N3N Trainer
Nikon D7000 10–24mm @ 22mm ISO 2500 1/6 f/18 Lr4; PsCS6
A United States Navy N3N Canary training biplane in the collection of the Palm Springs Air Museum. This aircraft was manufactured by the U.S. Navy, from Wikipedia:
The N.A.F. delivered 997 N3N aircraft beginning in 1935. They included 180 N3N-1s and 816 N3N-3s. Four N3N-3s were delivered to the United States Coast Guard in 1941. Production ended in January 1942 but the type remained in use through the rest of World War II. The N3N was the last biplane in US military service – the last (used by the U.S. Naval Academy for aviation familiarization) were retired in 1961. The N3N was also unique in that it was an aircraft designed and manufactured by an aviation firm wholly owned and operated by the U.S. government (the Navy, in this case) as opposed to private industry. For this, the Navy bought the rights and the tooling for the Wright R-760 series engine and produced their own engines. These Navy built engines were installed on Navy built airframes. A Navy N3N was used as a crop sprayer in Alfred Hitchcock’s film North by Northwest though after impact with the fuel tanker the wreckage is seen to be a Boeing Stearman.
Prints of this and other aircraft are available here: http://goo.gl/zZohQ .
The “Aluminum Falcon”
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 10mm ISO 1250 1/2 f/18 Lr4; PsCS6
A Consolidated Vultee PBY-5A Catalina, in the collection of the Palm Springs Air Museum, Palm Springs, California. This aircraft was manufactured in 1944 and saw service in the United States Navy. After the war it was decommissioned by the Navy and was operated by various commercial operators in the greater Pacific area. On September 30, 1955 the Catalina had to make a forced landing in the Pacific Ocean, 275 miles west of San Francisco. It was recovered by ship and rebuilt in Long Beach, California in 1956 and later was operated as a fire suppression tanker in Washington state. It was acquired by the Palm Springs museum in 2007 and is still airworthy.
Prints of this and other aircraft are available here: http://goo.gl/zZohQ .
TLC In Blue
Nikon D80 10-24mm @ 24mm ISO 800 1/180 f/8 (-2.0 0.0 +2.0) Lr3 HDR Efex Pro
This is a Grumman F8F “Bearcat” receiving some tender loving care in the sunshine adjacent to the Fighter Rebuilders hanger at the Planes of Fame museum, Chino Airport, Chino, California. The Bearcat, one of the still flying aircraft exhibited at the museum, was developed in 1943/44 as a fighter interceptor designed specifically for carrier operations but was not deployed to the fleet by the United States Navy until after the end of the second world war in 1945. This aircraft is capable of lifting off the deck after a take off run of just 115 feet, and in 1972 a Bearcat broke its own record by achieving an altitude of 18,000 feet 91.9 seconds after take off; in 1989 a Bearcat set the World Speed Record for piston driven aircraft at 528.33 mph.
In post processing this image, I am again reminded of a bad habit I have of getting so excited about an image in my viewfinder, that I lose the benefit of approaching the subject in a slow, deliberative manner, and in the case of this image forgot to adjust the ISO setting down from what I was using inside of a hanger making the previous shots. The result is a bit of unwanted grainy effect in parts of the aircraft fuselage, elevator and tail.
