Is this image real?

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Bf109GOAT

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Jun 15, 2018
Hey y'all, this picture I found of a Bf-109 attacking a B-17 formation is incredible, but it looks almost like a video game. Also when I tried to verify it, I couldn't find the image anywhere, which raised some red flags. Can anyone tell??

 
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Bf109GOAT said:
Hey y'all, this picture I found of a Bf-109 attacking a B-17 formation is incredible, but it looks almost like a video game. Also when I tried to verify it, I couldn't find the image anywhere, which raised some red flags. Can anyone tell??
Click to expand...
Oops, sorry the image posted 3 times, It said I didn't have any media in the preview.
 
The B-17 formation is much to loose to be real with a bandit in the area.
 
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I'd say no for a several reasons.
First of which, the props on the B-17s and Bf109s wouldn't have a full arc - the cameras of the day would have caught a little motion or frozen the props in place.
The other issue is the clarity of the photo - very few photos taken from nearby bombers (through plexiglass windows) were tack-sharp. There was vibration, turbulence and other factors that made a sharp image nearly impossible.
And as Mr. Runnels has pointed out, the bomber formation is loose.
 
Surely the Dorsal turret of the nearest lower B-17 would be at least pointing towards the fighter..........
 
I agree. Doesn't quite "feel" right. The to turret guns all look very similar. The prop blur looks blurry .... and real photos it doesn't look so "blurry".
 
I've expanded the image to be able to view the individual pixels.

1) The planes do NOT have any evidence of cut and paste around them, but most of the image is a flat white background, so only the top ones would show such. Even the antenna wire on the top one appears to be correct. - Inconclusive but leaning toward favorable

2) The planes are NOT all the same. Top turret guns in different positions on the two that show and all aircraft viewed from slightly different angles. - Favorable

3) The image does NOT appear to be from a video game. The planes would all be modeled the same and would not be as detailed when viewed as individual pixels. - Favorable

4) Found the image on Pinterest. It is captioned as being from 1944. Could not find ANY other use of the image. - Inconclusive

All in all, I find nothing to show it's a fake. If it is a fake, it's a pretty good one. As far as the formation being loose, with it being a single 109 passing through the formation, perhaps he wasn't spotted that long in advance for them to tighten up. Forts aren't like race cars. I'm sure it takes them a minute to close up. That being said, it COULD be from a movie. If the 109 is definitely a post-war Spanish model, that would fit. Lots of them were used in movies. If someone did a screen grab while watching a movie on their computer, that would explain the image not showing up anywhere else online. An image as unique as this would almost certainly be posted on websites having to do with whatever unit was involved.



-Irish
 
Almost certainly a screenshot from the game IL2 Sturmovik 1946 that has been converted to black and white. Here is a color promo shot from the game with the same loose B-17 formations, the same bitmapped art on each airplane, similar prop blurs and exaggerated wire antenna on the nearest B-17.
 

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