Navy Gallery

F-14, USS Saratoga, Gulf of Sidra Operations

The hand signal given by the Catapult Officer tells the pilot that in 2 seconds he will be launched from the ship.  This image was made during so-called 'freedom of navigation' operations (the famous 'cross this line, and you die . . .ok ..cross THIS line, and you die . . ok ..cross THIS line, and you realllllly die, etc.') against Libya in April, 1986.  Saratoga was the battlegroup flagship, and was tasked with providing photography of operations on a daily basis for news release.  What that means is that I went everyday to the flightdeck and took photos that were quickly processed and proofed, and sent to the Chief of Naval Information in Washington, DC, for use by the press.  This photo was used in Time magazine's feature article on the Libyan operation, along with a number of others which appeared in the world wide press.  I didn't find out about it until a couple months later, and didn't get paid for it, either, but at least I got By-Line credits.

Camera: Bronica ETRsi, 135mm lens, VPS film

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