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A Delta-II booster launched the Wide-Field Infra-red Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite from SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 6:09 AM on Monday, December 14. The upper stage climbed into sunlight shortly before burnout leaving a brilliantly lit exhaust trail.

It's hard to beat the remarkable variety of airplanes and helicopters displayed at the Edwards Air Force Base Open House and Airshow.

You can buy framed prints and greeting cards of this photograph.

The day before the Edwards Air Force Base Open House, flight crews rehearsed for the airshow.

A quarter of a million people assembled on a hot, cloudless, and windless day at Flight Test Nation 2009, the Edwards Air Force Base open house and airshow on Saturday, October 17. They were treated to performances by the US Army Golden Knights, John Collver, and Julie Clark. The Air Force demonstrated a Fairchild-Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II, Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas C-17A Globemaster 3, and Lockheed-Martin F-22A Raptor. The Tora, Tora, Tora show reenacted the attack on Pearl Harbor. All three of the Air Force heavy bomber types, B-52H Stratofortress, B-1B Lancer, and B-2A Spirit, flew past the crowd. It was the first public appearance of the Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning 2. Orbital Sciences displayed White Knight and White Knight 2. The Flight Test Center assembled a formation of ten airplanes from the 412th Test Wing for the finale.

An Atlas-V booster launched a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite from SLC-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 9:12 AM on Sunday, October 18. This version of the Atlas-V is not equipped with solid fuel boosters, so the exhaust contrail is much less visible than a Delta-II launch. The Lonmpoc Valley was filled with dense fog, forcing me to photograph the launch from the mountains west of Santa Barbara about 35 miles from SLC-3.

Updated October 28: Glen Boss photographed the Antonov An-225 at Honolulu on October 21. It has a new paint job with blue and yellow stripes.

The Antonov An-225 returned to Honolulu and then departed for Edmonton International Airport in Alberta, Canada as flight Flight ADB389F at 3:29 AM HST on Thursday, October 22. It arrives at Edmonton at 2:02 PM MDT. It departed from Edmonton for Nottingham East Midlands in England as Flight ADB3505 at 3:26 AM MDT on Friday, October 23.

The An-225 flew from Honolulu to Pago Pago on Sunday, October 18. Flight ADB3689 departed from Honolulu at 2:11 AM HST.

The An-225 flew from Houston to Honolulu on Friday, October 16. Flight ADB3689 departed from Houston at 9:27 PM CDT and arrived in Honolulu at 1:02 AM HST on Saturday, October 17.

The An-225 flew from Honolulu to Houston on Thursday, October 15. Flight ADB388F was scheduled to depart from Honolulu at 8:20 AM HST and arrive in Houston at 9:42 PM CDT. It took off at 10:41 AM HST and is expected to arrive at Houston at 12:21 AM CDT. The An-225 will fly over LAX, Palm Springs, Blythe, Casa Grande, El Paso, and San Antonio on its way to Houston. Watch for the plane with six contrails.

The Antonov An-225 flew to Pago Pago on October 13 to deliver generators to American Samoa after stopping over in Honolulu on October 12. Antonov Design Bureau flight ADB3688 departed from Honolulu for Pago Pago at 12:32 GMT. It also stopped at Ontario, California on Sunday, October 11.

A Delta-II booster launched the Worldview 2 satellite from SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:51 AM on Thursday, October 8.

A fleet of Aero Tech Air Tractor AT-802A turbo-props is dropping hydromulch on burned areas of the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara and Goleta. They are serviced at the old tanker station at the west end of the flightline.

Boeing 747 Carrier Aircraft N911NA took off with the Space Shuttle Discovery at 6:20 AM PDT on Sunday morning for the ferry flight to the Kennedy Space Center. The first stop will be at Amarillo, Texas. The pair stopped at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, Texas and continued to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana later in the day. They will complete the flight to Kennedy Space Center tomorrow.

Each year five test pilots are honored at the Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster. New plaques honoring Lieutenant Colonel Harry Andonian, USAF, John A. Fergione, Brigadier General James A. McDivitt, USAF, Jack Fraser Woodman, and Jean L. "Skip" Ziegler were unveiled at the Aerospace Walk of Honor at 10:30 AM on Saturday, September 19, 2009. The Walk of Honor is located at the intersection of Lancaster Boulevard and Sierra Highway.

Two of my Gigapan panoramas are on display at the Antelope Valley Allied Arts Cedar Center Gallery in Lancaster as part of the Aerospace Walk of Honor event. They will be displayed through next weekend. The gallery is located at the intersection of Lancaster Boulevard and Cedar Avenue, across from the library. It is open from Noon to 4:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. I have been invited to put on a one-man show at the Cedar Gallery in December.

The Space Shuttle Discovery was suspended from the Mare/Demate Device at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center as it was prepared for loading aboard the Boeing 747 Carrier Aircraft on Thursday. The 747 is scheduled to take off on Sunday morning for the flight to the Kennedy Space Center.

Bad weather over Florida forced the Space Shuttle Discovery to wave off from its primary landing site and land at Edwards air Force Base in California at the conclusion of mission STS-128.

Wings Over Camarillo featured a variety of general aviation, homebuilt, and replica airplanes. The show wrapped up with an action packed warbird flyby that included a pair of Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and a replica Supermarine Spitfire. North American B-25 Mitchell Executive Sweet provided rides for aviation buffs.

At the time of the building of the LZ-126 and LZ-127, the Zeppelin Airship Company produced portfolios of photographs documenting their construction and early flights.

Boilerplate Orion Crew Module PA-1 was loaded aboard an Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center on August 18, 2009. It will be flown to Holloman Air Force Base and then trucked to the White Sands Missile Range for the first Launch Abort System (LAS) Pad Abort Test.

A flyover by a Lockheed C-130T Hercules of VR-55 based at Santa Clarita marked the beginning of the Fiesta Equestrian Parade at noon on Friday, August 7.

I have completed my Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF trilogy with McDonnell XF-85 Goblin.

The P-85 Goblin was the only airplane that ever flew which was designed from scratch to be operated entirely from another airplane. The development of the B-36 by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation of Fort Worth, Texas resulted in a requirement for fighter protection for the bomber at distances from any friendly base that far exceeded the range of currently available escort fighter airplanes. Due to the inability of contemporary fighters to escort B-36 bombers all the way to their targets, the Army Air Corps initiated Project MX-472, Unconventional Fighter Design Studies, on December 3, 1942. The primary objective of the project was the development of a suitable method of protecting the B-36 on long-range bombing missions. The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation designed the P-85 Goblin to fit entirely within the confines of the bomb bay of the B-36. The little fighter was just fifteen feet long with a wing span of twenty-one feet.

The book is 48 pages long. It contains 98 photographs.

You can preview the first several pages of the book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Put a copy of Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: McDonnell XF-85 Goblin in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $16.95.

Learn more about the Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF

During and after World War II, aircraft designers were faced with the problem of increasing the range of strategic bombers. Dr. Richard Vogt, a German immigrant to the United States, proposed that floating wing panels carrying fuel tanks could be attached to the wing tips of an airplane with hinges to extend its range. The floating wing panels would support their own weight, without increasing the load on the airplane’s wings. The Air Force initiated a project to simulate floating wing panels with a piloted light plane that coupled to a larger airplane in flight. Soon the scope of the project expanded to explore the possibility of towing fighters coupled to the wing tips of bombers.

The book is 96 pages long. It contains 118 photographs and 38 other illustrations.

You can preview the first several pages of the book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Put a copy of Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF: Wing Tip Coupling in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $21.95.

The Airship Ventures Zeppelin N704LZ Eureka cruised across Santa Barbara County on its way from Long Beach to its home base at Moffett Field on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. It is seen here over Isla Vista at 1:22 PM PDT. It was cruising at an altitude of 2,800 feet and a speed of 37 knots.

The X-15 was launched on its first glide flight fifty years ago, on June 8, 1959. The X-15-1 56-6670 had been carried on four captive flights in March and April before it made a single glide flight. This is the first installment of a history that will track events of the X-15 program from fifty years earlier.

Revell has re-released Monogram's 1/72-scale Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress with X-15A-2 kit. You need this book to help you establish the appropriate paint scheme for any particular NB-52B mission that you want to model.

The book is 96 pages long.

You can preview the first several pages of the book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Put a copy of the softcover edition of Painting Guide for the Boeing Stratofortress Motherships in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $44.95.

Balls Eight: History of the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership

It has been asserted that the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress, carrying Air Force serial 52-0008, can lay claim to being the airplane that has seen and participated in more history than any other single airplane. For forty-five years, the NB-52B was a fixture at Edwards Air Force Base. While the NB-52B is most famous for launching the three North American X-15 rocket planes, it continued to serve in the role of launch platform for a multitude of programs until its final mission on November 16, 2004. It was the oldest flying B-52 by nearly ten years.

The NB-52B launched the three X-15 hypersonic rocket planes.
It launched the Northrop HL-10, Northrop M2-F2/F3, Martin Marietta X-24A and Martin Marietta X-24B lifting bodies.
It simulated the steep, power off approach to landing used by the Space Shuttles.
It assisted in the collection of data about wake turbulence from large aircraft.
It served as an air-to-air gunnery target.
It launched 3/8-scale F-15 Remotely Piloted Research Vehicles (RPRV) and Spin Research Vehicles (SRV).
It launched a Ryan Firebee II drone and the Ryan Firebee based Drones for Aeroelastic Structures Testing (DAST).
It launched the Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology (HiMAT) RPRVs.
It dropped the 48,000-pound Space Shuttle Reusable Booster Drop Test Vehicle (SRB/DTV).
It released a simulated F-111 crew module from its bomb bay to evaluate new parachute recovery systems.
It was the first airplane to launch a satellite into orbit on the Orbital Sciences Pegasus booster.
It tested the drag chute used to decelerate space shuttle orbiters.
It tested pollution reducing fuel additives with a pair of jet engines mounted under its bomb bay.
It launched the X-38 Space Station Crew Return Vehicles.
It launched the X-43A Hyper-X Supersonic Combustion Ramjets.

The book is 200 pages long. It contains 246 color photographs, 89 black and white photographs, and 2 other illustrations.

You can preview the first several pages of the book.

Books are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you order one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. Lulu.com prints, packages, and ships the book direct to you.

Softcover

Put a copy of the softcover edition of Balls Eight: History of the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $74.95.

Hardcover

Put a copy of the hardcover edition of Balls Eight: History of the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $79.95.

Learn more about the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership.

While I was at Edwards Air Force Base to photograph the Space Shuttle Atlantis, I also photographed a number of the airplanes displayed on the base as thunderstyorms rumbled through the area.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is being prepared for delivery from Edwards Air Force Base to the Kennedy Space Center. Preparations were interrupted by thunderstorms moving through the area on Friday afternoon, forcing its departure to be postponed from Sunday to Monday morning.

The Airship Ventures Zeppelin N704LZ cruised across Santa Barbara County on its way from Long Beach to its home base at Moffett Field on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. It is seen here over Buellton at 1:30 PM. It was cruising at an altitude of 1,900 feet and a speed of 29 knots.

Blackbird Airpark at the Palmdale Airport is home to several aircraft designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works: SR-71A 61-7973, A-12 60-6924, U-2D 56-6721, and F-117A 79-0783.

Over seventy vintage airplanes were displayed at the Planes of Fame Airshow at Chino over the weekend of May 16 - 17. The theme of the show was the Grumman Iron Works. The show featured five Grumman F8F Bearcats, three Grumman F7F Tigercats, three General Motors TBM Avengers, three Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, two North American B-25 Mitchells, two Mitsubishi A6M "Zeroes", several North American P-51 Mustangs and a host of others.

The Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour: Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, N93012 Nine-O-Nine, North American P-51C Mustang NL251MX Betty Jane, and Consolidated B-24J Liberator Witchcraft arrived at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Friday, May 8, 2009. The warbirds made a number of revenue generating flights, taking aviation enthusiasts aloft for about a half hour.

The Jesusita Fire broke out in San Roque Canyon above Santa Barbara about 1:30 PM on May 5, 2009. Two Bell Huey helicopters and many County and City Fire Crews responded in short order.

The plume of smoke from the Jesusita Fire drifted slowly on relatively calm winds on the morning of May 8. The speed of this time lapse video has been increased by a factor of 30.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency STSS-RTRR satellite was launched from Vandenvberg Air Force Base on a Delta-II rocket at 1:24:25 PM on May 5.

NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale was dedicated on April 9, 2009.

Fillmore hosted Railfest 2009 over the weekend of March 28 - 29. The Sespe #1 0-4-0 steam engine was running on live steam for the first time in years. A pair of EMG F7 diesels pulled an excursion train on runs to Santa Paula. A Metrolink train pulled by a MotivePower MPXpress locomotive was on display. They demonstrated the operation of the Canadian turntable. A miniature live steam 2-4-0 locomotive made runs along a short stretch of scale tracki.

I just spent a week shooting Gigapans in Arizona. They take a long time to stitch. I will add more ar they are completed.

The National Museum of the Air Force transferred B-36J-75(III), 52-22827 to the Pima Air Museum near Tucson, Arizona in 2005. It was fully restored at the Lockheed-Martin plant in Fort Worth. It is being reassembled and will be placed on public display. As of March 12, 2009, the fuselage is complete and sitting on its landing gear. The outer wing panels have not been attached,yet. The nose is masked for painting the SAC sash.

A Taurus booster launched the orbiting Carbon Observatory from SLC-576E Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:55 AM on Tuesday, February 24, but the payload shroud faiiled to separate. It ascended on a trajectory that arched higher above the horizon, as viewed from from my position, than other orbital launches that I have photographed.

On Saturday, January 31, 2009, the Amtrak Coast Starlight was pulling a pair of vintage streamliner cars: the Southern Pacific Overland Trail and the Boston and Maine Salisbury Beach.

Pete Dobbins used the image below as the basis for his painting of Tanker 09.

Lockheed SP-2H Neptune N4235T Tanker 09 on approach to land on Runway 25 at the Santa Barbara Airport after dropping a load of retardant on the Day Fire on September 19, 2006.

My giant photographs are now available as framed prints, gallery wrapped canvas prints, rolled prints, and greeting cards. They are prepared by Fine Art America. Select from thousands of frames, mats, and wrap combinations and receive your fine art prints within one week! No PayPal account is necessary.

These are intricately detailed, wide-angle images created with a Gigapan robotic camera mount and Stittcher software. Most photos are available in a variety of sizes as large as 48" x 78". Some photos are available as large as 48" x 84".

Retailers: These images can also be produced as 24" x 36" posters in bulk by offset lithography. Inquiries are welcome.

I have been shooting Gigapan panoramas of many of the local landmarks.

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