The Mustang, the epitome of fighters and the sky battles of WWII is a gorgeous machine. The D version which came near the end of WWII is the most commonly thought of and seen flying today. The D is the “bubble” version, the big canopy designed so the pilot had more visibility to see and pursue the enemy. That’s what the P stands for, pursuit. The “turtle deck” version of many fighters like the Mustang hindered that vision which is why they were phased out. “Boise Bee” was the first P-51C I saw in person and at the same time, photographed. I thought I loved the P-51D but when I saw the C, well, I fell for it! Then I came to learn how rare they are so the push came to find and photograph more. It’s taken twenty years but I’ve found a couple so now is putting in the time hoping I get time with them. Cause for me, they are sweet, the lines of the C.

We were enjoying the serenade from the Canyon Wren while having our lunch when we heard an all too familiar sound in the totally wrong place. Both Sharon and I jumped up and rushed to the balcony in time to see a C-130 up close and personal! It flew between The View & The Mitten eastbound going down in the valley proper. I saw it bank so I rushed back in and grabbed the rig in hopes it would make the same pass. As you can see, it went on the outside of the Mitten leaving the area. Sharon figured out it was in honor of a Navajo Code Talker who turned 107 that day. It was so cool to see the flyby in his honor, well played!

Yep, it’s late summer and much of the landscape has the summer browns. Yeah, you can find green like in this photograph, but brown rules the day. It’s not the best background color when thinking of aircraft, blue comes to mind. You have a number of options for working with it. In this case, I went with the slow shutter speed blurring it out to some extent and therefore blurring out the brown. I also used another option and that’s a bright color. The orange on the wings of the Pienthol works well with the brown background. Another option that I have used is simply not shooting when one can see the brown in the photo. It can be a challenge but something we have to deal with each here when there are the browns of summer.

I’d never knew of, seen, or especially heard of a WB-57 when the wind up of its engine occurred down the ramp. Grabbing the camera I headed out with the gang to see the Canberra take the active and the dark smoke filling the ground. This 1954 twin-engined, 570mph aircraft was designed as a tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The B-57 was built under license from the British English Electric Canberra, manufactured by Martin. With a maximum ceiling of 64k’, NASA is now the only one flying them, and that is for research. It’s a wicked looking plane and I’m so glad I had the opportunity and was in the right place to see it. And next time when I hear those engines, I’ll know what’s that.

It had been acquired just weeks prior, not flown for quite some time, this veteran of WWII had a story to tell and I was the very fortunate one to get to tell it. Flying over the beaches of DDay +9, it ended up after the war becoming a plane on a stick. It was then rescued and brought back to the skies. That was all in England / Europe / East coast and now lived in Texas. That’s a lot of story to tell and I love a good challenge and when working with the best, the skies the limit so that’s where we went.

Riding in the belly of a TBM Avenger (my favorite flying platform) we launched and went out over Galveston Bay. We found a backdrop, a background for our star placing it back over the marshes of England and we went to work. The light was perfect, not a stitch of wind, it was the perfect conditions to enjoy flying and capture a story. There were literally hundreds of one-of-a-kind images that came from the hour plus time in the sky slamming the door on the first big challenge of telling its story. But it opened the door to others. It was all story-driven.

About a dozen years ago, I saw my first Cessna 195 (about 200 are flying today). Its art deco appearance, classic lines, and “luxury with speed” stance sucked me right in. I was very fortunate to be able to do a quick pickup A2A with it a dozen years ago, but shortly after the plane crashed and was totaled (pilot walked away). Then came a decade dry spell when I would see one or two here and there but had no access to them. I kept looking and made a click here and there, but that was it.

Then last fall I got my first flight in one and it was magical! The 195 is on floats and our flight took us up and down the Columbia River. We were to do an A2A the following day but wildfire smoke came in making it 0/0. Then the next scheduled flight, a mechanical stopped the fun. Then winter and then … that’s the nature of following your passion to get a subject in a viewfinder. Now, I have not one but two scheduled A2A dates with two different 195s in the next month. I’m so counting the days, I can barely wait, it’s twelve years and counting.