Baron Von Richthofen, the German ace with 80 known kills was amazingly not the legendary Red Baron this aircraft was named for. Between 1979 and 2007, Schwan Food Company promoted their Red Baron Frozen Pizza line with a squadron of six Boeing Stearman aircraft. The aerobatic team thrilled audiences at air shows as a team of four aircraft in flight. The six aircraft and equipment were sold when the team disbanded.

According to the Dickinson (North Dakota) Press, airplane number 5 was rebuilt by Paul and Jarrod Lindeman, brothers and owners of North Valley Aircraft in Valley City, North Dakota. The company is a full-featured aviation business with sales, maintenance, crop spraying and air shows featured on their website. The Red Baron aircraft is featured in one image on their Air Show page, though it’s a frontal view so the Red Baron name is not visible in the photo.

This image was originally captured in July 2015, at the Fargo Air Sho, where the Red Baron restored aircraft was again tearing up the skies in an aerobatic demonstration at the Fargo Airport.

About the photo conversion:

This conversion to a 3D popout was a lot more work than usual given that the blue background had to disappear between all the struts and wires running between the upper and lower wing assemblies. The gradient fill I usually use is a vertical gradient, however the light on the aircraft was clearly from behind so I thought it might be interesting to feature a radial gradient that suggests a sunlit background.

John Steiner

A true-life ghost town near Apache Junction draws large crowds daily. In the morning shadows of the Superstition Mountains, the ghost town thrives on the tourists who come the relatively short drive from Phoenix, Mesa and other nearby cities. 

One of the major attractions of the ghost town is the Goldfield Mine Tour. The 25-minute tour brings you underground and back in time to over a century ago. Today’s 3D image features an old outhouse sitting next to a box of explosives ostensibly for use in the nearby mine. Tourists walk by these “artifacts” on their way to the mine entrance. Tour guides on the mine tour share the history of the mine, mining processes and mining equipment of the day. The ghost town’s trip advisor rating is 4 stars, and a good day’s family entertainment. My wife and I have brought guests to visit the ghost town on a couple of occasions. You can read more about one of our earlier visits on my blog here.

John Steiner