Check Out The Copious Amount Of Vapor Spilling Off This F-35A During Chicago Air Show

Updated Jul 8, 2019 6:52 AM EDT

The F-35 Heritage Flight team has been zipping around the U.S. as air show season continues. On August 18th, the team gave the masses arrayed along Chicago’s picturesque waterfront one hell of a show. And considering it was a remote show over water, and that the air off Lake Michigan was nice and moist, full vape cones and capes were in effect. The Joint Strike Fighter in particular has proven to be quite adept at manifesting such atmospheric effects, a fact that was captured wonderfully by Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook.

Airman Cook seems to know how to go the extra mile to capture the F-35 to the max. This is not as easy as it sounds, just finding unique angles and positions to shoot the aircraft, yet alone at an air show, takes creativity and hard work. In this case, he nailed it, setting up along the coast atop one of Chicago’s many high-rise buildings.

U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook

Oftentimes laymen confuse shock collars, vapor cones, ‘vape capes,’ and other forms of vapor as a sign that the aircraft has broken the sound barrier. This is not accurate at all. Although these effects can be greatly intensified as an aircraft reaches transonic speeds (approaching the speed of sound), they can also manifest themselves in various ways at far lower speeds.

The phenomenon is caused by low pressure areas created on the aircraft’s skin and wings as it moves through moist air. As the pressure drops so does the temperature, and if the temperature reaches the saturation point, water vapor is created. Such conditions are highly sought-after by aviation photographers. I have chased these conditions for years in order to execute certain photos. They are also a reason why it’s worth getting excited about an air show that may not feature perfectly blue skies or even dry conditions.

Some aircraft create vapor in more exotic ways than other due to their shape and their performance envelope. The F-22 is notorious for its uncanny ability to create crazy vapor effects even at slow speed and in relatively dry conditions. The F-15 is known for its streamers and its thick vape-capes that propagate along the top of the aircraft’s lifting-body fuselage. Hornets and Super Hornets make great shock cones, and so on and so forth.

You can check out the F-35A Heritage Flight team for yourself at a couple of shows that are still left in the season, here’s their schedule . As the show season winds down and the weather turns you will have a better chance of seeing atmospheric effects like the ones caught in Chicago, as well.

It’s also worth noting that the Heritage Flight team does not put on a full demo but the mini-demo they do put on is very lively and it’s always moving to see old USAF aircraft flying alongside the latest airframes.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2019年7月8日上午6:52

随着航展季的持续进行，F-35“传承飞行”表演队在美国各地巡回演出。8月18日，他们在芝加哥风景如画的湖滨为聚集在那里的观众带来了一场精彩绝伦的表演。考虑到这是一场在水面上进行的远程表演，而且密歇根湖附近的空气湿润宜人，飞行员们仿佛置身于烟雾缭绕的海洋之中。联合攻击战斗机尤其擅长营造这种大气效果，空军一等兵亚历山大·库克精彩地捕捉到了这一瞬间。

空军士兵库克似乎深谙如何将F-35的魅力发挥到极致。这并非易事，仅仅是找到独特的拍摄角度和位置，更何况是在航展上，就需要创造力和辛勤的付出。这一次，他完美地完成了任务，在芝加哥众多高层建筑之一的楼顶沿海岸线架设了拍摄设备。

美国空军一等兵亚历山大·库克拍摄的照片

外行人常常会将电击项圈、蒸汽锥、“蒸汽披风”以及其他形式的蒸汽误认为是飞机突破音障的标志。这种说法完全不准确。虽然这些效应在飞机达到跨音速（接近音速）时会显著增强，但在远低于音速的情况下，它们也会以各种方式显现出来。

这种现象是由于飞机在潮湿空气中飞行时，机身和机翼表面会形成低压区造成的。随着气压下降，温度也会下降，当温度达到饱和点时，就会产生水蒸气。这种条件深受航空摄影师的青睐。多年来，我一直在追寻这种条件，以拍摄某些特定的照片。这也是为什么即使没有湛蓝的天空，甚至没有干燥的空气，航展仍然值得期待的原因之一。

由于外形和性能特性，一些飞机产生的蒸汽效果比其他飞机更为奇特。F-22 就以其即使在低速和相对干燥的环境下也能产生奇特蒸汽效果而闻名。F-15 则以其飘带和沿着机身顶部延伸的浓密蒸汽“披风”而著称。F/A-18“大黄蜂”和“超级大黄蜂”则能产生极佳的激波锥，等等。

您可以在本季剩余的几场航展上亲自观看F-35A传承飞行表演队的表演，以下是他们的日程安排。随着航展季接近尾声，天气转凉，您也将更有机会看到类似芝加哥航展上那样的大气特效。

值得一提的是，遗产飞行队虽然不进行完整的飞行表演，但他们进行的迷你表演非常精彩，看到老式美国空军飞机与最新型飞机并肩飞行总是令人感动。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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