Sightings: Head On
You don't normally see a DC-3 from this angle. Good thing, too.
- AirSpaceMag.com, May 01, 2010
Mike Shore
When photographers ask for a vertical shot, they don’t mean this.
The 70–200mm telephoto lens that Mike Shore of Austin, Texas, used to grab this Douglas DC-3D created a compression effect, “in which the subject appears a little more extreme in comparison to the background,” he says. “This is all in the glass, and it’s a great technique to capture the eye.” The airplane landed in Bend, Oregon, around sunset on January 14, 2007. Shore asked to make an air-to-air shot, and owner Jonathan Phelps agreed. Helicopter pilot Sharon Vickers took Shore to 1,500 feet in a Robinson R44, where he set his Canon 20D at 1/125th of a second, f/3.2, and ISO 800.
“It was really dark out,” he says. Pilots Steve Dunn and Paul Bazeley flew the airplane about 15 to 20 feet off the runway at almost full speed, about 140 knots, then performed a two-G, 40-degree pullup. Shore made the photo as the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-94 Twin Wasp radial engines, each with 1,350 horsepower, clawed their way to a thousand feet, at which point the pilots banked right at about 100 knots. “At low altitude and low speed, safety is power,” says Dunn, who was in the left seat. “Always leave yourself a way out.” The finely restored DC-3—“You could eat off her, anywhere on the airplane,” says Dunn—will join a flyover of 25 to 30 DC-3s at the AirVenture gathering in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this summer.
Comments (17)
I just saw this photo at the back of the magazine and the aircraft looked familiar. So, I Google searched Jonathan Phelps/DC-3 and found a couple photos of that aircraft on airliners.net. Why did it look familiar? I work at Ft. Lauderdale Intl. Airport and on a day about a year or so ago I saw this aircraft land and taxi to a ramp across the field. On my next break I grabbed my camera and hopped in a tug to go get some shots of this beauty. What a beauty it is. I used to be a DC-3 mechanic about 25 years ago so when I saw this Three arrive I knew it was something special. On my Facebook page I have a photo of this aircraft and a comment saying that this DC-3 looks like it's right off the showroom floor.
Posted by Neal Caplan on March 23,2010 | 11:15 PM
I've been waiting for 2 years to see this plane. Can't wait! What a photo by the way.
-Mike
Posted by Mike Macco on March 24,2010 | 03:35 PM
Congrats on a superb photograph.
Posted by Ray Ronan on March 24,2010 | 05:26 PM
I worked on this airplane a little when it was based at our facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. The article is correct: It is spotless!!
I love this photo and would like to know how I might get a copy. Anyone know? EDITORS' REPLY: Contact the photographer at: http://mikeshorephoto.com/contact.html
Posted by Steve Borts on April 3,2010 | 07:04 PM
How can I get a copy of the photo?
Is there a site where I can purchase one?
Thanks. EDITORS' REPLY: See the note at the end of the 4th comment.
Posted by Scott Williams on April 21,2010 | 01:15 PM
Love those 3s, Skytrains, Gooney Birds, Dakota -- or whatever you choose to name them. Fabulous aircraft !!
Posted by John S. Hamilton on April 21,2010 | 01:56 PM
I´love DC-3, and the pics is great, congratulations
Posted by Jose Ignacio Gonzalez on April 21,2010 | 05:19 PM
Here is an impressive shot with a 747 head-on, maybe just a wee bit more awesome:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Japan-Airlines--/Boeing-747-446/0640853/M/
Posted by Tim Bebb on May 10,2010 | 12:22 AM
This is the most extraordinary picture I have come across in recent time.
Jeremy Cushing
Posted by Jeremy Cushing on May 11,2010 | 06:16 PM
2G, 40 degree pullup eh? Sounds like a low level aerobatic maneuver to me. I wonder if they have a FAA waiver... :)
Posted by Dustin on May 11,2010 | 06:19 PM
Simply superb photo, even for the non-place buffs amongst us.
Posted by Dan Halford on May 11,2010 | 07:58 PM
I worked on a few of these when I was in the U.S. Air Force back in the late 50's as a radio repair man. I always wanted to go for a ride in one, but that never happened. When I was a young child there was a model of one of these in a bank display window in Niagara Falls N.Y. They had an electric fan hidden off to one side that made the propellers spin like it was flying. I was fascinated by these aircraft back then and still like them today. The military designation was C-47 then.
Posted by Russ on May 11,2010 | 02:40 AM
Whoaaaaa.
Nice picture there.
Looks like its gonna crash right into the camera.
I wonder how they got approval from the airlines to do this. It would be extremely risky and if the airplane crashed, extremely costly.
Posted by Alan on May 12,2010 | 09:36 PM
Ha! I thought, " Fake!Copycat, cut & paste!" There's a similar bizjet ad that occasionally runs in Aviation Week & Space Technology....maybe the ad really is an unretouched photo.
Very few (if any!) transports would be certificated/waivered for aerobatic manuevers -- vert climb, wingover, etc. Those "three" pilots have guts and brains! Great Picture!
Having performed this manuver(*) in my US Navy F-4B Phantom II at MCAS El Toro in early 1966 for my family,I really didnt think the "three" could do it without becoming a smoking hole in the ground, ala the unfortunate "Dash 8" test flight with gust locks still on the elevators!
(*) Tower approved one high -performance takeoff to 10k ft that Sunday. Rotate, suck up the gear, stay at about 20 ft, accel in 'burner to 450kt toward the mountains, 2-to 3G pullup to vert, pull again to horizontal, & roll upright level at Angels 10.
Mom & Dad had never seen me fly; Dad had to hold her up! -BK-
Posted by Bob Klotz (aka "TripleStix") on May 12,2010 | 02:46 AM
Breathtaking shot. How can I buy the copy please? EDITORS' REPLY: See editors' reply in above comments.
Posted by Marina Dzhumaeva on May 13,2010 | 04:58 AM
shout out to Sharon Vickers, nice contribution friend!
Posted by Mozy on May 22,2010 | 06:22 PM
I survived a wartime crash due to a locked elevator. Who says there are no guardian angels!?
Posted by l. malcolm .cloutt on July 23,2011 | 07:22 AM