Air show pix from Rome Ga. and the hottest fighter pilot I ever saw.....

[Enforcer57]

And I'm not referring to flying ability, though I'm sure she's pretty good....ya have to be to have carrier qual.

more about that later.....first things first. I know your priorities are similar to mine, so here is the most exhibitionist chick in the whole airport. As usual around here, she was accompanied by her owners who made sure that nobody was looking too long at her, so I had to take this at max magnification wiht my 100-400mm lens.....yeah, this is cropped a bit. She's not knocked up, just the wind blowing her shirt. She sure likes showing them off, which is ok, but it's illegal to look around here for more than 3 seconds.

Here is an aerobatic pilot (I'm not sure of the AC type) who was very very good. This shot is about a second after he lifted off....he just went knife edge and held it for most of the length of the runway. Pretty good considering that there is almost no lift doing this. I've never seen this before, and I've seen about a million such acts in my 5 decades on this planet.

And he just keeps on going like this......

And here he cuts a few ribbons held by some chix while a pair of photogs got some really good angles. The crosswind was running about 20 kts at times, so this was pretty good.

and he does another one knife edge. It was hard as hell getting these shots with my slow motor drive the Pentax Ist-D has. I just had to estimate when he got there.

These two chix were the ones holding the ribbon poles.......I'm pretty sure she was saying "that makes me wet!"

This was the Aeroshell team in their T-6s. They were also very good, and held an impressive formation despite the lousy wind. The wind was a result of the damn hurricane clobbering Texas, the same one that kept most of the military and warbird participation down so bad.

I thought this was kinda neat.....

[Enforcer57]

This A-26 had an original 6 gun nose, but the sealed over ports are hard to see here. Didn't have the turrets yet either, but I love these things. This particular one flew over 300 misns wiht the French AF in Vietnam 50-54, then was converted to that lousy looking executive mod. They had a book of hundreds of photos of these things in combat in three wars.

Here she lifts off before making a few passes and heading home. I hate the large windows cut in the side; most of these get sealed up when the planes are restored. MAkes a totally different sound from the B-25, and much faster.

Coming from the left, hauling ass below the mtns.

And finally gives me a bit of a photo pass. Really needs the turrets and that damn window sealed.

THis is a Beech C-45, adn the only reason I even posted it is because I liked the angle with the mtns in the background.

This B-25J was one I'd never seen before, though I'd photographed the CAF's similar painted one back in 90.

These 5 guys in variations of Yak-52 traineres, no two of which were alike. These 4 stayed together while a 5th did the solo thing.

This UH-60 from the 101st was gonna drop a few guys, but the wind was so great it stopped it, but it was cool to watch the blackhawk.

[Enforcer57]

Here a C-130H from the USAF reserve at Dobbins AFB takes off after the airshow is over. I'm off the end of the runway on a small rd, and this is cropped considerably.

This was at minimum 100mm focal lenth, as it was directly over my head. Kinda neat. I probably made parts on for this thing when I worked at Lockheed back in the mid 80s when these were built.

this thing made a low pass over the airport, and I got this as it made a turn. the late afternoon lighting was pretty good. It was about 1700hrs.

The C-130 was one of just two military fixed wing AC that were there due to the lousy hurricane on the coast. The C-17 got diverted to support for that operation as well. Anyway, there was also this neat FA-18E Super Hornet on the ramp, first one Ive seen.....and I walked around it and found this Navy Lt from VFA 105 surrounded by people buying T-shirts etc and talking to here. I finally got this shot in between crowds as I was talking to her.

26 yrs old, carrier qualified, flies the most advanced fighter in the Navy, been promoted twice already..............I want to clone her. Now this is my kinda woman. Her name was "Liz".

She's autographing some of the sqadron patch stickers she's selling these folks, who were all somewhat impressed. She wound up on the front page of the local paper as well. It ain't easy to be a Navy pilot......sigh.

This was taken at quite some distance as I saw here climbing onto here AC. a 400mm lens and a high res digital Pentax are worth thier weight in gold in situations like this.

I was walking all over the place, but there was a distinct shortage of planes on display due to the weather on the coast, so I would take a few of the F-18 from assorted angles. Note the access ladder and how it retracts into the wing root. This squadron is the "Gunslingers".

[GreyKnight]

Wow, that FA-18 pilot is LUSH! I'd bite her bum!

[Enforcer57]

speaking of bum, stand by for one of her climbing down the access ladder. Anyway, she had a selection of stuff her squadron was selling. Yes, I did spend way too much money on a T-shirt......wouldn't you?

And of course I took this detailed shot of the access ladder and how it retracted......honest.

I asked her when she was scheduled to depart for Oceana NAS in Virginia, and she told me 1700. So......I made sure I was off the end of the runway waiting. After the C-130 took off, she taxied out. These are very cropped from much larger images, but the res was high enough that it worked out. If anyone wants a larger image file of any of these, I can send it to you. Here she just lifts off......

Tucking the gear......

I like this one due to the heat distortion.....kinda gives a 3d property to it. This is highly enlarged from the original shot.

She's on full AB now, and it's about to get really loud. This thing has so much thrust that they normally don't use AB on carrier cat shots. I think she was doing this on request, as she waggled her wings when she broke right after take off.

Here she's directly overhead and this is on minimum 100mm zoom. It was loud....I loved it.

And here she breaks right in a high G turn....note the vapor off the tips and leading edges. The lighting is lousy as I'm shooting into the setting sun which is diffused by the gathering cloudcover.

[GreyKnight]

Very nice! Good action coming down that ladder!

Did you hold up a sign at the end of the runway, as she flew passed, saying "MARRY MEeeeeeeeeee!"

[Enforcer57]

No, but I would have if I had won the lottery or owned my own collection of warbirds. I was reminded of the shots I took of my friend Carla in the flight suit 20 yrs ago and how life imitated art. I hope I have a scanned shot of Carla climbing on an F-8 from that angle......ironic how it resembled this pilot.

BTW, WTF is this? ......one of the Me cars that Willy built after the war?

And here's my ride.....a TGB 150cc Sunset scooter. 90mpg at 50 mph, and it will go nearly 60 if I want to. This is what I drive if it's over freezing, as it saves me a ton of money, considering I average about 22 miles a day. It's got over 14000 miles on it, and I can carry a whole lot of stuff on it.

[gec]

uff i would buy that plane just to be there 5 mins longer

hope my wife don't see this

[Stingray]

awesome pics, that knife edge by the aerobatic pilot looks ****sweeeeeet****, that is so crazy and so low

[Streak]

Wow!

[Rico]

This UH-60 from the 101st was gonna drop a few guys, but the wind was so great it stopped it, but it was cool to watch the blackhawk.

When I was in Korea, I took one of those guys over to Seol.

[DoubleTap]

Awesome, Pics, my friend.

[Painless]

~S~ Carlos M8,

What can I say "butt" thank you !! LOL

As always great pictures "butt" this time you have surpassed yourself M8 !

Do you think she likes painless encounters ?? LOL

~S~ P.B.

[Jabo]

~S~ Enforcer, great pics (again) - it's amazing how you can go off somebody

[Enforcer57]

Thanx guys, pretty nice compliments from a bunch of backshooting, parachute straffers heh heh.

Sorry i've not been on here for a day or so, but I lost my DSL completely and an ATT guy had to come redo some stuff, so I shouldn't drop out as much now online to.

Jabo, If that's a Pitts, It's highly modified. I got some shots of a woman pilot flying her Pitts as well, and my late dad used to fly a friend's in a couple of airshows, so I've seen those alot. I think it may be called an Eagle, but I dunno. Im not good on civie planes anymore. Thing musta had an outrageous engine to stay airborne on thrust alone so long.

And in an example of life imitating art, here's some of the shots of my old friend Carla I took about 20 yrs ago when she had just turned 18; Most of you are familiar wiht her in my sig on ubi zoo and seen some of these, but the irony just kinda struck me a bit. I just wish I had known what I was doing, as I was just starting this kinda photography and ddnt know anything about pinning stuff up tighter etc. I shoulda had her wear one of those push up bra thingys for those 36Ds also....and they are very real.

The one of her climbing on the old F-8A is especially ironic....I just wish I could go back in time and do them over.

This F-8 actually flew combat in nam, and one day a retired navy pilot came out to Mercer field in Calhoun where these old planes were then, and after checking his log book he discovered that he had flown several combat misns in it over both north and South Vietnam.

I like this one of her with th4 T-33...it was still there last yr when I went by, but it and a highly vandalized F-84F were the only ones left of the 9 0r so that used to be there.

I'm well known as a photographic opportunist. I call this my scramble shot.

There was also an F-86D there that had stood at teh gate of Dobbins AFB for many yrs before he got it. I think it's at WArner Robbins AFB after being restored. All I can find is a very small file of this, and Im looking desperately for the original so I can scan it again.

She loves her F-84F.

I actually won a 2cd place ribbon back in 89 (I think) at the local fair with this one. I also sent a copy of it to the local Marine reserve fighter squadron at Dobbins at the time on a christmas card......they invited her to a tour of the squadron facility but she had to ship out to the Army by then. Damn. Wish I coulda got some shots wiht those F-4s.

She wound up in the 24th inf Div at Ft Stewart and was in the Gulf War of 91. I got all kinds of neat stories about her calling me at odd times, like the day before the ground war started.

[JensenPark]

ok, that is one of THE hottest girls I've ever seen.

[Klinger]

Ah, there's nothing like a trip down mammary lane.

[Enforcer57]

Heh heh, I just found a few more but I see you've already found that I've posted these......the things I do for my buds. I know I'm gettng a bit carried away here, but I figure there would be few complaints. Here she is with my class 3 Uzi I owned for many yrs till my cop cousin offered me four times what I paid for it and the 15 mags I had. It WAS fully auto, which is legal but a big hassle to get. Yes, I taught her to shoot that to, proper tactics etc. Also the AKM and assorted handguns. She was pretty good.....I told her she might need that someday because she was likely to wind up in the middle of some damn desert somewhere toting a rifle. She marveled about how accurate I was a yr later....so did I.

Sorry some of these are such small files, but I can't find the original scans of some of htem that are much bigger.

this was at the naval air museum in Pensecola in 89 just before she shipped out for basic. I liked the angle. Damn I gotta find just one more of her in those shorts.....gimme a moment. BTW, that's an AJ Savage behind her.

Ok, another of her at my house on her first trip home. Yeah, I know, I'm an Arteeste.

Well damn, I found a couple more I just gotta share......IF you don't mind. I can post shots of trees or rocks if you like........ I thought this was cool, teaching her to shoot my Browning P-35. This is posed btw, I'm not stupid enough to stand in front of a muzzle.

I'm a very good firearms instructor btw....no brag, just fact. I got the match trophies to prove it. This was from 15meters, and not bad for the first day of ever shooting a handgun, especially a 9mm. BTW, it made her...."hot".

[Jabo]

Thanx guys, pretty nice compliments from a bunch of backshooting, parachute straffers heh heh.

Now, now Enforcer, play nicely

Jabo, If that's a Pitts, It's highly modified. I got some shots of a woman pilot flying her Pitts as well, and my late dad used to fly a friend's in a couple of airshows, so I've seen those alot. I think it may be called an Eagle, but I dunno. Im not good on civie planes anymore. Thing musta had an outrageous engine to stay airborne on thrust alone so long.

Pretty certain it's a Pitts m8, compare yours with this shot

Having said that there are any number of modified versions of the same basic ariframe out there with different engines etc so it could easily be a modded one (but only as long as it's 4.09

[Enforcer57]

Damn, that's a Pitts? Those things have been considerably modified from the 70s. they had rounded tips and tail and short noses back then, as did the ohter one at the show. Sheesh.

Ok, I'll just post a couple more of Carla.....there's just so many good ones, and she's the type personality like that FA-18 pilot. She's one of the few chix I've known through the yrs that didn't totally screw her life up. unfortunately she married another doctor. Oh well......

This was at a creek bed back in 88 I think. I never could get her to let me take any "good" ones, one of the few I've known that I could never manage that. This was about as close as I got.

This was at NAS Pensecola. I like angles.

No comment, other than it being in Pensecola and the life lesson of how useful wine can be.

OK, last one. this is one of the later ones I shot, when she was starting med school in her early 20s. When I talked to her last

[Jabo]

Damn, that's a Pitts? Those things have been considerably modified from the 70s. they had rounded tips and tail and short noses back then, as did the ohter one at the show. Sheesh.

Yep, 'borrowed' from an official publication too. The plane does seem to lend itself to modification though - The Eagle looks very similar but has rounded wingtips, tail and stabilser and is also a kit plane made by a company called Aviat - who also make the Pitts!

~S~ Jabo

P.S. Thanks for more Carla!

[Enforcer57]

Ok here' s the other one that showed, and the type Im used to seeing. It even has Pitts on the tail.

[Rattler]

FYI I think you'll find that the biplane in the first few shots is a Pitts Special.

~S~ Jabo

I was just going to ask about that one as well....strange marking.

[Enforcer57]

Yeah, I've not been able to keep up wiht the mods they made over the yrs, but the one I posted is the late 60s version like my dad's friend owned, and that my old man flew in a few airshows in the 70s. Most of the old ones had open cockpits, like hte one he flew. I gotta find taht shot somewhere.

And Jabo, that B-25 scheme is pretty accurate. For some reason, many of our AC in the north Africa op had RAF tail flashes, while many of the RAF spits and Hurris had US insignia. Something about IFF problems, as they were afraid of friendly fire I think. I dunno why the tail flashes, but there are period shots of that.

EDIT...ok, here's a shot of my late dad in Col. Weaver's Pitts in the early 70s. Not much detail, but it's identical to the one I already posted except for the open cockpit.

[Jabo]

Yeah, I've not been able to keep up wiht the mods they made over the yrs, but the one I posted is the late 60s version like my dad's friend owned, and that my old man flew in a few airshows in the 70s. Most of the old ones had open cockpits, like hte one he flew. I gotta find taht shot somewhere.

Hmm, done some additional digging here, early Special's did have rounded wingtips and tail surfaces (along with open cockpits - although most of those still flying have been converted to a 'closed' format) as does the current Eagle which is, essentially, a kit version of the Pitts. Both types are offered with a range of powerplants which accounts for the differences in the cowlings between some aircraft. If the first plane you posted is an early one, then it's been retrofitted with clipped wingtips - I guess this is to increase the roll rate, just like the clipped Spitty. The second one definitely looks like an early variant to me.

And Jabo, that B-25 scheme is pretty accurate. For some reason, many of our AC in the north Africa op had RAF tail flashes, while many of the RAF spits and Hurris had US insignia. Something about IFF problems, as they were afraid of friendly fire I think. I dunno why the tail flashes, but there are period shots of that.

Not disputing the accuracy m8, ISTR reading something about that somewhere, just thought it looked a little different to what is normally seen. Oh, and I'm right with you on the side windows in the A26 - grrr. There was one at Duxford in 2000-2001 with the low-drag turret and the full works - looked the business, and the pilot really blasted it round the circuit - seriously quick for a large® aeroplane. I'll have to see if I've any photos.

~S~ Jabo