Planes you always wanted to spot, but never had a camera...

Was thinking about the good old days of TWA at JFK and it got me thinking, which airlines/aircraft have you always wanted to get a picture of, but never had a camera for? Not having a camera could include the fact that they didn't make the kind of cameras back then that they do now, or just simply that you didn't have a camera when you wanted to shoot it :)

My all-time hit list (planes I've seen but never had a camera to shoot):
TWA 747 Globe Colors, Old Colors (red & white), and New Colors (I saw this one taking off at JFK and man was it spectacular)
TWA L-1011 Old and new colors
Pan Am 747 Classic (1960's) and newer colors (full blue pan am painted on the side)
Pan Am L-1011 & DC-10
Eastern L-1011
Western DC-10

Since I'll never see these again, here's my current hit list:
Qantas Wunala Dreaming 744
Cathay Asia City 777 (Josh's pic has made me jealous!)
Air Force One VC-25A
Air Berlin A330 (Kenny's pic has made me even more jealous since I could have been out there LOL)


What's your all-time hit list?

Antonov AN-225
Wunala Dreaming (as always)
Cathay Pacific World Colors
Virgin Atlantic A346 (she ALWAYS manages to elude me)
South African A340 (see previous entry)
Pink Delta (Keep your photochopped images to yourself, Moose)

For me, all the stuff I've seen at LGA when I was younger. Eastern L-1011s, AA DC-10s, and things like the Continental MD-80 that went off the end of rwy 13.

I'll start off old-school...
Pan Am B747-SP / Pam Am L1011
TWA Final Colors B747-100
Braniff DC8 "Flying Colors" (Maybe where Peter MAx got his idea from?) http://www.braniffinternational.com/calder.html

United B727-100 / DC-10 / B747-100 - Friendship scheme
Eastern B757
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Aircraft flying today that dont have a picture of and want:
Antonov AN-225 (seen at JFK, no camera at time)
QANTAS - Wunala (still waiting to see this one)
Cathay Specials (World City 747, 777 & Silver Bullet)
JAL B747 (All silver scheme)
The elusive Virgin Atlantic A346 (whenever I spot I get the 747-400 or A343)
Southwest - Lone Star One
Alaska - Seven Thirty Salmon / Disney schemes / all black scheme
Icelandair - (I always seem to miss it)
Evergreen Supertanker
Skybus (so I can have a record of it actually flying before going out of business)
:wink:

Military:
Any DC9 before they are all out of service.
Air Force One
C-17 (I'll take any one here)

John, come up to SWF to get a shot of Skybus!

And unfortunately the Cathay Pacific 747-400 in the Asia's World City scheme went in to mx to be converted to a freighter. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iberia A340-600

John, come up to SWF to get a shot of Skybus!

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I'll let you know when I'm coming up.

Quote:

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And unfortunately the Cathay Pacific 747-400 in the Asia's World City scheme went in to mx to be converted to a freighter. :(

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Crap!

How about "I Used To Have Photographs and Slides of Everything Mentioned Above and More Until My Lunatic Parents Tossed Everything Out Like They Were A Red Headed Comic Book!"?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Idlewild

How about "I Used To Have Photographs and Slides of Everything Mentioned Above and More Until My Lunatic Parents Tossed Everything Out Like They Were A Red Headed Comic Book!"?

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That reminds me of the saying "Treat your children well, they will pick out your nursing home" :wink:

I was lucky enough to have started out in the hobby with a camera at airports. My only two moments of loss was the Air Canada DC-9 red/white colors (ORD) and DC-8-6 P4-DCE (VIP) (JFK). Other than those two I have gotten eveything else I have attempted to get.
Senga

I've gotten pics of Air Force One on three different occasions, but all three times were in rainy days, and I had a point and shoot, so they really didn't turn out. So, I'd like to get some good shots of Air Force One.

Another one would be the VH-60N. I got some pictures of it when I was in Washington in June, but I didn't have my telephoto lense with me, so it's not the best picture.

My list of shots to get:

Vc-25A
C-32
VH-60N
C-40
C-9 VIP
E-4B
VP-BDJ
N76DT
N1EB

I never got any photos of Concorde while it was still flying; I saw it a few times as I was riding along the Belt Parkway, so at least I didn't go completely without, but it would've been nice. (On a semi-related note, the other chance I had to shoot Concorde, when they were hauling it up the Hudson to the Intrepid a few years back, ended in failure as I evidently had set the shutter lock on the old Canon AE-1 camera I had at the time (but didn't know how to use) and so I just watched.)

There's not that much that's been retired that I wanted to get but didn't, but there is plenty of modern-day stuff I'd like to catch. I need to try spotting EWR one of these days for some of it, instead of craning my neck to look at I'm driving by on the Turnpike. FedEx 727, CAT 727, L'Avion, etc. As far as JFK goes, I'd like to get a shot of Wunala that isn't her flying overhead for the wrong runway. It'd be nice to catch the Air India 777, though it's not really a rarity; I'd caught the 747 every time I've been out spotting and only caught the 777 arriving at EWR while (of course) driving on the Turnpike.

That basically covers the planes I've seen but not shot; there's another list of ones I haven't seen or shot, but would like to, but I think that's another thread.

This is worse: I have the photos but can't find them. Many aircraft I also took as videos as the cost of taking Kodacolor prints was too expensive and I ran out of room for storage of photo albums. My favorites I took are: Pokemon All-Nippon, Qantas (Wunala Dreaming), Finnair (Santa), Virgin (Austin Powered), America West B757: Phoenix Suns and Diamondbacks, National/Pan Am Hybrid D-10, Pacific Western with the Simpsons, Continental (Peter Max) 777, etc. I'll try to think of others, too. I gave my photo of the tail of PA 103 ("Clipper Maid of the Seas") to one of my students who lost his dad in that aircraft over Lockerbie. He was very pleased with it. I took hundreds, maybe thousands, of Concorde photos both in-flight and on the ground while she was being serviced. I got the Lufthansa A380 last March, too. The only aircraft I never photographed that I wished I did was Air Force One. I saw it from the JFK bus on the Van Wyck but by the time I got my camera ready, it was too late.

The greatest regret of my aviation-fanatic life:

About 8 years ago, I was sitting by the window in the United area at EWR, waiting for my 777 flight to Denver, and a BAe 146 in United colors taxis by. I didn't even own a camera at the time :evil: :evil: :evil:

My current hit list:
Both Delta specials (I've seen each of them several times, but have yet to get a clean shot of either one)
Wunala
Cathay World City 777
Any BAe 146...I'm gonna have to get to Heathrow or Schipol one of these days...

Delta L1011.... beautiful plane....
and in general, delta's new, clean livery! I find it beautiful, but whenever i go to JFK, all I see are older liveries....
and the Singapore A380... I was in SIN 2 months ago on a transfer.... and it took off while I was landing!! :cry: I wanted to follow it to SYD lol

My two more recent regrets were missing the AN-225 at SWF back in 2003 when I was only a 30 minute drive away from the airport but had know idea it was there. My second recent regret was missing the A380 when she came to JFK last March, although I have seen it at BDL and YUL since.

Current aircraft that are on my shutter list:

BMI A330-200 (Missed it in IAD and ORD, hope to catch at least one in MAN this summer!)
Wunala Dreaming (Caught her once before at JFK but walked away without a decent shot)
Air India 777-200LR (Way too early of an arrival for me to catch but hoping to catch the new 4pm departure)
Asia World City B-KPF
Air Berlin A330-300
LTU A330-200 "interim colors"
Qatar 777-300ER
Egypt Air A330-200
Alitalia Cargo MD-11F "revised scheme"
Air Comet A340-300 and A330-200
Varig 767-300
Avianca 757-200
LAN Cargo 767-300F
Virgin Atlantic A340-600 "revised scheme"
Aeroflot IL-96
Gulf Air A330-200 and A340-300
Air China A330-200
TAM MD-11
China Eastern A340-600
South African A340-600
Malaysia 747-400 "Hibiscus"

The list continues...

N888TY
N76RP
N52N
the entire Alpha Flying PC-12 fleet
N744P
N745VJ
the numerous USAF C-32s and C-40s
and just about every single other corporate/private airplane that passes through LGA...


and before anyone has something smart to say i feel the need to remind him that my side of the office does not offer the luxury of not doing any work during a shift. there are time that i don't even get to look out the window and watch traffic. hopefully in the near future my career choices will have altered the situation and i will be able to once again watch, and shoot.

N888TY
N76RP
N52N
the entire Alpha Flying PC-12 fleet
N744P
N745VJ
the numerous USAF C-32s and C-40s
and just about every single other corporate/private airplane that passes through LGA...


and before anyone has something smart to say i feel the need to remind him that my side of the office does not offer the luxury of not doing any work during a shift. there are time that i don't even get to look out the window and watch traffic. hopefully in the near future my career choices will have altered the situation and i will be able to once again watch, and shoot.