Sound Check
The actual flight was the last hurdle, and it was time. Again, Burke and Goodlett got into position, as did Gentile and I. “Clear the prop!” Again, the faithful Allison chugged to life, Goodlett checked the coolant and gave Burke the thumbs-up signal. The chocks were removed and the graceful little Warhawk began to trundle out to the taxiway.
“Anything else we could have done different?” I asked Gentile as we gathered up equipment.
He thought about that for a second, and said, “No. I just hope keeps that shoulder down…” then I saw his face get that look of realization when you see someone, particularly an engineer like Gentile, figure out why something didn’t work the way it had been planned.
“I think I know why we had so much trouble with the over-the-shoulder shot.” And we had. The cockpit was small and there was only so much room to work with.
“What was it?”
“Every time we moved the camera, we kept trying to keep the panel in the same perspective, in the same shot. We were just pivoting around the lens. We were gonna get his shoulder regardless of what we did.”
What a day…