BOEING 747-100 (N905NA)

Very difficult to understand where the T-38 is located vis-a-vis the other 2 aircraft .

Amazing Shot! Amazing Subject! There appears to be supports on the belly of the T-38 attached to the B747 fuselage. Camera depth of field can be deceptive.

I remember this. This was part of the “grand tour” when the shuttles were being retired. This one was going the Udvar-Hazy center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum. They did a flight over the Washington DC area that flew over Goddard Space Flight center then down the Nation Mall and around the Capital Beltway before landing at Dulles International Airport.

I was with my daughter on a field trip on a farm directly across the Potomac from Mount Vernon when the 747 carrying the shuttle flew over at a low altitude from south to north. We were in a field and had a great view.

Is that a CF 5 flying over the starboard wing??Great historical shot/

I remember this type of flyover before the 1st shuttle space flight, I was 20 in 1978 and working at Thiokol in Northern Utah. The Air force brought some of the astronauts on site and had the fly over to impress how important the "zero defects" program was.

I worked for NASA during this era. The structural upgrade in the 747 was very impressive/massive.

Great historic shot, but sad that it reminds me of the F-104 and the B-70 . . .
Those wing tip vortices can be strong.

The visual confusion comes from a "long lens". In this case, likely 400mm or better. The picture was likely taken from a quarter-mile or more away from the flight path (think seven to fourteen wingspans of the 747), from a photographer's tower at an airshow. The T-38 is at least half the 747's wing-length off the tip (look closely above the T-38 in front of the vertical fin and you can see the 747 wing-tip) and positioned so the pilot can use the tops of the engine nacelles for position reference and still keep the wing-tip in his peripheral view for distance reference. The very back of the T-58 is almost as far back as the very back of the 747. Does that help... or just confuse further?

Oops, that was on final to Dulles on the shuttle's last flight... not an airshow.

Nice shot! Where are the trail jets?