Today, a few friends and I attended a local open house where a collector of old machinery shared his toys. There were antique cars, a double decker bus, a couple of hit and miss traction engines, a Case traction engine, a plethora of full sized stationary steam engines as well as a number of huge Fairbanks Morse diesel engines. These were only a part of the eclectic collection the man had on display.
About noon, he rolled out his 3 inch rifled cannon for some fun. Anyone who wanted to fire it was given a turn on the lanyard and allowed to trigger a shot. I opted to take photos, but only began shooting near the end of the fun. I had only two remaining chances to get a usable picture, so I set up in rapid fire mode and waited. The first series captures the first of two incredible shots.
The second shot was even more unique in that it caught the firing sequence at the very point where the first of the burning gases began to exit the gun, while the fuse was still in full flare. Notice the tiny glow at the end of the barrel. One microsecond in time that could never have been intentionally planned for.
Sometimes, it's just better to be lucky than good.....LOL
Steve
