Photo shopped? What you think...

[slowmotion]

My guess is PS BS. All the geezers in the cargo plane are just black and white profiles. Also, it looks an awful lot like that shark attack scam photo.

Edit: Also, look at the shadow on the nose cone and compare it to the lit-up back of the arm of the bloke at the right in the last photo. IMVVHO, that's all wrong.

 

[Aperitif]

(Pilot skills are) Clever stuff most of us take for granted I guess. Foreshortening plays a part with telephoto lenses but I think it is real. Actually, Martin, I think the cast of the sun on the person's left arm is reasonable...standing in advance of the other silhouette - there must be massive contrasty issues anyway, shooting into that light from the darkness of the interior.
There is another photo in the series that shows a planted flagpole with American flag fluttering on the cloud just to the right...

 

[Aperitif]

On the modern fast aircraft fleet (Tyhpoon and Tornado principly as far as the RAF is concerned), the recepetor probe is retractable and sits in the airframe along side the cockpit, in the case of the Typhoon just above the canards IIRC. [/geek]

Whether its PS or not, I wouldn't have a clue. Seems rather pointless just for a flight photo-op.

Geek is good!
Big toy story. Isn't it easy to get carried away. In my previous youth, a train driver would have done the trick. In my next one, it has got to be a Typhoon pilot or better! For refeulling, read the bit under ancillary structures...

 

[Globalti]

Yawn... it's not photoshopped, there's no need; a telephoto lens has exactly that compressing effect. Notice how in the third and fourth shots you only see part of an arm as opposed to most of a body. Taken from the front of the aircraft looking along the full length of the cargo hold the lens will make the fighter appear as if it's coming through the door.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Id go for true, the pic makes it look closer than it actually is.

Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are

 

[gavintc]

Wouldn't everyone be strapped back to smething solid?

Yes, they will have straps but these will be hanging from a waist belt onto shackles on the floor. It is quite possible that they are not visible as you only see the camera crew in silhouette.

 

[Beebo]

But the real trick is when they land the plane in the back of the Herc, like Knightrider parking in the lorry!

 

[ianrauk]

or even the Italian Job

 

[Risex4]

Geek is good!
Big toy story. Isn't it easy to get carried away.

Thats better than porn.

 

[slowmotion]

Actually, Martin, I think the cast of the sun on the person's left arm is reasonable

Teef, youv'e ruined a perfectly good conspiracy theory!

 

[Crackedheadset]

No, not at all. As I'm the pissed off pilot in the picture.

Imagine your annoyance, you've just beaten your commute PB to the base by 1m 22s only to have the FLT telling you that the RAF are going to be doing some PR exercise which involves me flying really close to a Herc.

If they wanted a PR story I shold have locked on to them with my missiles and blown the bastards out of the sky.

 

[Aperitif]

No, not at all. As I'm the pissed off pilot in the picture.

Imagine your annoyance, you've just beaten your commute PB to the base by 1m 22s only to have the FLT telling you that the RAF are going to be doing some PR exercise which involves me flying really close to a Herc.

If they wanted a PR story I shold have locked on to them with my missiles and blown the bastards out of the sky.

Just apply for a temporary position running the Olympic ground-to-air target competition - to be held atop Shooters Hill / Blackheath. That'll satisfy your desires! Actually, BigMart will be riding into danger. He's so tall, the artillery are going to think his cap is a low flying flying saucer as he brows Shooters Hill, and he'll get a rocket in the ear!

 

[Archie_tect]

One thing's always puzzled me about refuelling planes... why don't the 'opposition' just shoot them down?

 

[vernon]

One thing's always puzzled me about refuelling planes... why don't the 'opposition' just shoot them down?

Possible because they refuel out of range of the enemy?

 

[marinyork]

One thing's always puzzled me about refuelling planes... why don't the 'opposition' just shoot them down?

They do try and shoot them down. This is one of the biggest worries the Israeli military has about when it will likely bomb Iran later this year.