Aviation | a 7 Image Story Picking seven aviation images from the thousands in my database was difficult. These images were primarily chosen because they represent some of my best compositions. Like these images, many of my favorite aviation images come from airshows and fly-ins. My favorite events include Oshkosh, Chicago Air & Water, the AAA fly-in, and the Lake City fly-in. See more wildlife images in my Aviation Portfolio.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner This image, captured several years ago at Oshkosh before the 787 had entered service, shows the Dreamliner on its takeoff roll. The Dreamliner can carry around 300+/- passengers 6,000 to 7,500 nm. To help passengers on those long hauls, the cabin pressure and the humidity are higher than most airliners. Passengers feel like they are at an altitude of 6,000 feet instead of the industry standard of around 8,000 feet, which may help passenger fatigue.
B-25 Champaign Gal In this image, Champaign Gal is taking off at Grimes Field in Urbana, OH before the 70th Reunion of the Doolittle Raiders at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH in April 2012. Twenty B-25 aircraft attended the reunion with the five remaining crew members from the raid. Similar images could have easily been taken at numerous airfields around the world in 1942. Champaign Gal is based at Grimes Field as part of the Champaign Air Museum.
F/A 18 Super Hornet This image was captured at the Chicago Air & Water Show. If you have never gone to it; it’s a really nice venue for capturing aircraft images along the beach, particularly if you like jets. You can’t always pick the background, but even with these bald skies, the vapor trail provides some contrast. Notice the “F/A” in the F/A-18 designation since it’s both a fighter and an attack aircraft. The Super Hornet is a twin-engine, carrier-capable, multi-role fighter and attack aircraft. It has an internal 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and can also carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons. Turn & burn!
Cub & Super Cub Two iconic airplanes flying in nice snow make for memorable images. Of course, the difficulty to capturing good airplane images in the winter with snow, is to keep the shutter speed low enough to blur the prop and pan well enough to keep the wings and fuselage in sharp focus while dealing with bright, hard mid-day light. A 1/125s shutter speed is about as high as I like for a click like this one.
F-4 Phantom This F-4 Phantom II image was captured during the Oshkosh fly-in several years ago. The F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range, supersonic fighter-bomber. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2.
Perth Amboy Bird CK This Perth Amboy Bird CK image was captured a few years ago at the Annual Antique Airplane Association Fly-in in Blakesburg, IA. Only 50 Perth Amboy Bird CK aircraft were built in the 1930s and only four are registered in the USA today. It’s powered by the five cylinder Kinner B-5 radial engine.
Martin JRM Mars This Martin JRM Mars is dropping 7,200 gallons of water on runway 18/36 at AirVenture 2016. The Martin JRM Mars flying boats are the world’s largest flying boats ever flown operationally. Although seven were built, only two remain flying, the Hawaii Mars JRM-3 pictured here and the Philippine Mars. They have been refitted as firefighting water bombers carrying 7,200 gallons of water.
Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Aviation.
Click any image below for a slide show.
