My year began with a trip to Heathorw, with the main objective of the visit was to photograph the Qatar Amiri Flight’s beautiful Boeing B747SP, which looked absolutely stunning in the winter light. By chance the Saudi Arabian government’s unique A340-8000 was also in Heathrow that day, arriving in the last of the afternoon’s sunlight.
Qatari Classic. by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
-8000. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrLater in January I jetted off for the first of my trips abroad, to Copenhagen. It wasn’t a specifically a spotting trip but I did manage a couple of hours at the airport in bleak weather conditions. Thanks to Chris Milne & Mark Leith for the company!
SAS Sass. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrFebruary was a much quieter month for me, again plagued by poor weather. However I did manage to catch one of Birmingham Airport’s most exotic movements of the year! Awful shots in naff conditions, but I doubt I’ll be shooting RNZAF Texans again anytime soon…
Ziwi Transit. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrMarch saw another highly successful nightshoot at RAF Northolt with an array of interesting visitors, however it was third time lucky for Phil as we finally got to see the specially marked S-2T Tracker, and what a beauty see was.
Night Stalker. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrMarch also saw the Media Launch for the RAF Cosford Air Show 2015. As many of you will be aware, for the 2015 I was employed as the Head of Air Operations and was responsible for pulling together the aircraft to excite the assembled press to generate interest for the show. Despite some issues with the weather in the morning, the sun did come out to play once most of our visitors had left! Even though I was working, I just had to get a shot of RAF Cosford’s newest VSTOL resident out in the sun.
VAAC to the Future... by Peter Reoch, on FlickrI rounded off the month with another trip to Heathrow, this time in search of a Royal Air Maroc B747-400 (which never materialised) however the weather conditions did create some dramatic images.
The American Dream. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrApril was another month where I didn’t manage to get out much, but I did make an exemption for ‘PDA Day’ at RAF Coningsby, purely for the chance to photograph this stunning jet for the first time…
Commemorative Colours. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrMay began with a trip up to Manchester to see my good friend Charles Cunliffe, and of course that meant a trip to the airport! Being a local to the airport, Charles was able to show me some spotting locations I had not visited before, a favourite of mine was this spot on 23R which enabled this A380 rotation shot.
V1... Rotate. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrMay saw the 70th Anniversary of VE-Day which was commemorated across the country, including at the IWM Duxford (more on that later). To join in with the #KissForVEDay trend on Twitter, we at RAF Cosford decided to ‘kiss’ some Jaguars for the occasion which created some nice images for the campaign.
Black Knights. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAs previously mentioned, the IWM Duxford VE-Day Airshow was the first chance to see a number of new displays, including the awesome Attack Helicopter Display Team with a pair of Apache AH1. The sun came out at the end of a busy day for this shot, which has a nice SPTA feel to it.
GUNSHIP TWOSHIP. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrOf course June for me was dominated by the RAF Cosford Air Show, 9 months of hard work coming to fruition on one weekend! And somehow I found scraps of time to take a few snaps too..!
The weather was nice in the week preceding…
Belize Blue. by Peter Reoch, on Flickr…and the Monday post-show was sunny too!
REAP THE WHIRLWIND by Peter Reoch, on FlickrThis was a personal highlight, and the responses from the crowd (non-aviation people too) show what an incredible looking aircraft the TSR2 still is.
BRITAIN'S LOST BOMBER by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
Later in June I was lucky enough to join a tour of RAF Fairford during the Sabre-Strike exercise, including the chance to photograph the mighty BUFF departing from the control tower balcony.
Old Smoker. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAnd even later in June, Avro Vulcan XH558 returned to RAF Cosford as part of her V-Force tour. Rather happy with this image of the flypast!
Smoking Salute. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrJuly began with a two-day trip to Somerset for the RNAS Yeovilton Air Day. Friday was spent southside with plenty of excellent company on the fence to keep spirits high despite the tower decided to needlessly backtrack a huge number of aircraft rather than using the taxiway loop. Thankfully two of the Super Étendards used the loop, which will likely be the last time I photograph the classic French jet in active service.
SEM-ERSET. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrThe Commando Assault this year gave the first chance to capture Merlin HC3 in Royal Navy markings. I look forward to seeing the HC4 with folding tail etc in a few years time!
COMMANDEERED. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrThe show itself offered a number of great photo opportunities, including the ‘V-Jet Formation’
V-JET VISION. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAnd a chance to photograph ‘GiNA’ in the sun!
STEALING THE LIMELIGHT. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrFollowing hot on the heels comes RIAT. You all know what was there and how it went down, so I’ll just leave you four of my favourite images from the week.
FREEDOM. by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
P-1 PERFECTION. by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
KROKODIL by Peter Reoch, on FlickrMy favourite element of “Dunc’s Balbo”!
HURRI' FORMATION. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrStraight after RIAT, I took a trip up to RAF Coningsby with Dean West & Mark Leith and was joined by a number of other familiar faces. Indradhanush was incredibly frustrating with the weather, but great to see Flankers on UK soil again!
GREY ON GREY by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
TEAM TAXI. by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
EASTERN BEAST. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAnd then in late July came my favourite show of the year: RNAS Culdrose. Incredible weather and a great line-up came together for an awesome show. Review - HERE My thanks to Cdr Jason Phillips for his excellent hospitality!
Star of the flying display for me was Foxy…
FLYING FIST by Peter Reoch, on Flickr…with this black beauty being the star of the static display.
BLACK BEAUTY by Peter Reoch, on FlickrOne of the many excellent Tornado GR4 special tails we’ve seen this year, now sadly RTPed.
BATMAN by Peter Reoch, on FlickrFirst chance (and only) for me to see the RN Blackcats with their new helicopter, a very impressive display!
BLACKCATS BOW. by Peter Reoch, on FlickrTeddy won the flying display award at both of his UK shows in 2015 (Cosford & Culdrose) and it’s not hard to understand why!
BRING THE NOISE by Peter Reoch, on FlickrWhilst down in Cornwall I took the chance to visit old friends at Newquay Airport, now operating as ‘Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre’ – Well worth a visit if you’re in the area! Article - HERE
VARSITY by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
SUN-BUS by Peter Reoch, on FlickrNext in August came another trip overseas, with Dean West & Mark Leith, for Radom Airshow. The Polish show had plenty of exciting hardware and despite grey skies over the weekend was still an awesome event. Review - HERE
My first active MiG-21..!
ROMANIAN ROCKET by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
BLUE WHALE by Peter Reoch, on FlickrThe show’s opening formation of Polish Air Force aircraft was certainly impressive, 65 aircraft in total!
FITTER FORMATION by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
POWER OF ZEUS by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
VIP HIP by Peter Reoch, on FlickrSeptember was a very busy month for me, kicked off with another cool visitor to BHX!
SLOVAK SUPRISE by Peter Reoch, on FlickrFollowed by my first ever visit to the Cosby Victory Show… I will definitely be back!
'STANG SCRAMBLE by Peter Reoch, on FlickrI definitely fell in love with this beauty at Cosby…
SEAFIRE by Peter Reoch, on FlickrIn September I embarked on the trip of a life-time to North Korea! You can read a detailed report of the whole week in the trip thread, so for now I’ll just post some of my favourite images from the best week ever! Thanks again to Charles for being mad enough to come with me.
KORYO KLASSIC by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
HIP-TASTIC by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
GOODBYE CIVILIZATION by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
INAUGURAL ARRIVALS by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
CLASSIC COOT by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAnd also did a bit of spotting at Beijing Capital whilst I was out there…
SF EXPRESS by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
BLUE DREAM by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
POSITIVE RATE by Peter Reoch, on Flickr
SHANGHAI PUSHBACK by Peter Reoch, on FlickrOctober was a quiet month (recovering!) but of course the Shuttleworth Season Finale was a must, for XH558’s final public display. Politics aside, the chance to see a classic British nuclear bomber being thrown around the skies for the past 8 years has been incredible.
FINAL FAREWELL by Peter Reoch, on FlickrAnd one to end the year… on a trip which was purely to procrastinate from university exam revision!
GHOST FLIGHT by Peter Reoch, on Flickr2015 really has been a blast, with so many highs and lows. Thanks again to everyone who played a part in it… roll on 2016!
