Way back in the 1970s while I was at primary and junior schools in Englefield Green in Surrey my Dad used to belong to an Aeromodelling Club in Addlestone. Three young members of that club were the Piercey brothers and I was always in awe of Stephen Piercey who used to regularly come and give us a slide show from his worldwide travels usually in search of operating and derelict propliners such as the DC-3 or Lockheed Constellations, I wanted to take pictures like that, not that that would ever be likely.

My interest in aviation came from my father and living close to Heathrow there was no shortage of overhead activity that I was always aware of, indeed my earliest memories are watching the loss of the BOAC 707 G-ARWE in 1968 and the return visit of the FAAHF Firefly WB271 in 1973.

Racing cars, ships and other exciting things naturally held my interest too, but oddly not trains.

With the Covid restrictions on travel I finally got around to exploring scanning the 15000 or so slides I have accumulated up till 2008, the quality of course varies due to the equipment available (and with my skill with the mid-range Plustek within my budget) but I have enjoyed re-living the memories and noticing far more in the images than I did originally. I am not one for extensive photo-shopping, if it has a cone or a pole, that was there on the day, so it stays, I have cropped a few to straighten them I admit !

I was given my first 35mm camera in April 1978, a GDR manufactured Boots Beirette IV, and I was soon badgering Dad to drop me at whatever airfields, museums and other locations we could find on his work and leisure travels, I was lucky to catch the 5 B-25s at Bovingdon for Hanover Street filming that May. The picture quality was rubbish but images just what I wanted, I was recording my little bits of my observed aeronautical history. Boots Slide film was cheapest so that was my preferred media.

From there I progressed to my first SLR in 1982, a Fujica STX-1N, with a Tamron 70-210 mm zoom lens.. woo.. and Fujicolour slide film became my default, although I battled with the blueness of Kodachrome over subsequent typical grey English summers.

Membership pf my local ATC squadron, 398 Staines and Egham, and a talent in the Aircraft Recognition team gave more opportunities domestically and I was allowed to borrow the C/O's Olympus? SLR and screw thread 400mm lens for airshows and organised trips, manual focus and exposure still of course.

My first trip abroad was to the Paris Air Show in 1983... I wanted more foreign travel then... and my friends and I traveled with Aeroprints and Seefive many times.

In the summer on 1986 as I finished at Kingston Polytechnic we ventured away on our own for the first time, to Glyfada in Athens, under Ellininkon approach, we didn't get arrested, although it came close at Larissa when we did an out and back flight on an Olympic Do228.

I started at Field Aviation at the Executive Jet Centre in January 1987, I was only working for the Commercial Manager doing all sorts of support work with fuel cards, spares sales and recharges for work performed in the hangar and on the aprons. There were many colourful characters visiting and despite photography being officially forbidden I was allowed to take pictures for personal use and I am glad I can start to share them here after all this time. With a proper wage I invested in new kit, a Pentax P50 in April 1988 and a 70-300 mm zoom lens, more automation but still the ability to get it wrong for the whole of a 36 exposure film on a bad day.

By late 1990 I had an offer to start with a local aircraft spares firm on a much better salary, and two of the bosses were also genuine aerophiles. One of them is still a good friend and a very accomplished aviation photographer. The next 5 years were a bit of a roller coaster because while we worked hard the Management was disjointed, but I enjoyed some company travel and inherited a pristine Pentax LX from my boss which I shall never sell. Switzerland was a favourite destination and I enjoyed a lot of freedom to travel in the UK, RIAT extravaganzas and as many of the already dwindling USAF/RAF Open Days as I could. Eventually I invested in a Sigma 400mm lens which saw much use. Heathrow remained my local airport, but I lived around the boundaries of Fairoaks circuit.

Family arrived in early 1996, which saw the expected reduction in opportunity and funds, I changed jobs for more stability and got a lot more company travel opportunity and I have been fortunate enough to get to a lot of the major airports, sometimes with useful camera time.

I switched to Canon in November 2001 with an EOS 300 but didn't go digital until December 2008 just before a family trip to New Zealand, when I purchased a Canon 40D and learned a lot very quickly while away !

Invariably I am now accompanied by my two sons on a proper day (or days) out, my eldest is already far more accomplished than me having chosen photo journalism as a profession and has earned the quality kit he uses to great effect. My youngest has an eye for detail and I am pleased he too has the photo bug, that he will work in aviation is a given too. We have enjoyed the Jersey Air Show on many occasions, have finally caught on to the NATO Tiger Meet trail and only a broken leg in 2013 stopped us going to RIAT.

I continue to snap away with my current 70D and 90D bodies (and an amazing Huawei 20Pro phone camera) happy to record the evolving story of aviation with other things that catch my eye on the journey.