Aluminum Overcast - EAA B-17G

During the last part of May the EAA-sponsored B-17G, "Aluminum Overcast" visited the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Washington. As always, I was there to tag along and try and get some shots. For years I've known Boeing Field to not be very photographer friendly so the disapointments of the days shots was to be expected. They have a very tall chain-link fence all around the place and NOTHING to stand on in order to observe the airplanes taking off or landing. One thing that I absolutly LOVE about Paine Field's Future of Flight museum is they have a series of hills right by their fence so you can EASILY see an unobstructed view of the runway. They're also placed in such a way it is impossible to jump/climb the fences. Nonetheless, I had to find some tricky places to stick my cameras lens to get some non-fence shots!

As always this bird is absolutly gorgeous and I can't even discribe the sound of those four radial engines! I've seen the B-17 many times before and it always leaves me in awe.

Of all the times I've seen the B-17 I still have yet to get a decent picture of it in the air! There is always something either in the way, or an incorrect setting that leaves them useless. But, I did manage to scrounge up a few good shots while it was on the ground.

To see my pictures from this event and/or order prints, please click here.

Tulip Festival Fly-In!

Skagit Regional Airport hosted the second biannial Tulip Festival Airshow and Fly-In on April 28th.

Quick Review:

In the weeks leading up to the show I was quite surprised to find they actually had the West Coast F/A-18C Hornet team on the schedule! Unfortunately the FAA wasn't able to grant them airspace clearance to do the full tactical demonstration, but the pilots took both ships up for some section (formation of two aircraft) flyby's and touch and goes.

As for military demonstrations, they also had a SAR helicopter (MH-60) from NAS Whidbey Island perform.

The show also featured Bud and Ross Granley, a father-son aerobatic team. One flys a Yak-55 and the other flys a Yak-18 and put on an incredible show!

Warbirds are always popular at smaller airshows such as this and they did provide a pretty good showing. There were four T-6 Texans (aka: SNJ, Harvard) two T-28's, and several other aircraft. There weren't any "big" showbirds out such as a P-51, but it was still a good lineup and provided some very crowded skys!

Photography:

The showline looks directly at the sun the entire time which means you're going to have a tricky time getting properly exposed pictures. Thanks to computer technology it is pretty easy to fix these issues.

Capturing good pictures of the static display, on the other hand, was pretty easy as there really weren't a lot of people around to ruin shots.

Overview:

Great show! Especially for this early in the season it's a great time to make sure you still know how to use your camera equipment after the long winter months. :) One of the greatest parts of this show was the chance to meet several friends in person for the first time! (You know who you are!)

More Pictures:

View my pictures of this show and order prints today!

Welcome!

Welcome to the official blog of Fight to Fly photography!

Here I will announce new galleries that are available, photo tips and tricks, and new products I'm offering for sale. Along with being an aviation photographer, I also am a private pilot so I may interject some fun flying stories as well.

Since I love both flying and photography this will contain a lot of information about both.

Happy landings and may the sun always be to your back!