Explanation request ...

[Mark Allen M]

All I know is this is an RCAF photo. I can't recall the type aircraft nor do I know what is happening in this photo. Experts?

[Tulio]

Using a light signal / pistol, to give the pilot landing / take-off instructions.

Airplane, is a Walrus????


Saludos,


Tulio

[Dan K]

STRANNY!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Stranraer

[Mark Allen M]

What’s the device floating used for?

[TAdan]

N/M Double post.

Last edited by TAdan on Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TAdan]

It is a Supermarine Stranraer.

[C VEICH]

Aircraft looks more like it is taking off than landing in my opinion. No idea what is going on here but it is a fantastic photo of a Stranny, thanks for sharing.

[k5083]

The floating antenna thingie looks retouched into the picture to me. It's too sharp, especially as the rest of the foreground is out of focus, and has a wider tonal range than the rest of the photo.

August

[Dan K]

What’s the device floating used for?

Das ist Limpet!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhw6JSuzLtI

[Michel Lemieux]

looks retouched into the picture to me

Agreed. The rest of the picture is out of focus...except for the antenna.

Happy to report that the last Stranny was restored in Canada before being shipped to the UK.

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/70-AF-645_Stranraer.pdf

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23057174@N02/albums/72157604789690023/page1

[Mark Allen M]

I'm going to disagree. You can see a convincing (to me) shadow from the antenna on the water.
I'll bet someone will come along and explain it's use and reason to be there.

[LysanderUK]

The Stranraer in the pic appears to be number 937, there are several other shots of this aircraft on the Harold A. Skaarup page linked below. There's also lots of other interesting pics and info on RCAF Strannies in general.

http://silverhawkauthor.com/canadian-wa ... r_695.html

Interesting to see the four-blade (or should I say twin two blade??) early style props.

[rwdfresno]

I'm going to disagree. You can see a convincing (to me) shadow from the antenna on the water.
I'll bet someone will come along and explain it's use and reason to be there.

I’m with you. The reason for the sharp, high contrast area of the photo is easily explained by a shallow DOF (depth of field). Medium format cameras were still prevalent in this era and all other things remaining equal they have a shallower DOF than modern digital cameras and even 35mm film cameras. What you see here demonstrated is extremely easy to reproduce, and especially easy to do accidentally with an medium format camera with a manual lens. Many of the older, cheaper medium format cameras of the day have especially slow/poor focusing mechanisms and also very poor view finders to make it even more challenging.

[Tulio]

The "antenna" looks to me, like it has a light at the bottom, and another at the top end.

Could it be some kind of channel marker, buoy, or other "lane" marking device?


Saludos.


Tulio

[Wilson]

Thinking back to my perspective drawing class in college many moons ago, the shadows from the plane and shoreline are coming from 1 o'clock, whereas the shadows from the gizmo are coming anywhere from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock. The shadows from the base especially make no sense. Also, the bottom of the photo has been "touched" with an airbrush, while the top has had a very sloppy Photoshop "rubber stamp" treatment to cover some writing.