Florida Relentless Pursuit: Part 1

By Raimo Roonet

At the end of April I finally returned from a “little” relentless pursuit of my own, having spent nearly a month in Florida with my wife and kid.

How to plan a month-long family trip across the pond to Florida? Squeeze in three airshows and a museum or two plus a night shoot, of course! That was not an easy task however. No, not necessarily because of the WAF (wife approval factor), but rather due to time and driving distance constraints. Of course, some sacrifices and compromises had to be made to fit it all in and the month was filled with all sorts of  non-aviation related activities as well – schedule was pretty tight, we had only a few days for  “just chilling” but luckily neither of us is of the “lay by the pool” type, preferring active pursuit of experiences and roadtrips to the poolside.

In this chapter I will show and tell you about my visit to the (US) Air Force Armaments Museum located in the Florida “panhandle” near Destin, right next to Eglin AFB. Pensacola and the Naval Aviation Museum are about an hour away west.  Eglin AFB is home to the 96^th Test Wing, most of USAF conventional weaponry is developed and tested there and on the adjacent shooting/bombing ranges.

Planning

I discovered the museum last October when researching for places to visit during our (then) upcoming trip and instantly knew I just had to visit it. In the pictures and on Google Street view it seemed to be one of the most beautiful aviation museums I had seen so far, with lots of exhibits outside and ample space around them – perfect for photography! Although it was a day worth of drive away (one-way) we made plans to include it on our schedule. 

But then I began to think that maybe, just maybe I can negotiate a night visit to the premises, as the museum is not located behind the gates of the AFB, in fact, it actually lacks any fence around the area! So I emailed to the staff, explained who I was and what I would like to do, showed some examples of similar photoshoot I did in the Estonian Aviation Museum and asked if they would be willing to let me roam around for the night and if they could switch the lights off. Got the green light and we exchanged several emails over the months following up to our departure to fill in details and reconfirm our visit.

Finally on-site

First visit to the museum was during the daytime to familiarize myself with the area and to see the indoor exhibits as well, we coordinated with the museum’s staff and the base’s security was also notified as they occasionally patrol around the museum during nighttime as well. They did not manage to turn off all the lights unfortunately, that made my job a bit more difficult in the area behind the museum, but the main area in front was pretty dark. They were also generous enough to let me use one of their step ladders so I could get better angles. 

Florida’s climate proved to be a challenge – while it is warm, it is also humid, and at nightfall the conditions get worse. There was lots of dew, at one point I discovered my lens was foggy as well. The thin fog was bad enough to induce some nasty glows and haze but was not thick enough to get those gloomy shots. All the aircraft were “sweating” with dew, which occasionally provided me with interesting results. During the night I managed to photograph nearly every aircraft in the outside area, I was planning to get some more startrail shots as well but clouds started to roll in. 

At some point the guard from the base rolled in and we had a chat, during which he informed me not to be startled if I’d happen to spot a ghost near the MH-53. Apparently this aircraft has some grim history – it was one of the aircraft used transporting the bodies following the Jim Jones mass murder-suicide incident in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. Did not notice any ghosts in my photos though. 

A special place among outside exhibits is reserved for “The First Lady”. It was the first serial production C-130 Hercules to roll out (hence the name) and also one of the first five airframes to be converted to AC-130 Spectre gunship. In the museum it is displayed in all its glory, with the guns pointing out to the side and the massive optical sensor/targeting array visible behind a pane of plexiglass. The AC-130 prototypes were originally tested at Eglin AFB, so it is only fitting that one of the first test Spectres resides there.

Yet another unique aircraft on display is their SR-71 Blackbird. A plane which is awe inspiring in itself, this one is a bit different from the rest of them. At some point it was decided to add more sensor equipment to the aircraft but it turned out there was no extra room. Solution – add a massive fairing to the back end to accommodate all the new toys. Result – the SR-71 that is affectionately called the “Big Tail”. As the new equipment proved to be underperforming they dropped the project, leaving this plane one of a kind. 

I have started to collect patches and challenge coins related to my photography subjects and attended aviation events. Left the museum with these two patches in hand:

Aftermath

During the last month after getting back home I have been post processing the Museum shoot photos as first priority as the museum staff was also anxious to see the results. Took around 1600 raw shots that night and boiled them down into 88 photos (many were a series of 30-60 shots to be combined into a single shot) that I sent to the Museum staff. They apparently already have some ideas what to do with the images, I hope they do succeed and keep me posted about the results.