The shot that I missed...

[Tulio]

Blatantly stealing Spanner's idea, here it goes: Let's talk about that particular aviation picture that you missed, because:

a.- You did not have a camera with you.
b.- You forgot to put film on the camera [Like I did]
c.- You were not allowed into the area
d.- You were too far from the airplane to get a decent shot
e.- You forgot to remove the lens cap
f.- And, any and many other reasons...

I will let Spanner post his story first, since it is his idea.

Saludos,


Tulio

[sdennison]

Tulio, great to hear from you! I hope all is well with you my friend.

RE: the topic, all my missed shots are on my "hard drive" in my cranium because I am such a individual of questionable judgement, I never have a camera when I need one. The smart phones are helping but that's not real photography...all I need is that plug in adapter to down load. Coming to a research center near you soon.

[PropsRule]

I alluded to this in another one of your threads.

I was working in Vienna when a Heavylift Shorts Belfast taxiied right past me. I was stooging around a plane I was working on when I saw it coming. I went to get my camera but my buddies had taken off in the van to get a spare brake or something (can't remember). So, I just stood and watched it taxi right past me.

The sun was just setting, and there was a thin, cold fog hanging in the air. The taxi lights caught the mist in the air and cast beams of light ahead of the old beast as it lumbered past. Those were back in the days before cell phones had cameras, so I just stood and watched, savouring the sound of the four Tynes (RR Tynes in a Belfast, right?), knowing that I'd probably never see a living, breathing Belfast again.

Actually that reminds me of the time I just barely missed an Australian Air Force F-111 departing Newcastle in 2008, but that's another story...

[67N20]

Mine's not hard to remember, happened just this past weekend. Didn't have my camera at WOH on Saturday-said to myself: "I'll get those shots of Fifi flying tomorrow". Then Sunday all I had was my 100-400 lens and couldn't get all of Fifi in any shot. I guess I could have gone out into the parking lot.

[RMAllnutt]

I happened to be in New Smyrna, Florida when the Collings Foundation's B-17 came for winter maintenance back about 15 years or so ago. The B-24 made a head-on low pass over the field that was so low you could see trees poking up above the tail in the background. She roared right over my head at what felt like nought feet. I had my camera, but had used my last frames of film on the B-17 landing... still kick myself for missing that capture. However, on the other hand, I did properly witness it, which can sometimes be a problem when you're buried in the viewfinder.

Cheers,
Richard

[SPANNERmkV]

Mine is- flying Kermit (Aeronca Champ) back to Tx. from Culpepper, Va. and stopping in Meridian, Miss.
I taxi up to the FBO and call the tower to make certain that THIS is where I am supposed to park. They parked me next to a row of NAVY T-45s that had stopped for fueling from the NAS about 12 miles away.
My brother pulled up in his jeep and took pictures of it- BUT we found out later that night that it filled the memory card and it dorked ALL the photos. Oh boo hoo!

More to the story... Two Naval Avaitors (to be) were walking out of the FBO, took one look at the line of planes and one says to the other, "You take the green one!"

Another from that same trip was flying down a valley in Virginia towards my first fuel stop and going VFR over the top of broken clouds... And looking left and right and seeing ridge tops with the cloud tops below them and down the valley and seeing rows of clouds. I love flying.

And then there were the shots of my girlfriend Morgan Fairchild that didn't come out because my hands were shaking and I didn't thread the 35 mm film correctly. She came out ALL black!

SPANNER the world's worst photographer

Last edited by SPANNERmkV on Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[LadyO2Pilot]

Not sure if this counts.......Many years ago, I was flying a bright yellow Champ from Hill Country back to Houston area....low and very slow but it was a beautiful day, not too hot and I was enjoying the scenery. All of a sudden a big bird that looked like a bald eagle (was probably some kind of big hawk) tucked in off left wing and flew formation with the big yellow bird. No camera to confirm it but it really happened. I thought it a fluke and started some gentle jinking......he stayed right with me. After what seemed like between 5-10 minutes, he tired of the game and broke away to fly a different route. What an amazing experience....oh what I would given for any kind of camera.

[kalamazookid]

Mine happened at a visit to the Air Zoo when I was in middle school, I'm guessing fall of 2001. We pulled into the museum and Tom Wood's Bearcat and Vlado's P-51 were sitting on the ramp next to each other. There were also a bunch of T-6s parked in the grass. It was the day of the Free Fall Open House so my guess is they were all there to visit the museum and get some formation work in. We saw the P-51 and Bearcat flying around later that evening, but I would have loved to gotten pictures of them on the ramp. That's the last time I've seen that Bearcat fly.

[Tulio]

Nice reading you, Steve! Is it still warm in WI?

Of the many shots that I have missed, there are two that come to mind:
Back in 1979, when the Sandinistas took power in Nicaragua, many Nicaraguan Air Force airplanes left the country, with one of them ending up in Guatemala, a Cessna 337 “Push-Pull”
For some time, the airplane was at the Guatemalan Air Force’s main base, but being a Cessna, it was sent for service at the local Cessna shop, which happened to be co-located with the Escuela Aerea, where I was learning to fly.
I had my camera, I had film, but I did not have the gonads to take the photos of this particular airplane.
Why? Well, the Sandinistas were asking for their airplane back; the Guatemalan government denied having the airplane; the war in Guatemala was particularly bad at that time, and I simply did not want to end up dissapearing because I shot photos of an airplane that oficially, was not in country.
Some time later, this airplane was “donated” to the fledgling air force operated by the Nicaraguan National Resistance Movement, better known as “La Contra” and was based in Honduras.

My other story, has to do with one of the last C-47s operated by the Colombian Air Force. I happened to see this airplane at the San Antonio, TX international airport. I was granted access to the FBO ramp, I talked to the crew, I took many photos of the airplane and the crew, their patches, all kinds of neat stuff. The airplane was headed to Oshkosh, for conversion to the Bassler BT-67 standard. From the airport, I went to work. When I made it back to my hotel, I proceeded to rewind the film, and upon opening the camera... no film....

Saludos,


Tulio

[Tim L]

At the last MacDill afb airshow before I got a digital slr the humidity was rather high. I had already taken a lot of pics when the F15 took off. I have a lot of pics of them, so I decided to conserve film and just enjoy the show. On the first high speed pass no less than 3 condensation cones formed. Needless to say I had the camera up and ready for the next high speed pass, which never happened.

[bluehawk15]

My missed photo was in February, 2000, at Holloman AFB. My youngest son's mother had just commissioned and was based there. I went to visit and she had arranged for me to get an up close and personal tour of an F-117. Got to climb up and look in the cockpit, walked all around the Nighthawk, then posed beside it for photos. (close-up photos were only allowed from a certain angle). And Airman took several photos of me, her, both of us, us and some of her troops. All the while the Cannon 35mm kept showing it was advancing film. I got home to rewind the film to get developed, and it felt strange. Opened the camera and found there wasn't any film!

[b29flteng]

During "Desert Shield" in the fall of 1990 I got some great photos of a U-2/TR-1 landing at Taif in Saudi Arabia. We were waiting to takeoff in our C-130 at the approach end of the runway. A few days later I'm taking some pictures of C-130 nose art at another base and some frigging a**hole of a C-130 pilot (he must of been an active duty pilot)( I bet he's a butthead general now) called the command post and reported me. The sky cops came and got me and took my film which had the U-2/TR-1 photos. All I got was a hand receipt for the film. GRRRRRR!

[Chunks]

Back in the early '90s I spent several months in China commissioning and starting up a comical plant. Every Friday morning around 7 am we were visited by 2 (what I believe to be) Mig 19s. They would spend about 5 minutes making low passes in line with the main structure, I assume practicing strafing American factories. I took pictures of a lot of things in China, but never military, police, etc. I didn't have the nuts to take pictures of the aircraft even though I knew when they would arrive each week. While the trip was an experience I won't forget, I didn't want to give them any reason to keep me any longer than absolutely necessary. It would have made some good shots though...

Chunks

[RyanShort1]

My other story, has to do with one of the last C-47s operated by the Colombian Air Force. I happened to see this airplane at the San Antonio, TX international airport. I was granted access to the FBO ramp, I talked to the crew, I took many photos of the airplane and the crew, their patches, all kinds of neat stuff. The airplane was headed to Oshkosh, for conversion to the Bassler BT-67 standard. From the airport, I went to work. When I made it back to my hotel, I proceeded to rewind the film, and upon opening the camera... no film....

Tulio, I got to go on board that plane,talked to the crew as well, and have pictures - in hard copy - somewhere in my room. I don't know how long it would take me to dig them up, though. I'm pretty sure it was a Sunday afternoon, but I could be wrong.

Ryan

[Neal Nurmi]

Well, my story involved the ex-J R Sandberg P-63 -- the former "Tipsy Miss". Back in the early 80s (I think) it was based for a while at Hangar 5 at the Oakland (California) airport. Great place in those days with multiple P-51s, a -7 Corsair, B-25, A-26, T-6s, T-28s, and all kinds of good stuff happening. I once got to tour the inside of a a B-29 there...

Anyhow, the old guy who owned the airplane at that time (Bob Reiser?) was having gear door issues and wanted somebody to have a look at it in the air. John Crocker agreed to have a look, and called over to ask if I wanted to ride along to take some photos. So we hop into a T-28 (actually a Fennec IIRC), and off we go. Once in the air I look at my camera and realize that I'd just finished a roll of film when John called me over, and all my unshot film was in my camera bag back at the hangar...

So, I got a great ride, with 15 or 20 minutes of close (as in maybe 20 feet) maneuvering with a red P-63 doing gear extensions and retractions, plus, after breaking off from the Cobra doing rolls and a loop and general zooming around on the way back to Oakland...

...but no pictures.