2019 Aviation Week Photo Contest Defense Finalists: Bombers, Fighters and More

Heritage flight of A-10 and P-51.

A pair of EA-A6B Prowlers flown by VMAQ Sqdn. 2 "Death Jesters" ("Can Do Easy"), based at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, popped some flares in farewell on their final operational flight. Carrying their AGM 88 radar-killers, these aircraft were operational until the very end of their service stints.

An Israel Defense Forces paratrooper finds a way to land back on the C-130J "Samson" that "tossed" him out.

The Fort Worth Aviation Museum's A4 Skyhawk was photographed using a 30-sec. exposure light with two sodium vapor lights and painted with three flashes of an off-camera flash.

A B-2 Spirit bomber flew straight down Colorado Boulevard and directly underneath a Goodyear blimp that was providing aerial television coverage at the start of the 2019 New Year's Day Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. The photo was taken with a Sony a99II camera using a Tamron 70-210mm Model 67D lens.

A Team Beale T-38 and U-2 chase car at the Travis AFB, California, "Thunder Over the Bay" Air Show.

The U.S. Army parachute team breaking formation at the EAA AirVenture Air Show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

A Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-78 tanker and Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bomber fly in formation behind a portrait of Ilya Repin, a Russian realist painter, demonstrating inflight refueling during rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in Moscow

A unique night launch of an Israeli MIM-104D Patriot missile, sharply captured while being fired at a target in the sky. All the canister fragments are visible in the light of the launch's fireball.

A U-2 Dragon Lady from Beale AFB, California, flanked by two T-38 Talons.