If you ever wondered how air to air photos which appear in aviation magazines are made, this video may be a clue which would provide an answer.
It was made when Polish MiG-29s did their duty at Baltic Air Policing mission stationing in Lithuania last year, during the PKW Orlik 4 mission.
The photos were taken from C-27 Spartan plane. Note how hard it is for the MiG-29 pilot to keep up with the Spartan.
And here is a part of the final effect:
The images taken during the photoshoot were published on the Polish Lotnictwo magazine
Photo Credit: Onboard photos of the photo-crew: cpt. Grzegorz Grabarczuk. Air2Air Photos: Bartosz Bera, Maciej Wolański
I don’t think it was hard at all for the MiG to “keep up” (rather, stay in formation – the MiG is easily faster than a Spartan). See how the MiG suddenly stabilizes with the C-27J in just a couple of seconds at around 0:43. The purpose of the left-and-right swinging must have been to provide a good, dramatic angle to the photographer, and it was quite successful too as you can see from the half-page shot on the title page of the article.
EXACTLY :-) In case he flew steady , it will be simply boring :-) and all pictures would look the same. Anyone who tried the aerial photo will see this point.
I see your point. Agreed on that :)
Why is it so difficult to find armed MiG-29’s or Su-27’s photos?
You generally see them “armed” with dummies at the airshows.
Here again the MiG shows two humble R-60 missiles and a fuel tank. I guess an F-16 on a similiar air defense duty would show 3 AIM-120, 1 AIM-9 and 2 fuel tanks.