Douglas A-1 Skyraiders at Pikes Peak Airshow

Here you will find photos of the Douglas A-1 Skyraiders. These in-flight photographs were taken at the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow in Colorado Springs. The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. These photos of the Douglas A-1 Skyraiders were taken on September 21, 2019 during the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Last days of the Vietnam War

During the last days of the Vietnam war (April 1975) when the North Vietnam forces were overrunning the country, panicked South Vietnamese pilots were fleeing the country. These pilots were commandeering anything that would fly. They flew to U.S. aircraft carriers and ditched their planes in the sea. Others would fly into Thailand and abandon their aircraft.

A total of eleven Douglas Skyraiders would make it to U-Tapao, Thailand. Two American pilots (Jack Drummond and Roger Youngblood) were able to bring four of those Skyraiders to Thailand. Eventually after an epic journey fraught with many dangers those four Skyraiders would eventually make their way to the United States.

Douglas A-1 Skyraiders Photo Gallery

Photographs of Douglas A-1 Skyraiders

The following camera gear was used in the Aviation Photography of the Douglas A-1 Skyraiders at the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow in Colorado Springs, Colorado:

• a Nikon D850 with the Nikon MB-D18 Multi Battery Power Pack,
• F-Stop Gear Aloe Green Tilopa 50L Back Pack (with large Pro ICU),
• a Really Right Stuff TVC 34L tripod,
• the Movo GH800 Carbon Fiber Professional Gimbal Tripod Head with Arca-Swiss Quick-Release Plate,
• with a Really Right Stuff BH-50 LR Ballhead,
• a Nikkor AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4.0 lens,
• and an AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR lens with a Really Right Stuff Tripod foot.

The static display photos shown here were all taken with the AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4.0 lens. The in-flight photos were all taken with a Gimbal and tripod set up using the 200-500mm lens. The D850 exposures for the images average between 1/80 and 1/640 of a second at f/7.1 and f/8.0. The native ISO of settings of 64 was used on the Nikon D850 and all images captured as RAW files. We also used Adobe Lightroom Classic CC to process all of these images. Since this was a sunny blue sky day with very few clouds, we used Adobe Photoshop’s new new sky replacement feature to add clouds in most of these images.

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