Speedy Thunderbirds by junge1
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
US Air Force 'Thunderbirds' performing at Luke Day. This is the first performance of the season and the first in two years. Last year the Thunderbirds did not fly due to budget constraints.
The aircraft were constantly changing formation and flying different stunts. To explain this picture I was tempted to state that I deliberately blurred the picture to show speed (and they were pretty fast), but what actually happened is I messed up. While tracking this four-ship formation I momentarily lost focus while the camera was set on auto-focus and the camera didn't have time to re-focus properly.
Oh well, this makes them look a little faster lol.
This picture was taken on 15 March 2014,
Sig...

Comments (27)
Cool work !
I think that this accident is wonderful Great capture
Honesty has served you well Sig. Super shot.
cool
supersonic speed ? :)
No. there is usually one or two that sneak in at about 600-650 mph to catch you by surprise.
Fabulous !
Fabulous capture they sure look like they are speeding even if it was a slow shutter day :-) A lot of my photos are like this, seem to be out focus lol
LOL that's why I avoid auto focus like the plague!!!!!!!!!!!
I have only seen them fly once in person.
Nice
Superb capture my friend. God bless.
Another wish I could have been there moment. I have seen the Thunderbirds perform in f100's and f106's.
Great shot even with or maybe even because the blur does make them look fast. I can never focus either auto or manual fast enough to catch a clear shot of anything that moves at that speed. :)
Extremely Cool Shot!!! First saw them first in F100 and later the F4's Yeah, they even missed the AFA graduation last year due to the Budget fight.... But The Local Historic Planes museum came through with a Flight of WW2 Planes, If it could fly it was in the air, and they came from everywhere... Glad to see them back in the air this year!!! And the Blue Angels, and the Golden Knights as well.....
Four aces
Shining shot.
Cool!
I saw the Thunderbirds at Paine Field, WA in 1964 when they flew F-100s. Then for a short period in 1965 they flew F-105s. They performed at McChord AFB, south of Seattle that year and I missed them. Later that year while coming in on final at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas we saw the crash scene where one of the F-105s had crashed while on final. Shortly thereafter they began flying F-4s. Saw them perform at Lakehurst in NJ and Williams AFB, AZ flying the Phantoms. The Blue Angels flew F-4s also. Then for the longest time the Thunderbirds were using T-38s. Never liked them, not loud enough. After they crashed four of them during training near El Centro, CA they stopped flying for two or three year and began again in 1985 at Luke AFB using F-16s. Seen them perform with F-16s at Luke, and Reno. The Blue Angels began to use the F-18s and saw them there at Williams AFB in 1988 and at Luke AFB. I like the Blue Angels better, they are flying a tighter formation. The Thunderbirds looked best while flying the F-100s. The formation was tighter. the one that flew 'slot' flew so close below and behind another F-100 that the vertical stabilizer was black from the exhaust from the other aircraft.
Great shot!!!!!!
marvellous picture
Fantastic capture.
Jets, you gotta be quick to get Jet shots.. I know mate.. You have done well though.. Not seen thee guys....yet! They appeared near me as well, I missed them.. Shame! Rob
I would have believed you if you'd said you slowed the shutter speed to get this terrific motion capture, Sig! :) And ... it never ceases to amaze me how your mind has such a capacity for detail. I'm quite sure you didn't have to look up dates and shows and plane types in order to write about the times you'd seen them fly. You must have some kind of photographic memory!
Thank you Tara. I consider it a compliment. I look up facts, to make sure they are right (using Wikipedia and other sources), but events I have seen or attended I store in chronological order in my memory bank, and usually I am pretty good at it. I hope to be able to continue with it. My mother had Altzheimers!
Cool photo, spectacular livery on those F-16's.
I like the look of speed in this capture my friend and how many blurred flying bird photos have I deleted using auto focus!