. 

Nice shots, Keyda, sounds like a fun outing.

Air to air can be challenging, it takes a team to make the pictures.  I was lucky enough to be each part of the team, from the photographer to the photo plane pilot, the guy in the back of the photo plane directing the shoot, and the pilot of the plane being photographed.  It takes a good preflight breifing, the right sky and the right time of day to have the conditions, and a group of pilots you trust.  I like both formation flying and photography so it was a natural for me.  I had the chance to work with some really good photographers including Paul Bowen, and they were all willing to try to educate me.  I hope some of it took!

Of all the things I remember, the right sky seemed to be the most important.  We had one shoot of a Falcon 10 that did not turn out as well as we wanted, though we got some decent photos.  Just a sky that had no direction to shoot on a late afternoon in Dallas.  The photo plane was an A-36 Bonanza with the door off and I was the coordinator next to the photographer, who might have been Paul Bowen but I can't remember for sure.  Most of the time you can get a good angle for the light by flying in a circle, and that day we had everything right but the weather.  Luck always plays a part when there are that many moving parts.  We all had to be someplace else the next day.

I've been scanning old slides lately using a light table, a 100mm macro lens and my Pentax K-3II DSLR.  There sure is a difference in sharpness between the new and the old, this was a slide taken with a Pentax SF-1, an early autofocus SLR.  I don't remember what lens I used but it was probably a 70-210 Pentax zoom.  It's not a technically great photo but it captures the vroom and zoom pretty well, I think.

This is an RF-4C from the Nevada ANG doing a missed approach on Rancho Murieta's 3800 foot runway.

Beautiful shot of the RF-4 John! That runway sure sounds a bit small for that bird...

here a few shots from long ago when I was a young buck. My first ride in a Huey ahead at the lead ship as we flew in trail, on the LZ after getting out, and then our ride departing. Fun, fun, fun!

Got to ride up front in the Collings B-24.

These were taken at this year's Fly-in at Ranger Antique Airfield in Ranger,TX.

Stinson Tri-Motor.  Only three left, only one flying at the moment.

Stagger Wings.

Piper Cubs.

Pietenpol.

Stearmans. (Stearmen?)

BT-13.

Bellanca Cruisair.

1932 Curtiss Wright Travel Air Speed Wing. One of two built, the only survivor.

This is my second time going to this show, and I think it has become my favorite.  I love going to regular air shows, but after a while you see the same aircraft time after time.  The atmosphere at this show is so different and laid back.  The added plus is you don't know what you're going to run into.  For instance, yesterday was the first time I've seen a Stagger Wing in the wild, and today was the first time I got to see one fly.  If you can get to a vintage fly-in, I recommend going.

Lovely photos, wish I could have been there. 

The first Stearman is actually a WACO UPF-7, they are often confused.  The Speedwing was flown in airshows by Vern Dallmann, a dear friend.  It was restored by his family in the same scheme he flew it in after his death.

John,

Thanks for the kind words and the correction.  I'm still learning this side of aviation and it looked like a Super Stearman to my inexperienced eye.  One of the treats on Friday was the evening airshow as the sun was setting. Two acts performed, one was a Super Stearman, the other was the Speed Wing.  I don't what happened during the first act (Super Stearman), but the lighting for his flight wasn't good, a dark plane on a darkening sky with the possibility of clouds obscuring the sun.  The lighting changed for the Speed Wing.  While the sky is still on the dark side, there are shots where the orange wings caught the light of the setting sun and pop against the sky like they were on fire.  The coolest thing on Friday was that the museum that owns the Stinson Tri-Motor took it up for a short flight so I got to take pics of it taking off and landing.  Hopefully there's a usable pic or two of both in the hundreds taken over the course of two days.

Had the opportunity to do some more air to air photography on Saturday.  This time I was in the museums L-21 photographing the two L-16's.  The changing colors of the trees made for some nice shots.  I think my favorite is the L-16A above the Mt.Morris dam.

Beautiful shots, Keyda.  Nice and sharp.