::: Part 29 of a series of Warbird Photos ::: Taken at Hawthorne Airport (Jack Northrop Field) in Hawthorne, California (August 14, 2004) Another shot of the Marine double seat Boeing F/A-18D Hornet from the VMFAT-101 'Sharpshooter' Squadron based at MCAS Yuma, AZ and MCAS Miramar, CA. Here the F-18 is doing a high speed pass over the airport, fast enought to disrupt the water molecules in the air making them condense as a result of the speed they are travelling over the Hornet, which forms instant clouds. Typically this is more in areas where there's somewhat moisture in the sky. If the plane were to break the speed of sound, the resulting 'shockwave', or barrier that the plane passes through would actually be seen as it would do the same thing resulting in a perfect circle cloud that the plane flys through. The end sidewinder pods at the tops of the wings are also creating vapor trails, that's not smoke. Camera is a Canon Rebel EOS 300D DSLR (6mp) with a Canon USM IS 100-400mm lens. Image was reduced in size, no color or exposure alterations. Yes that rainbow color effect is real. Side note - Thanks for all the awesome comments on the previous F-18 image post!