This photograph of American Volunteer Group's (AVG) 3rd Squadron, P40, "Hell's Angels," was taken by pilot R.T. Smith, probably from aircraft #47, #OTD in 1942 as they headed northeast toward Pao Shan near the Salween River Gorge. THe photo has an interesting story, do you know it?
According to the San Diego Air & Space Museum's archive, R.T. Smith told the story of how the photograph was taken in a letter to Terrill Clements, author of "American Volunteer Group Colours and Markings."
R.T. seldom took his camera on combat missions, he explained, because "there was no place to stow it in the cramped space of a cockpit, which meant having to carry it on my lap secured only by a leather strap around my neck. Obviously, the last thing a fighter pilot needs while frantically maneuvering in a combat situation is a camera flying around in the cockpit...
"It was a beautiful spring day, with a layer of strato-cumulus just above the mountain tops at about ten thousand feet off to our right. We were headed northeast near the Salween River which marked the China-Burma border, and although the air was relatively smooth I soon learned that taking a picture of this type was no easy task. It required trying to fly my plane on a steady course by holding the control stick between my knees, twisting back to my right while holding the camera with both hands, and waiting impatiently for the guys to stop the inevitable 'yo-yo'ing and get into proper echelon formation. There was the added requirement, most important of all, of scanning the surrounding sky every few seconds to make sure no japanese fighters were about to ambush us. The resulting exposure, as I recall, was made about f8 at a 200th of a second."
