Dog Fight

[Bear Dale]

This was a water bomber coming down to fill up with water to fight a bushfire, it looked like the pilot was lining me up for a strafing run.

[ST1]

Nice composition, colour and the prop blur works very well. Well done Bear.

[Geoff F]

Having the plane at an angle certainly helps to create greater interest than if it was horizontal.

[Shadowman]

Nice shot.

[Bear Dale]

Appreciate the replies all

[rpcrowe]

Nice image... I have been on the giving end of strafing runs but, never the receiving end...

[Bear Dale]

Thanks Richard.

What did you fly?

[FootLoose]

That is a good capture. The plane looks like it has duck feet.

[Bear Dale]

That is a good capture. The plane looks like it has duck feet.

Thanks Greg

[rpcrowe]

Thanks Richard.

What did you fly?

I was a combat cameraman and aircrewman... I mostly flew in Navy UH1B (Huey Gunship) helicopters with HAL-3 (helicopter Light Attack Squadron 3) Detachments and in Navy OV10A Broncos with VAL-4 (Light Attack Squadron 4). This was mostly in the Four Corps area of Vietnam in support of the "Brown Water Navy" operations although, I did fly some with Marine Corps Medevac Helicopters in the I Corps area (Danang and to the North of that city)

I don't have any still images (I shot motion pictures) of Vietnam but, I found some of the films that I worked on when I purchased a DVD of Vietnam films at Walmart of all places.

Documentary films are often assembled from footage shot by many different photographers in different places. Sometimes I see snippets that I "think" are mine, like the footage staring at 2:42 of this video. I remember shooting a shadow like that anyway and thinking, Man that's some cool footage! When you have water and mud splashed over your aircraft from your rocket bursts, you know you are flying low...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnwU2iMfW8

I wasn't in the crashed helicopter at about 6:00 of the video but, a good friend of mine was. We escaped with only minor wounds - luckily...

The pilots were exceptionally fearless. We flew through a VC encampment with our skids below the roofs of their bamboo huts and received fire straight through the tail of the aircraft. The Rules of Engagement required the helicopters to fly higher. So the main problem that concerned the pilot was how he was going to explain the fire that went straight through the tail, entering on the starboard side and exiting just a few inches higher on the port side. They decided to tell the Operations Officer that they were flying at or above the minimum allowed altitude but that they were in a bank to the starboard when the rounds went through the tail. Of course, the Ops Officer knew what had happened but, it was a case of plausible denial

[Bear Dale]

Richard, thank you very much for sharing that bio of your service in Vietnam.

[rpcrowe]

It was a long time ago but, the photo opportunities were certainly there...