AA-2026-E2FA75
On the image
A military jet has committed itself to the vertical, trailing a pale exhaust plume against an empty blue sky, which is exactly what the designers promised and what every test pilot learned to dread. The maneuver itself is honest enough—the machine doing what it was built to do—but the photograph catches the moment when confidence and physics are still on speaking terms. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, vertical climbs were the signature of progress, proof that human ingenuity had overcome the weight of things and the old rules of flight. The pilot inside is probably scanning instruments, the ground crew is probably timing it, and someone has probably written a press release. None of them is thinking about the moment when the plane will have to come down.
Visually related — by likeness
Aircraft in Vertical Climb, Mid-20th Century. 1950–1965. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-E2FA75. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/aircraft-in-vertical-climb-mid-20th-century.
@misc{aaAA2026E2FA75,
title = {Aircraft in Vertical Climb, Mid-20th Century},
year = {1950–1965},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-E2FA75},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/aircraft-in-vertical-climb-mid-20th-century}
}TY - ART TI - Aircraft in Vertical Climb, Mid-20th Century PY - 1950–1965 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-E2FA75 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/aircraft-in-vertical-climb-mid-20th-century ER -
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