In my opinion this is one of the most perfectly timed photos ever. Not only was the timing perfect, it accidentally captured something that has never happened before nor since. Here’s the story behind the pic.
The person in the pic was named Keith Sapsford. Keith was born in Sydney, Australia in 1956. Like his engineer father, Keith was always curious about how things worked. He was also a hyper kid that always had to be moving. That combination of excess energy and curious nature would end up being a deadly combination for Keith.
After returning from an overseas trip with his family when he was just 14, Keith’s desire to travel the world only grew stronger. It grew so strong that he began running away from home in attempts to travel the world. He never made it far before being found and sent back home. Not knowing what to do, his parents sent Keith to a boys home in the hopes that it might straighten him out some. The boys home didn’t work, and would turn into a decision his parents would regret.
Not even two weeks after arriving Keith ran away from the boys home. This time though he was able to find his way to the Sydney airport. 1970 security at airports wasn’t nearly as stringent as today so Keith was able to eventually sneak his way on to the tarmac. It’s not known wether Keith knew where the plane he chose was going, it was going to Tokyo. What is known is that he climbed up into the wheel well under the plane. He would hide in that wheel well for several hours before the plane departed.
While Keith was hiding in the wheel well, an amateur photographer named John Gilpin was at the Sydney airport taking pictures. He did this regularly in the hopes of catching something interesting. Walking to his car after calling it a day, John decided to take a few more pics of a plane that was about to take off. As soon as the plane was in the air the wheel compartment reopened so the wheels could retract. As soon as the compartment opened Keith fell out. John was snapping a photo at that exact moment, unknowingly capturing the tragedy. Keith fell over two hundred feet and died on impact. John didn’t know until a week later after developing the pics that he had captured this, and in fact hadn’t even heard about Keith’s death before discovering the pic.
This is my pick for a few reasons. For one, this was 1970. Everybody didn’t have a camera in their pocket. Most people didn’t walk around holding or wearing a big clunky camera around their necks. So just the fact that there was someone taking pics at the airport would’ve been somewhat rare. Second reason is just the story behind what the pic caught. I’ve never heard about something else like this ever happening. The pic truly caught a once in a lifetime situation. My final reason is because of the fact the pic was an afterthought and really shouldn’t exist.. If John had stuck with the plan to call it a day and go home this pic wouldn’t have happened. There are a lot of reasons why this picture shouldn’t exist but yet it does, and that’s why it’s the most perfectly timed photo in history.
Edit Update: It has been brought to my attention that people sneaking into the wheel wells of planes hasn’t just happened before, but it apparently happens on a fairly regular basis. So my statement that this has never happened before besides this incident was incorrect. The odds of it ever being photographed again though are so high that I still say this is the most perfectly timed photo in history.
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