Desert Lightning .. March 19-22, 2015

[Jay Beckman]

Sunday To Sedona
B-25 + 1 Nanchang + 3 T-34s + 1 Bonanza hawking from above:

The B-25
(morning in Sedona, ugh...)


The Formation






The Photo "Perch"
(doors remained on...)


The View On Short Final

[Jay Beckman]

CAP Over Arizonistan
Keeping the area around Lake Pleasant safe for boating and beer drinking!

[Joe Copalman]

Love how clean that last shot is.

[Anna M. Wood]

Outstanding work Jay and Rob....   

[Jeff D. Welker]

Well done Jay and Rob. You both took a wonderful opportunity and made the most of it. Having flown and photographed with some of these pilots/aircraft in the past, I can testify that it isn't easy work. The turbulence and slower shutter speeds can be challenging and you guys did wonderfully. I wish a few of my images had turned out as terrific as yours.

[Chris V]

Great shots by both of you!! Looks like that was a lot of fun to shoot!!

[Scott Youmans]

Fantastic guys! Beautiful work!

[Jay Beckman]

I appreciate the positive feedback.

Those who've flown at these events know that it's not as simple as kick back and let the subjects come to you while you comfortably orbit.  You're along for the ride and you do your best to capture the action from within the formations.
In this case, the six ship from the B-25 was "briefed" but I had no hand in deciding how it would be done.  I didn't even have any comms back in the tail so even that opportunity was kind of catch as catch can.  C'est La Guerre...

Hoping Chris Kennedy will come along and share some of his shots from this event as well.  Chris gets extra bonus points for suffering the slings and arrows of hanging out at the bombing range for several hours on Saturday.

[Chris Kennedy]

A couple of bombing shots.





The flour bomb hit the tail of the T-6 and broke apart.

[Chris Kennedy]

The afternoon bombing session was more tactical than the straight bombing in the morning. One of the forward air controllers pretended to be an infantry commander requesting air support while the other one talked to the pilots and directed them. When each aircraft had expended its 'weapons' they were requested to make a 'show of force' pass over 'enemy' positions. These were taken during those passes.





The FACs were real pros, A-10 pilots/FACs from D-M. They were great.

[Chris Kennedy]

A couple more bomb drop shots.

[Chris Kennedy]

[Chris Kennedy]

[Chris Kennedy]

One of a small number of non-AZ based aircraft that participated.

[Chris Kennedy]

In this shot you can see the 'bombardier' about to release the bomb.