AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

1st Annual Photo Contest Prize Winners

Presenting the First Air & Space Photo Contest Winners

The Editors

March 2014

Spacecraft Category Winner: “It was no easy task for me to gain access to this location on the crane at the top of the Vehicle Assembly Building,” says Wise. “It took numerous emails and phone calls over months. This photograph of space shuttle *Atlantis* was taken just hours prior to rollout to the launch pad for the final space shuttle flight and the end of an era.”

Civilian Category Winner: “Thunderstorms are typical on any given December afternoon in Singapore,” says Wu, “but this storm developed so quickly it caught me off guard. I managed to find a bus stop (which happened to be located under the approach path of runway 20R) for shelter. As the downpour intensified, aircraft, like this A330, began leaving distinct trails of water streaming off the wings and fuselage.”

Readers’ Choice Category Winner: “I am a volunteer photographer at the museum,” says Koolsbergen, “where this Avro Lancaster X is owned and operated. It is the only ‘Lanc’ in the world that the public can fly in, and actually experience. This photograph was taken during a history-media shoot.”

Grand Prize Winner: “This MiG-15 was one of the last aircraft to depart the old St. George Airport for the new airport, which is located five miles to the southeast. The MiG-15 is owned by the Western Sky Aviation Warbird Museum in St. George, Utah.”

Military Category WInner: “This photograph of an F-15 was taken on my first visit to The Mach Loop,” says Tripp, “where low-level flying is practiced by NATO air forces. [Aircraft fly] 500 knots at 500 feet—or less.”

People & Planes Category Winner: “Last summer I visited my sister and her husband, who live in Mozambique,” says Boersema. “She’s a doctor, and I joined her on a medical flight in a Cessna 206 to Gurue. This photograph—of pilot Dave Holmes—is special to me because it is a memory of that trip.”

Last May, we asked you to send us your best aerospace photographs, and wow, did you ever. By the close of our first photo contest, we had received more than 2,400 entries in four categories: Civilian, Military, Spacecraft, and People & Planes. Photographers submitted entries from across the United States and around the world, from Hong Kong to Mozambique to Macedonia. We received images of rocket launches, and the space shuttles being piggybacked to their new homes. We saw A-10s popping flares after refueling over Afghanistan, and World War II aircraft honoring veterans at air shows. There were photos of airliners landing and hot-air balloons rising. See finalists in the Civilian, Military, Spacecraft, and People & Planes categories here.

We now present the winners. Thank you to everyone who entered a photograph or voted for a favorite in our Readers’ Choice category. We hope these photographs inspire you to look up when you hear an airplane passing overhead or follow future rocket launches. And be sure to enter our 2014 photo contest.