The COOLEST PICTURE EVER.

[Don]

Better way to die standing proudly and gazing to sky than fade away in the boiling desert.

Based on the rather severely weathered and dilapidated looks of that bird, there seems to be a fine line between "standing proudly and gazing at the sky" and looking skywards in the hope that someone will come and put it out of its misery . The only difference I see between that aircraft and one in a similar state in the desert is that one is not resting on its gear but has a pole up its hindquarters. However, I suppose that is what is nice about pictorial interpretation, it is in the eye of the beholder .

[hazmatt]

Some other cool ones I've found

Matt

[Slartibartfast]

Oh, yeah! That's a good photo!

[BAM'n'IVM]

Oh boo hoo, cry me a river.

Who died and made you boss of deciding who gets disqualified?

The thread is called "Coolest picture" not coolest *photo*

Sorry, no. An amateur-quality Photoshop chop job does not in any way equal "cool", even if it's a "picture". Now if you wanna quibble about whether it's "Coolest Picture" or "Coolest Photo", then we'd have to open it up to aviation art, CGI, film stills...in fact, by your criteria it woudn't even need to have anything to do with aviation.

It's pretty well understood here that the "Coolest Picture" the thread's searching for is a cool photo of an aircraft or group of aircraft. "Cool" very rarely has to do with the subject - I myself has shot some very typical photos of an SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird is a subject that I consider one of the coolest possible, but I'm not posting them here because there's nothing special about them. They're cool to me, but they're not high-quality or high-concept.

In that spirit, I'd say this is a pretty damn cool picture:

[Rhino53]

How about the old B-2, I haven't seen one yet.

Or a mudhen departing

[Chappie]

The thread is called "Coolest picture" not coolest *photo*

That's splitting hairs, Bubba. If this was really a Blackjack over Nellis, then it is a cool image. This is not a real photo so all the coolness is lost. Let's stay with images that were created in a camera, not a computer.

Chappie

[Trigger]

Oh boo hoo, cry me a river.

Who died and made you boss of deciding who gets disqualified?

The thread is called "Coolest picture" not coolest *photo*

But the forum is called Real Aviation. Unlike all the other images here, which are the result of experience, timing, planning, a good eye and a little bit of luck, that image is a fake. Worse yet, it's a crappy one. It's not something someone saw and said "wow, that's cool, I need to get a shot of that!", its only a product of someone's imagination.

Photographers spend an insane amount of time and resources to get the shots we've seen here but some bloke gets himself a copy of Photoshop and suddenly thinks he's George Hall? Its lackadaisical, banal and it's very nature devalues real photography.

When Su-34 posted a couple of "eh" pix, I challenged him to step up his game and to his credit, he did so without blinking. I tried to light a fire under you to do the same. Other than Google Image, Fence Check or Airliners.net, I don't know where one can find good shots of Russian aircraft. But like Su-34, I know you're a fan of Russian aircraft so I was hoping you would know where to go and would have come back here with a really slick photo to show off. But instead, your reply was get defensive and belligerent. I tried to help...

-------------------------------

Don -

Nice -104 shots! Where are you finding all these shots?

-------------------------------

Rhino -

Cool F-15E shot! Did you snap that pic?

[Rhino53]

Rhino -

Cool F-15E shot! Did you snap that pic?

I took it on departures day at the RIAT, RAF Fairford. Can't remember which year.

Obviously the pilot must take some of the credit for twiddling with his stick at the right time.

[Don]

...Don...Nice -104 shots! Where are you finding all these shots?

That information is strictly classified. However, since I can’t keep a secret to save my life, I’ll spill :D . I used to frequent the Canadian Department of National Defense web site quite a bit, and ordered several photo’s of aircraft that I liked (Canucks, Voodoo’s, 104’s, Cf-5’s etc). I saved the photos from the DnD web links to folders on my hard drive and when the “hard copies†arrived, I either framed them or placed them into various files and folders. I haven’t ordered any in a few years, but I believe they (DnD) still do this for requests for photographs.

So, while not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, why not post a few more !

Again, you can’t go wrong with the Century Series and the Voodoo. Look at the smoke and flame from this rocket launch from a 425 Squadron One-O-Wonder! I guess once it was released, you pretty much gave away your position huh:

I like this 104 because of the contrast between the colors of the aircraft and the earthy tons of the castle and foliage:

Cf-5’s letting loose with a rocket salvo (notice the rocket in the bottom right hand corner that suggest that there were at least three Cf-5's shooting :o ) :

And a single:

Here is a nice colored picture of Cf-100 Canucks (Clunks/Lead Sleds…). I like how crisp and clear the photograph is, especially considering that this is from the late 1950’s and cameras were not as good then as they are now:

Again, all photos are from the Canadian Department of National Defense.

Regards,

Don

[Sean Bratton]

Can’t you just feel the heat from this engine run on a cold frosty evening, and feel the ear shattering thunder of the engine hitting you in the gut! Ummm toasty!

One of my all time favourite shots. My Dad was on the run up crew that night and we always had a copy of that picture kicking around the house. He'd probably disagree with you about the heat, though!

Cheers,

Sean

[ChernayaAkula]

I guess it is now impossible to decide on "coolest pic evah". There's simply too many awesome shots in here.

That Blackjack Trigger posted, the rocket-firing NF-5s, the nightly Zipper, nt to forget the Flying Fortresses.

<...>dragonfly from hell. <...>

Nice one. That name sticks!

"Come and see.

And I saw.

And behold: a dragonfly.

And his name that sat on him was Jon,

and Hell(fire) followed with him."

That sounds kinda cool!

[janman]

But the forum is called Real Aviation. Unlike all the other images here, which are the result of experience, timing, planning, a good eye and a little bit of luck, that image is a fake. Worse yet, it's a crappy one. It's not something someone saw and said "wow, that's cool, I need to get a shot of that!", its only a product of someone's imagination.

-------------------------------

Could it be possible that Z wasn't entirely serious when he posted a picture of a Tu-160 above American soil? I'm pretty sure he wasn't - and hence for instance my reaction with .

As what comes to good sources for photography about Russian aircrafts, there are plenty. Many of them in Russian language. Try airforce.ru, foxbat.ru etc.

The photo of a Blackjack above is very cool. Thank you! Then again, who's to say what's cool? As far as I know, noone was appointed as a judge for this thread.

Su-24. A subject very close to me at the moment as I'm doing a model of it.

[Trigger]

Could it be possible that Z wasn't entirely serious when he posted a picture of a Tu-160 above American soil? I'm pretty sure he wasn't - and hence for instance my reaction with

Then why didn't he just say so instead of coming back with both guns blazing? There's plenty of room for kidding around here (shall I invoke The Mighty Tweet as an example?), but we didn't get the joke if there was one.

Then again, who's to say what's cool?

Chuck Norris. Next question...

As far as I know, noone was appointed as a judge for this thread.

You're right, no one is the judge, but that doesn't mean every photo is great. I've got a hard drive full of shots taken at air shows that I won't post here because they suck. They're great references for builds and mementos of good times had, but that's all they're good for. Me? I'm trying to find pix that compete with the stuff Don's posted.

[Fishwelding]

Could it be possible that Z wasn't entirely serious when he posted a picture of a Tu-160 above American soil?

This is Aeroflot's weekly to Mos Eisley on Tattoine. I've flown it many times, and lemme tell you, it beats US Airways's red-eye with the stop-over in Detroit any day! You can plainly see the Banthas in the lower left corner.

And look, you can try to chase the tweet references off of ARC, but you're wasting your time if you cry "enough of the Star Wars references!" There will be no curbing conspicuous quotation, citation, and conversation concerning the Holy Trilogy.

EDIT: Kidding aside, is that heraldry in the lower right official, for the Russian AF?

Edited April 11, 2007 by Fishwelding

[PapaSmurf630]

That B17 formation shot is truely stunning...amazing effect and lovely 'feel' to the shot.

I personally detest the F-100 series of aircraft, they look to much like over grown fireworks to me! Some of the Mig 25 shots further back with full afterburner are crazy!

I however, like this image...

Not nesecarily an amazingly powerful or well armed aircraft (the Hawk being a mere trainer) but the way the image has been cut in two and the strange effect that the vapour and heatblur have is stunning. I also like the head-on angle of the aircraft...very dramatic!

[janman]

EDIT: Kidding aside, is that heraldry in the lower right official, for the Russian AF?

It is.

[model_madness]

I personally detest the F-100 series of aircraft, they look to much like over grown fireworks to me!

you need to see a head specialist fast!

[model_madness]

Don, thanks for those pics, awesome stuff!!

My avatar and sig give it away i'm afraid ;)

Edited April 11, 2007 by model_madness

[CiscoKid]

I have you all beat. Here's the coolest photo ever.

[PapaSmurf630]

;) you need to see a head specialist fast!

Haha! Sorry MM! I forgot about you :D What happened to your old sig? You know I'm only kidding, if it flies, I'm inlove with it :D

[Fishwelding]

I have you all beat. Here's the coolest photo ever.

Aw, now you're just inciting star wars references!

"Luke! Luke! You will go to the Dagobah system, where an ancient, irrascible lizard sounding a lot like Sesame Street's Grover will caustically taunt you, severely provoke your droid, and then serve you horrendously awful stew."

[Waco]

But the forum is called Real Aviation. Unlike all the other images here, which are the result of experience, timing, planning, a good eye and a little bit of luck, that image is a fake. Worse yet, it's a crappy one. It's not something someone saw and said "wow, that's cool, I need to get a shot of that!", its only a product of someone's imagination.

FIGHT CLUB!! See, now its even more like a fighter debrief....

[David Walker]

FIGHT CLUB!! See, now its even more like a fighter debrief....

1st RULE: You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB

And as nothing from civilian aviation has been added, I like these two because it makes me think how hard this was to accomplish: landing a B747 on a small strip so the plane could become part of a museum in South Africa. No room for error:

Edited April 11, 2007 by David Walker

[BAM'n'IVM]

I have you all beat. Here's the coolest photo ever.

Ooh, sorry...there's no aircraft in that picture. Therefore, this may be the coolest picture ever:

[Don]

...this may be the coolest picture ever...

That is certainly a cold looking P-38. However, this poor F-22 sure looks COLD!

;)

Photo from f22raptor.com.