Air to Air with Chuckie!

[K5DH]

On the flight back home to KFTW after the DFW Airport Aviation Career Expo, if had the honor of doing an A2A photo shoot from the back seat of Carl Best's AT-6 Texan! Pat Mahaffey and Ray Fowler were the B-17 pilots and Bill Gorin was the engineer. We took off from KDFW and headed out to an area northwest of Fort Worth for much of the shoot. We spent a lot of time over the beautiful Eagle Mountain Lake. We had a second photographer, James Flair, up with us in Bob Reed's gorgeous F33C Bonanza. Hopefully James will be able to add some great shots to this thread.

Here is a selection of tolerable pictures that I'm not too embarassed to show. Go easy on me, folks. This was my first A2A shoot from an open cockpit (it's really hard to hold a camera steady in a 150 MPH wind ) and I only had my small camera with me, my new Canon Powershot G12. This shoot was an unplanned event, otherwise I would have brought my DSLR and lenses. Let's go flying!

We'll start off with one of me, strapped into the Texan and ready to taxi out:


Here's our three-ship getting ready for takeoff on Rwy 18R:


Forming up:
























And we'll end with this shot of Carl and me back on the ground at the VFM hangar. Yes, it took hours for that silly grin to leave my face! One of our members has a term for that syndrome: "PERMAGRIN"

Last edited by K5DH on Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[mlenoch]

Fabulous, wonderful pix!
(is it missing the belly turret?)
VL

[spookythecat]

Nothing wrong with those at all. That first banking shot over the water is stunning!

[Roger Cain]

Great to see her in the air again, thanks for posting.

[Craig59]

You guys flew directly over my house on your way to the photo shoot. I could hear the rumble of radials coming and darn near flew downstairs and outside to see you overhead - enjoyed every second of it! Great shots - thank you.

[Ztex]

Great stuff Dean!
What an opportunity!
COOL!

[Jack Cook]

is it missing the belly turret?)
VL

actually no Vlado. She's missing the bombing radar.
BTW she looks great without the chin turret!

[K5DH]

is it missing the belly turret?)
VL

actually no Vlado. She's missing the bombing radar.
BTW she looks great without the chin turret!

Jack is correct. Although '543 was built with a ball turret, she was immediately sent to the United Airlines modification center to be turned into a Pathfinder ship, which entailed the removal of the ball turret and the installation of the H2X "Mickey" bombing-through-overcast radar system. The antenna and radome assembly, which was partially retractable, replaced the ball turret, and the electronics took up the entire right side of the radio operator's compartment. The two crew seats normally installed there were eliminated and some other items usually found there were relocated.

Jerry Yagen told me last Sunday that he's looking into a way to be able to install either a ball turret or the radar setup and have them be interchangeable! Now that would be a very cool idea. He mentioned that he will most likely install a chin turret, and possibly a full-up top turret (what's installed now is a replica mounted to the outside of the fuselage, with no opening to the interior). The ship will definitely have the cargo door removed from the right side of the waist and have the original gun emplacement restored. She will be a fine specimen when Jerry's done with her!

[K5DH]

Nothing wrong with those at all. That first banking shot over the water is stunning!

Thanks, Al! Coming from you, that's quite a compliment. I hold your photography in very high regard.

[C170BDan]

Nice shots! Can I use one for my blog??

You departed DFW right over our offices at Simuflite! People in the office yelled for me to ask what that was that flew over! I knew it was the B17 and T-6! It was like a time warp yesterday. B17, B25, DC3, T6 all departing DFW.

Sounded great!

[AIRIC]

Great shooting. Sure looks like it was a wonderful flight. Great to see Chuckie back in the air

Eric

[RMAllnutt]

Wonderful shots! Thanks so much for posting. I loved especially the closeup over water with the tank-farm in the background.

Cheers,
Richard

[JohnTerrell]

Love the photos! There is something about the streamlined look of the nose without the chin turret, combined with the polished metal and yellow markings, that is just so attractive - a beautiful thing to look at, especially flying!

[maxum96]

Dean, great photos! Here's my favorite shot you took,

[Jahmez]

My name is James Flair, and I flew in the second chase plane opposite Dean. Thanks, John Frazier, for the short notice camera loaner.

Hope you'll bear with me - not only is this my first WIX post (including posting pictures), but it was also my first air to air photography.

First one - Dean and Carl in the Texan


Chuckie Climbing out on 18R at DFW Airport.


Chuckie on Climb-out


Chuckie Along Side














...and this one's for Carl / Dean.