Wheels Up! by Steven Hayes

The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) at Paine Field had always put on great events and I expected this photo shoot of Pacific Theater warbirds to be just as good. During a pause in the aerial performances of their Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat and Mitsubishi A6M3-22 Zero, this An-124 commercial freighter operated by Volga-Dnepr was a complete surprise, coming out of nowhere.  It was not part of the event.  What an amazing sight to suddenly see this huge airplane taking off as the wheels were just coming up. It was a sight I will never forget.  Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.