For most aviation photographers, an air-2-air photo shoot is something that many of us have dreamed of doing, but not had the opportunity to realise the dream. I was no different in this regard, and had tried to set up some opportunities to achieve this dream over the years with no success. At the ISAP conference held in Las Vegas this year, I met Jim Wilson, a Dallas based commercial photographer who uses a B-25 as his preferred air-2-air platform. I had known Jim for a couple of years through a forum thread on the Fred Miranda website titled "Mustang air-2-air". This thread over the years has developed itself into a mini community, and when ISAP announced their 2010 conference would be in Las Vegas a number of us decided to have a group meet. While at the ISAP conference, Jim announced to us that he was considering offering novice air-2-air photographers the chance to join him on a series of photo missions using a B-25 as the photo platform.
A few weeks after the ISAP conference, Jim announced that he had a couple of potential opportunities lined up where he would offer the spare seats in the rear of the B-25 to novice photographers to shoot an air-2-air mission - for a cost as the B-25 is not a cheap aircraft to operate. The first potential air-2-air mission would be at the gathering of B-25s over the weekend of 18th April to commemorate the Doolittle Raiders. On the 18th of April 1942, Lt. Col James "Jimmy" Doolittle led a raid of 16 B-25s flying from the deck of the USS Hornet on a mission to attack Tokyo.
Another potential opportunity was lined up for later in the year, this time being held at the Alliance Fort Worth Air Show. Being in late October, I decided that if I could afford the cost of the B-25 flight that I would fly across to Texas for the Alliance Fort Worth Air Show, and the potentially once in a lifetime opportunity of undertaking an air-2-air photo shoot.
After months of planning and saving the money for the trip, I left the UK on the 26th October, headed for DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth). I was due to undertake my first ever air-2-air mission a few days later on Friday the 29th, with my excitement and sense of anticipation building.
The day before the air-2-air photo shoot was spent on the field at AFW, photographing some of the arrivals and practice displays for the air show. During the day, Jim Wilson took another couple of photographers who would be joining the air-2-air photo missions and myself for a tour of the B-25 we would be flying in - Pacific Prowler. The rear guns had been removed from the tail, leaving the tail position open, along with the emergency escape hatch on the right hand side of the rear fuselage. These would be our shooting positions once airborne. Access to the B-25 is via an access hatch with internal ladder in the lower rear fuselage that is wide enough to take a person but not much more. My first impression of being onboard the B-25 was how much more room there was inside compared with how narrow it looked from the outside.
During our brief tour of the B-25 we had a general discussion over what to expect on board, and the different shooting positions, including from the tail. For safety reasons, as an experienced air-2-air photographer from the B-25, Jim would be permanently in the tail shooting position during the air-2-air missions, secured to the aircraft via a tethered harness and in communication with all of the pilots via intercom and radio. The other photographers would rotate through the tail position to shoot head on shots of the subject aircraft over the top of Jim's shoulder.
With the aircraft being on the ground I decided to crawl through the narrow passageway into the tail of the B-25 to see what it felt like to get through there and what the view was like. Crawling through I felt a sense of nervousness and trepidation, not being sure what to expect when I got to the tail, and I still felt slightly nervous once in the shooting position. This was with the aircraft on the ground, and the tail shooting position about 10ft or so off the ground. How would I react the next time I was to crawl through to the tail position, when the aircraft would be flying at a few thousand feet off the ground? I would find out soon enough.
Friday the 29th October, the day of my first air-2-air shoot had arrived; I was excited and nervous. Again I had access to the field at AFW to photograph the practice display for the airshow that weekend and more arriving aircraft for the static display. The highlight was to be "Fifi", the world's only flying B-29 Super Fortress that had just recently returned to flight. The Alliance Fort Worth Air Show was to be the first public appearance of the B-29 away from its home base since then.
Practice demos were flown throughout the day by the Blue Angels, the F-22 Raptor Demo team, the F-16 East Coast Demo team and numerous civilian performers. During the day, myself and the other photographers who would be participating in the air-2-air mission were told to meet up at the B-25 just before 5pm. The intention was to launch, along with our subject aircraft, just over an hour before sunset to give us nice autumnal lighting on the subject aircraft, which were to be a Cessna T-37C in South Vietnamese Air Force markings and a Northrop T-38 Talon in USAF Thunderbird markings. The Thunderbirds used the T-38 from 1974 to 1982 before transitioning to the F-16 which they still fly to this day. By the end of the day, I would not only be an air-2-air photographer, but also a photographer who had shot fast jets air-2-air.
A few minutes before 5pm, Jim Wilson arrived along with the pilot in command of the B-25 for our flight that evening, Scott "Gunny" Perdue, a retired USAF fighter pilot who flew the RF-4C and the F-15E Strike Eagle. "Gunny" got his callsign from his eight years-service with the USMC where he reached the rank of Sergeant before transferring to the USAF to become a commissioned officer and undertake pilot training. Jim and "Gunny" had just come from the pilots' pre-flight safety briefing where all aspects of the mission were discussed and planned in detail between the B-25 crew, the fast jet crews and Jim advising where he was looking for the fast jet pilots to position their aircraft in relation to the B-25 to achieve the shots that he was looking for and that he wanted us novice air-2-air photographers to also be able to capture.
It was now time for our own safety briefing. No loose articles could be taken on board the B-25, and lens hoods were not allowed either, as these could come loose or be torn from the lens by the slipstream when shooting from the waist emergency exit hatch position on the right of the B-25. For myself, and the four other novice air-2-air photographers it was now time to board and I climbed up through the small rear access hatch into the fuselage carrying my two cameras with a 24-105 lens and a 70-200 lens attached, which I had been advised would offer the ideal focal lengths for the mission. Everyone was quickly buckled in to their seats and, with five photographers plus a crew member in the rear fuselage, there was not much room left to move around.
The big Wright R-2600 radials that power the B-25 just seemed to burst into life, compared to the slower start up times I had been used to on other aircraft I had flown on before. We slowly taxied forward from the airshow's hot ramp and proceeded to back taxi up runway 19R in formation with the T-37 and T-38. The T-38 would depart ahead of us, in order to burn off some fuel to allow them to then fly slowly enough to formate with the B-25.
I was sat in a side facing seat for take-off, and could feel the tremendous kick of power as the R-2600 radial engines were set to take off power. The power was available near instantaneously and we were quickly airborne and passing 500ft, at which point we entered into a right hand climbing turn to set course for the area of airspace where we would undertake our photo mission. Passing 1000ft we were released from our seats and free to move about within the rear fuselage.
At around the same time the T-37 appeared on the right of the B-25. A few minutes later, the T-38 briefly appeared on our left, before again peeling off to burn some more fuel. It was time to start shooting. I began shooting the T-37 out of the area where the waist emergency escape hatch normally is on the B-25, and was amazed at the skill levels of the subject pilot aircraft in keeping such close formation with us. The T-38 rejoined us, this time forming up on the T-37 for a few minutes before the T-37 moved back into the slot position directly behind us to allow head on shots of the aircraft to be taken from the tail position.
I was the second or third photographer to rotate through to the tail position. Despite my reservations from the previous day as to how I would find it crawling through to this unique shooting position, I actually found that I had no nerves or apprehension. Instead I was completely focussed on making sure that I captured the images that I wanted. After about 4 minutes shooting from the tail position I rotated out to allow another photographer the opportunity. Just after I left the tail area, the T-37 and T-38 were to swap positions, with the T-37 again falling into formation just off our right hand side and the T-38 taking up the slot position behind the B-25. The intention was to again rotate everyone through the tail of the B-25 to shoot the T-38 head on. However due to a suspected bird strike, the T-38 had to break off from the formation while in the slot position and the opportunity to shoot a head on air-2-air shot of it had gone. This highlighted the potential dangers and pitfalls of air-2-air photography where events do not always go as planned.
With the T-38 returning to base, the T-37 stayed in formation with us for a little longer than they had originally planned, before they too had to return to base. For a finale we performed a low fast flypast of AFW at 500ft before climbing out and returning to land.
As the engines wound down, I could not help but have a grin on my face at what I had just undertaken.
Just under 24 hours later I was offered the chance to ride in the flight deck of the B-25, while they undertook a different air-2-air mission involving an A-26 Invader, Skyraider, L-39 and a P-51 Mustang. Grasping this unexpected opportunity at the last minute I grabbed the 24-105 to take along with me, after originally planning on just taking the 17-40 to shoot flightdeck shots or shots from the nose of the B-25. To get to the nose of the B-25 you need to crawl through a space just tall and wide enough for a person to fit into. The view from the glazed nose is amazing. While in the nose, my last minute decision to grab the 24-105 was to prove fruitful when I was able to grab some useable shots through the plexi glass nose of the Skyraider and the P-51 Mustang. This was a bonus I had not expected.
Over the course of the two flights, I clocked up approximately 2hrs 30mins flight time in a B-25. This alone was a pretty special experience, and gave a small insight into the lives of bomber crews during the World War II in terms of the cramped hot and noisy conditions that they endured every time they undertook a mission.
GAR wants to interact with its readers so if you have a question for the author or a comment to make on this feature, please click on the button below. The best comments will appear right here on GAR.2011-05-16 - Gero Verheyen
Very well written Mark. You tell a great story, and the pictures are outstanding.
Gero
2011-02-10 - Alan Key
Were you aware of a British based organisation BAES www.baes.org.uk that organises aviation trips which includes offering trips with the opportunity to take air to air photographs as a part of the trip?
Check out their reports on their web site in particulat any Olympic Tour reports for some great photographs.
2011-01-29 - Jan-Arie
Hey Mark didn't know if I said it to you already but it is an excellent article and some very good photography.
I have to learn to write properly and maybe some day I could publish something like this :-)
Thanks for your company.
2011-01-09 - Mike
Nice article, and some great photos - you certainly made the most of your opportunity. As an aside, the B-25 you flew in is the former Aces High 'Dolly', based at North Weald for a number of years in the 80s
2011-01-04 - Jim Wilson
Dear Mark,
Wonderful article Buddy! You performed like a seasoned Pro on our missions!! I look forward to flying with you again soon.
"Shooter"
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