AA-2026-77DF78
On the image
Somebody heard the sound first, the low tearing rumble that meant point the camera up and hope, and got the shutter open in time to catch three jets holding a tight diagonal against the clouds. Air show organizers of the era loved this formation because it photographed as one clean idea from the ground, proof that young men could fly very fast very close together on purpose.
The photographer was almost certainly further back than felt necessary at the time, which is why the aircraft register as three dark commas rather than anything with a squadron marking or a type you could name with confidence. Nobody in the crowd that day expected the picture to matter later; they expected the noise to matter, which it did, for about four seconds.
What the camera kept, and the eye did not, is the geometry: the neat staggered echelon a flight instructor would have approved of, holding steady while everyone below just watched the sky.
Visually related — by likeness
Three Jets in Formation, 1960s Airshow Flyover. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-77DF78. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/three-jets-in-formation-1960s-airshow-flyover.
@misc{aaAA202677DF78,
title = {Three Jets in Formation, 1960s Airshow Flyover},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-77DF78},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/three-jets-in-formation-1960s-airshow-flyover}
}TY - ART TI - Three Jets in Formation, 1960s Airshow Flyover PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-77DF78 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/three-jets-in-formation-1960s-airshow-flyover ER -
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