1952 AD-4N Skyraider
Happy 250th Birthday, America!
Up next, we’ve got a light painting of another cool aircraft, a 1952 AD-4N Skyraider! I light-painted this amazing aircraft at Soaring By The Sea Foundation in Eugene, Oregon, back in mid-May.
“Wings-up!” I just think this looks so cool! Someday, I would love to light-paint this amazing aircraft on the tarmac, straight-on, with its wings in this position!
I’ve kind of sat on this project for a while. That was due, in part, to a very busy schedule – this wasn’t a project that I was commissioned to create; our other light painting projects were a priority. But mostly, it was because I wasn’t exactly sure it even worked! Allow me to explain.
The P-40 N-1 Kittyhawk
The real reason I was at Soaring By The Seas Foundation was to light paint another of their amazing aircraft, their 1943 P-40 N-1 Kittyhawk! I light-painted the P-40, with the help of their Executive Director, Coy Pfaff, right outside their hangar at Mahlon Sweet Field.
Not One, But Two!
And, not only did the two of us light paint that magnificent aircraft once, but twice, that night! Just to add a little whipped cream and a cherry on top, Coy added a WWII Willys Jeep, plus a 50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun and the ammo to go along with it!
Both of those projects turned out amazing! In fact, we’ll have one of them on display in our Light Painting Photography Booth at EAA Airventure in just a couple of weeks! Each of the final artworks, and the links to read all about both light paintings, is below:
Here’s the final artwork! Everything really came together on this one!
Here’s the final light-painted artwork of the fully restored P-40 N-1 Kittyhawk and the Willys Jeep at sunset!
This is the link to read all about the second light painting of the restored P-40 N-1 Kittyhawk.
Well, I was scheduled to fly back home in the early afternoon the next day. After breakfast, I was just hanging around in the hangar with about 3 hours to burn before I had to be at the airport. In reality, I was at the airport already; the main terminal was only about 1,000 yards away!
By now, if you know me, I was considering light painting another subject. There’s cool aviation stuff all over the place in their hangar! The trouble is that it was broad daylight, and the hangar was very bright with no way to make it dark in there. There’s only one way to light paint under those circumstances – using a strobe.
Scotty, I Need More Power!
As much as I would have liked to, their 1943 PBY-5A Catalina was out of the question. First off, it’s HUGE! Second, there were several pilots in town to do training flights with it, so it was “Out of play”.
However, the Skyraider was in the hangar having maintenance done on it, so it wasn’t going anywhere. This aircraft is WAY smaller than the Catalina, so it would be manageable to light-paint all by myself. Because it was having maintenance done on it, the engine compartment was open, which made it a prime candidate to be light-painted – lots of cool details everywhere!
Here’s the Skyraider, in the hangar, with the wings folded up.
With the right camera angle and some creative cropping, I could minimize some of the distractions going on with the work on the aircraft. The American Flag on display on the hangar wall made for a nice backdrop (which I took a little creative license with in post-production).
When I asked Coy if it was ok to light paint something, he gave me the thumbs up to take a shot at it. I had the time, so why not? The only question was, did I have enough flash powder with me? Well, I was about to find out.
This was my base-image for the light-painting of the 1952 AD-4N Skyraider.
Light Painting a 1952 AD-4N Skyraider
I unpacked all of my gear, set up my Canon R5, the wireless remote trigger, and placed my iPad Pro on a light stand so I could fire the camera with it, while simultaneously aiming the only strobe that I had with me at the Skyraider.
Light painting with a strobe is nothing new for us. It has a slightly different look than long-exposure light painting, but it still brings out great detail in the subject. In fact, many of the early light paintings that Joannie and I created were at weddings, and they all were created entirely with strobes! (Please click on this link to check them out.) The difference being that all of those, except just two, were created at night or in dark locations.
For those two daylight wedding light paintings, we had all of our strobe power with us! Using multiple strobes at once was easily powerful enough to do the job. However, I only had one strobe with me in Eugene. The big question was, would it be enough power?
All Systems Are Go!
Lo and behold, the flash was indeed strong enough to light the aircraft, while the shutter speed I used kept the hangar from being illuminated. Sweet! I was in business!
It took me about an hour and a half to light paint the plane from a bazillion angles. All told, I took 269 images! In post-production, I ended up using 53 of them, in 71 individual layers, to create this one-of-a-kind “strobed” light painting of the AD-4N Skyraider.
Here’s the finished “Patriotic” light painting of the 1952 AD-4N Skyraider!
With a little American Flag “magic” in post, the image really looks fantastic! Perfect for release today, July 4th, for our country’s 250th Birthday! Happy 250th Birthday, America!
This Skyraider’s Background
During the Korean War, the Skyraider was an important part of the Marine Corps’ night attack operations. First serving on the USS Essex, this AD-4N Skyraider was then transferred to Marine Corps VMC-1 based in Pohang during the Korean War.
After concluding its service for the U.S., it entered French Air Force combat operations in North and Central Africa, later flying with the Republic of Chadin active conflict.
This amazing aircraft logged over 500 combat hours across more than 65 strike missions with VMC-1. It provided close-air support and strike missions in French service during the Algerian conflict. It also flew with the Chadian Air Force during the 1970s, operated by French mercenary pilots.
A snapshot of the tail section of the 1952 AD-4N Skyraider.
Abandoned at N’Djamena Air Base, Republic of Chad
AD-4N Skyraider was recovered in 1988 by members of the French association AMPAA. This Skyraider was then ferried across Africa and the Mediterranean before being restored to airworthy condition in France. For decades, it thrilled European airshow spectators while wearing its French military markings.
Acquired by Soaring by the Sea Foundation in 2022, the aircraft returned to the U.S. in 2025 and is now restored in authentic USMC VMC-1 combat colors to honor its Korean War service.
Today, this Skyraider flies not in combat, but in service of memory and mission. As a rare, airworthy USMC attack aircraft, it appears at air shows and public events to connect new generations to Korean War aviation through sight, sound, and flight.
The Build Video
Below is the link to check out the “Build Video” for this project on our YouTube channel. It’s short and sweet. Please check it out.
There’s More, Lots More!
If you love what you see here, please check out our dedicated Light Painting Website. The link is:
MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read about the light painting of the 1952 AD-4N Skyraider! We really appreciate it! – M&J
Are You Headed To EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh?
If you love this aviation light painting project, wait until you see some of these amazing projects printed on metal! Printing our light-painted photographs on aluminum brings out the very best in our one-of-a-kind artworks.
Come see for yourself at EAA Adventure in Oshkosh. We’re located in Hangar C, Row F, Booth 3064. We look forward to seeing you there! Thank you!