Laura Mallonee
Photo

Catching Air With Professional Daredevils

A photographer’s look at the Dayton Air Show’s high-flying hijinks.
  • Image may contain Nature Outdoors Sky Azure Sky and Cloud
    Photo: Jamie Kripke
    01
    *The Wright brothers’* early airplane first took flight outside Dayton, Ohio in 1905. Today the same airspace hosts the Dayton Air Show, an an aerial spectacle that draws more than 40,000 people each June.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    02
    The equipment has come a long way: This year’s show saw fighter jets, bombers, and other aircraft flying upside down, soaring in formation.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    03
    This restored B-52 was used in a World War II bombing reenactment.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    04
    This Corsair had “Bad News” stamped on the side. (For Jamie Kripke, the photographer behind this dreamy series, the air show was an unsuccessful attempt to beat a fear of flying. “It made me appreciate being on the ground,” he says.)
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    05
    Kripke thinned out the crowd beneath this C-17 transport plane in Photoshop, and added some pastels to soften the overwhelming military vibe. "It had me feeling a little on edge," he says, "especially around the fighters and bombers designed for combat."
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    Photo: Jamie Kripke
    06
    A view out the nose of a B-25 bomber is a lot less threatening when you’re looking into an Easter egg-yellow sky.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    07
    Attendees dressed for the occasion, sporting planes and copters on their T-shirts the way sports fans rock team logos—or even flight suits, like these fans posing in front of the Flagship Detroit, a restored DC-3 operated by American Airlines from 1936-1947.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    08
    People line up for a peek inside a Rockwell B-1 Lancer used by the Air Force.
  • This image may contain Bird Animal Flying Vehicle Transportation Airplane Aircraft Helicopter and Adventure
    Photo: Jamie Kripke
    09
    Hundreds of feet above, pilots nonchalantly chatted with the crowd through a PA system while performing daring acrobatics across the sky. Here Sean Tucker and Rob Holland perform in a red Oracle Challenger III and a Nano Pro MT.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    10
    Cincinnati's Red Line Air Show team performs in their home-built Van’s RV-8s. "It's about pushing higher, pushing faster and pushing the limits of what machines can do," says Kripke.
  • Photo: Jamie Kripke
    11
    Kripke emerged with a deepened sense of awe and wonder at just how far aviation has come since the Wright Brothers' rickety flyer touched the clouds. Above, the Geico Skytypers write words in smoke. “I just wonder what Wilbur and Orville would think,” Kripke says.
Laura Mallonee is a writer for WIRED covering photography. ... Read More
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