I'm extremely fascinated by snapshot photos taken from the cockpits of WWI biplanes, as I've
posted several times. I love the fact that a lot of these guys really wanted to take pictures up there, just for fun (these are all from training, when this was possible). Often you can tell from the position that it's the pilot taking the pictures, too-- not as easy with a
Vest Pocket Kodak as with an iphone or even a Leica, especially when you're flying what is essentially a kite with an engine. But some of these fellows just loved doing it, and filled albums with their photos (a
couple favourite examples).
One of the things I love to see in these pictures is the unintentional aesthetic created by the limited position of the photographer. Wings and rigging are caught in shots of the landscape or other planes, crisscrossing the scene, cutting it up or sometimes framing it. I think the rigging and wing interference shots are amazing both for the way they ground us in the place of the photographer, and for simply looking cool.
All but one from two albums by different pilots at training air fields in Texas during World War One.
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
This one fellow often captions the photos in his albums--thanks to SDASM for including these!
Source
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
The Grand Canyon, 1931.
Source
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
The rigging frame of the looping plane could not be more perfect if it was planned.
Source
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
Note the caption-- he took this photo while in the process of
banking his plane 90 degrees.
Source
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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| San Diego Air and Space Museum |
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