A gallery of aviation related photographs.  Some of these are scanned from old prints so the quality is poor. Click on any thumbnail to view in a carousel.

Many of these photographs were taken at Solent Airport Daedalus including the approach / flypast of the Virgin Atlantic Airways G-VLAX B747-238B California Girl during one of the airshows in the 1980s.

I doubt if a B747 would be allowed to carry out an approach and fly past today!

Eastbourne Airshow 2015

DRAG EM OOT, D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent. The airfield is now called Solent Airport

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

Tiger Moth at Lee on the Solent airfield approaching from over the Solent

Sea King Solent Airport Daedalus. The iconic XV666 brought out of retirement to provide SAR training for the German Navy

XH558 Eastbourne Airshow 2015

Eastbourne Airshow 2015

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

Messerschmitt Solent Airport at Daedalus

Aerosparx display at Daedalus Airfield, Lee on the Solent

SEPECAT Jaguar GR1, XX763 at Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Crew of the B25 Mitchell ‘Sarinah’ taking a shot for the album at Solent Airport, Daedalus while stopping over due to bad weather

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

Sea King SAR Mk 5. XV666 brought out of retirement to provide training for the German Navy

Aerosparx display at Daedalus Airfield, Lee on the Solent

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

Staggerwing Beech N16S The Red Rockette at Solent Airport Daedalus 100 years event

Spitfire KJI SM520 (MK IX) Found rotting in a scrapheap in Cape Town, South Africa back in the 70’s, restored and converted into a 2 seater. Landed at Daedalus Airfield to refuel.

Yakovlev Yak 52 G-CBSL at Solent Airport Daedalus

Westland Wasp

Red Arrows Eastbourne Airshow 2015

Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-238B on approach / fly past at one of the HMS Daedalus Airshows during the 1980s. The airfield is now Solent Airport Daedalus.

Yakovlev Yak 52 G-RNAC at Solent Airport Daedalus 100 years event

Virgin Atlantic Airways Boeing 747-238B on approach / fly past at one of the HMS Daedalus Airshows during the 1980s. The airfield is now Solent Airport Daedalus.

AB205 Khasab, Sultanate of Oman

Sea King Mk5 SAR at Solent Airport Daedalus. XV666 brought out of retirement to provide SAR training to the German Navy

North American B25 Mitchell ‘Sarinah’, Solent Airport at Daedalus in bad weather

Bell 214B ‘Big Lifter’ Khasab, Sultanate of Oman

Red Arrow on its run in to the display area at Eastbourne 2015

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

Solent Airport Daedalus. One of only 8 airworthy (at this time) Junkers Ju-52, HB-HOS . The Junkers JU-52 is a German trimotor transport aircraft manufactured from 1931 to 1952. In a military role, it flew with the Luftwaffe as a troop and cargo transport and briefly as a medium bomber. The Ju 52 continued in postwar service with military and civilian air fleets well into the 1980s.

Sea King Mk5 SAR at Solent Airport Daedalus. XV666 brought out of retirement to provide SAR training to the German Navy

Spitfire KJI SM520 (MK IX) flying over the former Naval Airfield HMS Daedalus Found rotting in a scrapheap in Cape Town, South Africa back in the 70’s, restored and converted into a 2 seater

Winch launch

North American TB-25N Mitchell N5-149, Sarinah at Solent Airport, Daedalus

Sea King XV647 at Solent Airport Daedalus 100 years event

Waco Classic Aircraft YMF-F5C at Solent Airport Daedalus to celebrate 100 years of flying at the airfield.

Glider tug Lee Flying Association

Avro Vulcan B.2MRR XH537 at Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Red Arrow passing Beachy Head. Eastbourne Airshow 2015

AB205 Khasab, Sultanate of Oman

XH558 Eastbourne Airshow 2015

Post start up checks, North American TB-25N Mitchell, Sarinah, N5-149, Solent Airport at Daedalus

Spitfire at Lee on the Solent. 80th Anniversary flight.

One of only 8 airworthy (at this time) Junkers Ju-52, HB-HOS at Solent Airport Daedalus

AB205 Sultanate of Oman

Solent Airport Daedalus 100 years event – Yakovlev Yak 52 G-RNAC. The Yakovlev Yak-52 is a Soviet primary trainer aircraft which first flew in 1976. It is still being produced in Romania by Aerostar

North American Texan / Havard KF488 at Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Boeing-Stearman Solent Airport 100 Years Event

D Day 70th Commemoration gathering at the former HMS Daedalus Airfield at Lee on the Solent

My Background

In 1972, I joined R.N.A.Y. Fleetlands as an apprentice airframe/engine fitter. At the time Fleetlands was under the MoD and the training was second to none.

The apprenticeship lasted four years, however I continued at college for a further two years to gain a Full Technological Certificate in Aeronautical Engineering. Subsequent employment followed in Holland at KLM,  and the Sultanate of Oman before returning to Fleetlands in 1987.

R.N.A.Y. Fleetlands under the MoD eventually yielded to the will of privatisation becoming the Naval Aircraft Repair Organisation then the Defense Aviation Repair Agency before being sold to Vector Aerospace

With the out of service date of the Sea King looming in 2016, the last depth maintenance  finished its survey phase in early 2014 and an opportunity arose for me to leave the world of work and and spend a couple of years preparing for retirement and the end of my aviation career.

If you have any comments or questions please use the contact form in the left side bar and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for looking!