Jan 9, 2020 | Aviation
C-47 Dakota
captured by D4s / 24-70f2.8AFS
The background is everything! There are times though when you want it all to go away. But when it all goes away, so might your story. So what’s a photographer to do? In aviation and you’re shooting statics you could be done before you start. That’s when being better at weather predictions might just make your day! Ground fog happens quite often at airports where you have all that grass. After it rains, the dew point (you gotta learn that magical number) tells you the night before if ground fog will develop permitting you to make magical backgrounds where there are none.
FM-2 Wildcat
captured by D4s / 24-70f2.8AFS
There is a romantic allure to WWII aircraft sitting on the ramp that ground fog conjures up. The fog is a great way to make any background disappear but not the storytelling. In this case, there is a sky zip line tower (two of them) and a larger hangar being hidden by this bank of fog. Rust-0range structures in the background would have completely dispelled any illusion of the past for these two aircraft. But by looking at the weather and the dew point, there was no problem! Not only do you have the benefit of a clean background that tells a story, but you have a natural God scrim softening the light. A little knowledge of the weather can really help when the background needs to go away!
Dec 26, 2019 | Aviation
Morane-Saulnier MS.230
captured by D4 / 70-200f2.8
January 26, 2013, I along with my good friend Ed were blessed with a rare moment in history! We were present when this gorgeous Morane-Saulnier MS.230 was going to have its first flight after a seven-year restoration. It was a gorgeous plane and we were very fortunate to have an open grass field to operate and photography it from. The Morane-Saulnier MS.230 was the main primary trainer for the French Armée de l’Air throughout the 1930s so when WWII broke out, most of the French pilots had been trained in this unique aircraft.
The MS.230 is a parasol wing monoplane which unlike other trainers of the time, were mostly biplanes. Notice how the fuselage “hangs” from the wing which is where parasol comes from. Its metal tubular framing with fabric covering throughout, except the forward area of the fuselage, which was metal. The instructor and pupil occupied two tandem cockpits. It had a wide fixed landing gear that made it very stable in takeoff and landing but difficult flight characteristics. As a monoplane, the MS.230 was unlike other trainers of the time, which were mostly biplanes.
Morane-Saulnier MS.230
captured by D4 / 600f4 w/1.4x hand-held
In 1966, this Morane-Saulnier MS.230 was the star of an old movie classic, The Blue Max. It’s the plane George Peppard “flew” in the movie as a brash German World War I pilot. The character wanted the coveted Blue Max medal that was given for shooting down 20 enemy planes. This 1932 example is one of 1100 of the Morane-Saulnier MS.230 originally built. The winner of many awards and accolades for the restoration, sadly just before the holidays I was told by its former owner this Morane-Saulnier MS.230 no longer, gone to history now. It’s a prime example of how the photographs we take today could become history, but more importantly, are someone’s treasured memory!
Dec 6, 2019 | Aviation
A6M2 Zero being chased by P-40
What you might have seen Dec 7th, 1941 over Pearl
They were high school juniors and seniors when they heard on the radio the attack on Pearl Harbor. Without hesitation, they enlisted to serve their country. The “Greatest Generation” came together making the USA a life priority with many making the ultimate sacrifice. We owe all who served and paid the ultimate price for our freedoms, especially that day in Dec 1941. They shall never be forgotten!
Kate Torpedo Bomber
Years back we wanted to understand that Sunday morning so we traveled to Pearl Harbor to fly the routes of that morning. This is the story of that flight. We’d been planning it for months, paperwork filed with official channels asking for permission, route and mission decided on, all was good to go! The time had come to put the flight in the air. It was a beautiful clear morning 15 March as we meet the team at the gate of the airport. The day before we’d all meet in Rob’s hangar and went over the flight we’d been planning for months. The maps were pulled out and spread on the table, historic photographs of the day laid about, the route was selected and timed with my shot list making sure we can accomplish all that we had planned. Our flight path wasn’t one we came up with but one that followed from the morning attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941.
The sun hadn’t graced the skies yet but there was a glow over Diamond Head outlining its very distinctive shape on the horizon. The first thing we had to do was get the screw out of the window of the photo platform I was going to shoot out of. The Cessna 172 is a very common photo platform for air to air work. The windows though normally only open a short way, too small an aperture to get the lens out to shoot. Because of the airspeed, you fly, you can safely and easily with the screw removed, let the window open fully (the airflow actually holds the window up for you) making shooting possible.
After that, there was the preflighting of the 172. I’m always comforted when I see the pilot have the POH in hand and running down the list as we get ready to go. Stab the wing tanks, plug-in headsets, seat belts fastened and with a yell out the window, “Clear!,” the prop turns and the engine kicks over. Then there is the warm-up and initial systems check. Then there is talking to the tower so you can taxi. Then there is taxing over to the run-up area and doing the last engine run-up for oil pressure. An hour has passed before at 07:15 its wheels up and in the air heading for our rendezvous.
Our subject plane, a gorgeous SNJ painted in the scheme of the USS Saratoga, is hangared at historic Barbers Point. As part of our briefing the day before we had arranged where we would meet once in the air. While you can plan everything well in advance and go through the preflight with flying colors there seems to be one thing that tends to come up way too often for me. And that’s radio problems most often from loose or dirty connections. And as you might guess, while working perfectly the day before, the first depress of the button and a scratchy, static voice rang through the headset. We flew north towards our hook up point southeast of Wheeler Field. It was an amazing feeling flying the path of that historic morning!
Right on queue, we find Bruce and his SNJ visually but radio communications are anything but clear. As long as we fly the brief, there should be no problems. We are a little early for our scheduled time over Wheeler Field. Wheeler Field is still active so clearance was obtained to do a couple of flyovers to photograph the SNJ with the Field in the background. We flew a little north and came down the shoot the same as the Japanese did that morning in 1941. In the background were the same rice fields and agriculture that were present on that day.
Flying down the valley of the first bomber attack
The radio came to life, a flight of Black Hawks was on their way into Wheeler. They were calling the tower. We heard no response and then the radio crackled to life clearing them. Rob waited for a second and called the tower. The sweetest came across the radio answering back. “Ah good, I know her,” Rob said to us and he answered back. The two of them talked pleasantries and then got down to clearing our filed flight plan. With everything cleared, we had the next ten minutes to buzz the field and get the shots. That’s when the challenge began.
Radio communications with the SNJ were challenging, the connection was sketchy at best. While we flew the brief, being able to talk on the radio to fine-tune the photograph is essential. We flew the strafing runs the Japanese flew that fateful morning down Wheeler Field. Bruce is a Pearl Harbor historian and had told us much of the facts leading up to that morning. The P-40s had been lined up in a perfect row to prevent saboteurs from attacking the aircraft (an attack by sea wasn’t believed possible by some of the brass). Needless to say, this made it really easy for the Japanese to cause a great amount of destruction with little effort.
One thing that is very hard to do in a briefing is to explain angles. The angle of the photographer, the subject and the background so they all line up in the viewfinder is hard to prevision. That’s why the radio was so important. Despite the brief, getting the SNJ in the perfect position just wasn’t happening. After a couple of passes the radio crackled, “Photo flight, airspace is now closed. Thanks for coming!” And with that, we headed south.
Flight over Wheeler Field
Bruce took us south on the same path the Japanese took to Pearl. The landscape below us now is nothing like what it was on that day. Oahu urban sprawl has grown up to Wheeler Field. We fly south checking the time. Bruce had managed to get flight clearance over Ford Island and the Pearl Harbor Memorial. A photo mission over these historic areas hadn’t been granted for quite some time because of some military installations in the area that the military didn’t want to be photographed. At the appointed time, Bruce starts calling the tower to get our clearance to start our run. “Sorry, we don’t have that paperwork, clearance denied.” The PAO hadn’t got the paperwork to the tower! Unlike Wheeler Field, we couldn’t just circle while we tried to clear up the problem. So off we went.
For the next ten to fifteen minutes, Bruce tried to run down the PAO. Finally, the PAO made the call to the tower and we were cleared for just two passes. That’s not what was originally arranged but the clock had been eaten up trying to reach the PAO. With months in the planning, it all came down to these two passes. The radio issues hadn’t cleared up and the same problems we had at Wheeler Field rose again. The goal was to get photos of the Memorial, Ford Island and other historic locations in the background of the SNJ. Lining up those items with just two passes and poor radio communications just wasn’t happening. After two passes without a word from the tower, we flew out of that pattern.
Flight over the Arizona Memorial
After leaving Ford Island, the flight split with us heading back to Honolulu and the SNJ back to Barbers Point. After landing and buttoning up the 172, we hopped into the van and drove over to Barbers Point where Bruce was waiting for us. We spent the rest of the day with Bruce having the most amazing, historic ground tour of December 7, 1941. With Bruce’s military clearance, we were able to tour Wheeler Field and see the OC where the card game was going during the attack in which Taylor & Welch left, got into their P-40s (parked at the remote strip) and got in the air to bring down some attackers. We saw the secret, underground plane assembly plant, and runway. It’s a tour that if you’re into history is absolutely amazing!
We even went back to Pearl, visiting both sides of the channel. Late in the afternoon found us at the hangars on Ford Island. There and at the seaplane port just down the ramp, we could see the remnants of the bombs and bullets of that morning. We were at that infamous place where all the B&W photos of the PBYs and Ducks burning was taken, the pot marks still in the cement. We then went up to where the Arizona and other battleships were moored, next to the officers’ quarters and got out and stood where the explosion did so much destruction. Very powerful!
At the end of the day, we ended up back at Barbers Point. Barbers Point construction was well underway on Dec 7th but not active. While a bomb did fall nearby, many think it was not intentional. In the last waning light of the day, we wheeled out the SNJ on the deactivated base for our last couple of portraits for the day. Our flight occurred from 07:15-08:11, not too much different than that morning. Despite not going 100% as planned, it was an incredible flight and an amazing day. It’s our history to honor, remember and pass on so it is never forgotten!
Dec 5, 2019 | Aviation
It’s been sixteen years since Air & Space Magazine has featured a biplane/antique on its cover. I’m honored to have the photo that broke that really long streak! “Betsy” is a very special Waco QCF-2 and its owner, Chris brought this gorgeous piece of history back to the skies being named the Airplane of the Year. I feel very fortunate and honored to have a small part in bringing this story to light. You can learn more about Chris and Betsy here in the January 2020 issue of Air & Space. Congrats Chris … and Betsy too!
Dec 3, 2019 | Aviation
“You wanna go and see some Mountain Goats?” Most would think they are about to take a drive up a hill, take a walk and then see some Mountain Goats. But it was Addison asking me which means a plane is involved and an adventure is about to unfold. Having intimate knowledge of everything aviation in Washington, Idaho, Montana and points south, when he says he’s filled the 185 with gas, you have no clue just where you might end up. So Sharon, Brent, Jake and I got in the 185 with winter survival gear and took off.
Addison being Addison, he had Jake in the front to fly us out to the Lake Pend Oreille, flying all the way to the old WWII sub base at Farragut (that’s a whole story onto itself). There, on the south end is a giant face that slips into the lake where the goats can be found. In fact, we found eleven grazing on the slope. We were on our second orbit when Addison said, “Let’s go to Magee” and off we go. Addison checks in to homebase to let them know where we were going, made sure bread crumbs were being dropped and off we turned to Magee.
Magee is a wilderness strip in Idaho at the bottom of a beautiful canyon. We make two passes of the strip checking for obstructions, critters, mud and after determining we could make a safe landing, flaps were set and down we went. Addison is a very talented pilot and had us down and parked as if landing on a feather pillow. And once down, out we were exploring the area.
All I had with me was the Z6 / Z214-70f2.8, Jake had his Z50 and Brent, he didn’t even have time to set up his faithful GoPros. I shot in all B&W because we had dark, overcast skies, fall color had long past. That said, it is wilderness and very gorgeous. Once down and exploring the creek full of fish, Addison told us of adventures he wants to fly us into next summer to fly fish. That got Jake and my attention! After signing the book so it was recorded he was the last to land at Magee in 2019, off we were back into the 185.
With a simple, clean launch, off we headed back to Spokane with Brent now at the controls. We made a small divert to fly over Horse Heaven, another dirt strip from WWII, created to store P-40s in case Spokane was attacked. It was an incredible afternoon of flying, history and exploring! It just goes with the first advice I give photographers wanting to get into aviation photography. Just show up!
