UPY 2025

UPY 2017 Wrecks - Commended
'Last Flight'
Steve Jones

This USAAF B-17G Flying Fortress crash landed on approach to the island of Vis, Croatia after being hit by anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid over Europe in 1944, which killed the co-pilot Ernest Vienneau and led to engine failure. The surviving crew escaped in dinghies. This spectacular wreck of a famous World War 2 bomber is in remarkable condition and lies at 72 metres. I only had one dive on the wreck and the depth gave me very limited time in which to work so good communication between myself and my buddy, Andi Marovic was essential: I thoroughly briefed him on what I was trying to achieve before the dive so he could also visualise the image I was aiming for. I wanted to capture an image that showed the true scale of the aircraft so I shot with natural light and colour balanced the image during post processing.

Judge's comment: Peter Rowlands: I still can't believe it but I had to fight the other judges to keep this shot in the top 10. OK, the quality of images in this category was extremely high but I found this to be such a powerful shot yet so simple in it's execution. As is often the case where another diver is included for scale, a significant part of the credit should also go to them for their contribution to the composition.