When I worked at the San Diego District Attorney's Office, I had the opportunity to fly in a couple of helicopters that were owned by the San Diego Sheriff's Office. Part of my job was photographing crime scenes and getting these photos ready for court presentation. At times, the attorneys would ask for an aerial view of the scene and we'd go up in the helicopters to do it.
The Bell helicopters were my favorite because we flew with the doors off the helicopter and then leaned out of the helicopter to take the photo! The Bell had a huge front glass area as you can see from the photo above so you had a tremendous view when you flew.
This one is a old 1956 model year but wow... it's in great shape! This past week, I had the opportunity to visit the EAA AirVenture Museum up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. With all the airplanes shown in the museum, I'd say the hightlight for me was this Bell helicopter! It just brought back memories of flying in it!
The photos taken for court was done with a Mamiya 645 medium format camera. Those large negatives make a big difference when showing aerial photos!
By the way, the 1966 Batman movie had a Bell helicopter that was made into the "Batcopter"! Check out the photos of it on this website!
