Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk

The image captured here is exceptionalfor more reasons than one.

- Barrett Tillman

The aircraft is a Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk, seldom seen in action with such clarity. Look closely at the picture: The floatplane fighter is barely lifting off the catapult yet remains crisply in focus. The photographer, the father of Flight Journal reader David Kovacic, did a superb job of tracking a fast, suddenly moving subject.

The ship was the cruiser USS Macon (CA-132) conducting Atlantic Fleet training exercises in April 1947. The 13,000-ton warship was still new; she had been commissioned two weeks before V-J Day in 1945. Her aviation department typically operated two floatplanes.