----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Davis" To: "David Parker" ; ; "Gordon and Kristin Barland" Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 8:26 PM Subject: Super Photo & story] > > > > THE ATTACHED PICTURE IS REALLY ONE OF THE MOST INTRIGUING THAT YOU'VE > > EVER SEEN. READ THE EXPLANATION BEFORE LOOKING AT THE PICTURE. > >FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LIKE AIRCRAFT, THIS IS SOMETHING. > > > > Through the viewfinder of his camera, Ensign John Gay could see the > > fighter plane drop from the sky heading toward the port side of the > >aircraft > > carrier Constellation. At 1,000 feet, the pilot drops the F/A-18C Hornet > >to > > increase his speed to 750 mph, vapor flickering off the curved surfaces of > >the > > plane. > > > > In the precise moment a cloud in the shape of a farm-fresh egg forms > > around the Hornet 200 yards from the carrier, its engines rippling the > >Pacific > > Ocean just 75 feet below, Gay hears an explosion and snaps his camera > >shutter > > once. > > > > "I clicked the same time I heard the boom, and I knew I had it," Gay > >said. > > What he had was a technically meticulous depiction of the sound barrier > >being > > broken July 7, 1999, somewhere on the Pacific between Hawaii and Japan. > > > > Sports Illustrated, Brills Content and Life ran the photo. The photo > >recently > > took first prize in the science and technology division in the World > > Press Photo 2000 contest, which drew more than 42,000 entries worldwide. > > > > "All of a sudden, in the last few days, I've been getting calls from > > everywhere about it again. It's kind of neat," he said, in a telephone > >interview > > from his station in Virginia Beach, Va. > > > > A naval veteran of 12 years, Gay, 38, manages a crew of eight assigned > > to take intelligence photographs from the high-tech belly of an F-14 > >Tomcat, > > the fastest fighter in the U.S. Navy. In July, Gay had been part of a > >Joint Task > > Force Exercise as the Constellation made its way to Japan. Gay selected > >his > > Nikon 90 S, one of the five 35 mm cameras he owns. He set his 80-300 mm > >zoom > > lens on 300 mm, set his shutter speed at 1/1000 of a second with an > >aperture > > setting f F5.6. "I put it on full manual, focus and exposure," Gay said. > >"I tell > > young photographers who are into automatic everything, you aren't going to > > get that shot on auto. The plane is too fast. The camera can't keep up." > >At sea > > level a plane must exceed 741 mph to break the sound barrier, or the speed > >at > > which sound travels. The change in pressure as the plane outruns all of > >the > > pressure and sound waves in front of it is heard on the ground as an > >explosion > > or sonic boom. The pressure change condenses the water in the air as the > >jet > > passes these waves. Altitude, wind speed, humidity, the shape and > >trajectory of > > the plane - all of these affect the breaking of this barrier. The > >slightest drag > > or atmospheric pull on the plane shatters the vapor oval like fireworks > > as the plane passes through, he said everything on July 7 was perfect, he > > said. "You see this vapor flicker around the plane that gets bigger and > >bigger. > > You get this loud boom, and it's instantaneous. The vapor cloud is > >there, and > > then it's not there. It's the coolest thing you have ever seen." (Picture > >attached) > > > > > > > > > > > > >