These were taken at Leuchars in 2010.  The Hurricane is a very understated hero of the Battle of Britain.

I have also added one of the BBMF and the RAF Tucano display aircraft in Battle of Britain colours.

Thank you.

I thought I would add my bit to honour the few as I have collected many pictures of my own, however, they pale into insignificance compared to the images I am about to post. Some will have seen them before but they have never been posted on this blog.

These pictures are courtesy of French aviation photographer Jean Marie Urlacher who yo may have seen an article on in the Orcadian a few weeks ago, flying from Paris in an open top beetle powered kit aircraft.

He is a regular visitor to Orkney and an outstanding photographer, please enjoy them as much as I have.  This is the Spitfire we took to Orkney in 2010 to honour the few on the 70th anniversary,

First of all, let me introduce Jean Marie

And the star of the event

An outstanding event and great memories.

Thanks for reading

All the best

Neil 😉

A few more pictures courtesy of Alan Fair, no prizes for guessing the type of aircraft

Thanks for taking the time to pop by

All the best

Neil 😉

It is a number of years since RAF Kinloss became Kinloss barracks.  I am lucky that I have a lot of photos from it’s busy period.

While on my travels I have bumped into lots of people and I have amassed a number of photographs, particularly of the MR2 which is one of my favourite aircraft of all time.

This particular set of photos was taken by a friend from Forres who is a self proclaimed Typhoon nut but has lots of photos from the Moray bases.  So thank you Alan Fair for sending them to me and giving me permission to share them.

The aircraft need no introduction:

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit.  I am working on getting my own photos sorted so I can display them here.

All the best

Neil 😉

Doesn’t time fly when you are enjoying yourself.  It is unbelievable that I have not posted here since November last year.

No excuse but as I look back through the photos, I have not taken many since I last posted.  The odd one or two I have taken have been posted on Facebook on Orkney Aviation or work related posts on the Kirkwall Airport Facebook page.

Gladly today was a little different and thanks to Peter Henderson, I discovered that there was going to be a Canadian Air Force S61 dropping past for a refuel on its way to Sumburgh.

It landed bang on time and the weather was kind so I hope the pictures are OK.  Fingers crossed we have a busy GA summer.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and thanks for taking the time to visit

All the best

Neil

It’s frightening how time passes and I never seem to have the time to update this blog.  I have put a few photos on Facebook but have so many to catch up on.

I will start with a few interesting aircraft in September first of all with a Cirrus 22 which passed through.

And a Netjets Citation

It’s a while since I posted one of these so here is the familiar Saab 340

And finally a King Air 350 operated by Gama

In October we had a few different aircraft in starting with this pretty Mooney 201 SE

And the inside 🙂

This is a Diamond Twinstar based at Wick

And another one

We also had a visit from Cartier, piloted by Senior Captain Morgan Beret and Senior First Officer Marco Pierotti.

My family and I had a lovely evening with them, and Morgan, on the left, went home with the recipe for Orkney Fudge cheesecake which I am sure will be a new delicacy in Paris soon.

Ixus Air stopped off with their Falcon 50

And the inside

We also had this Twin Otter in for a few days as the weather stopped them flying home due to poor conditions over the Atlantic.

We also had poor conditions here so the aircraft was tied down with the biggest weights available until the wind passed.

The first of 2 Pilatus PC12’s dropped passed

And the second, a slightly updated model

And finally a CL60, and by this time the dirt on the sensor was really getting to me 😦

Then today arrived with a few visitors including the NLB helicopter and a short visit by our friends from the SFPA.  The Aircraft stars of the show were ZE700, a BAE 146 from the Royal flight on its way to the Faroes and a stunning Dakota on  its way to Iceland and on to Canada tomorrow.

And a first for me.  Words cannot describe how beautiful this aircraft is/was.  Apparently it started off life in 1943 as a normal DC3 and was upgraded to turbines in 1990.  The crew were first class and allowed us access to their aircraft and I thank them sincerely for taking the time to stop off.  No words now, just photos.

And the inside

And finally a rare occurrence, here we have Blue Watch on parade 🙂  Gives you an idea of just how big this plane really is.

Thats it for now, hope you like the photos and sorry about the annoying blob 😦

Thanks for taking the time to read and all the best

Neil 😉

I thought so until I bumped into Lawrie Mitchell at the airport today and then I discovered that he does not have facebook but was keen to see any updates to the blog.  Dreadful that I have not posted here since march.

Any posts I have made have been on my Orkney Aviation page on facebook so Lawrie this is specially for you.

Not much unusual activity over the last while and I have been collating old pictures, however, a few unusual ones last week starting with Tornado 063 which did a fly past.

And a better shot

At the tail end of the week we had a visit from a group of light aircraft starting with this PA28R.  Apologies for the shots as they were shot at long distance.

Followed by a first for me, an Akrotech 10B

Next was a Beagle

And an AA5-B commonly called a Tiger

And finally just as I was finishing on friday, the star of the week arrived from Stockholm.  I wish I had more time to photograph this CL60 but was happy with the ones I took.

Not done this for a while but will try and keep both up.  For those that have Facebook, Type Orkney Aviation in the search bar and you will find me.  Feel free to upload your pics.

As always, thanks for reading

All the best

Neil 😉

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything in a couple of months.  It seems to have been so busy yet I seem to have very few photos to share.

The first thing you will notice when you visit the airport is that the Islanders are no longer in Highland Park Livery but they are now on facebook, just search for peedie black plane.

We have had a mixed bag of delays over the winter and at one point we had 5 Saabs on the apron at one point which is unusual.

WE did have a visitor from Tayside Aviation in the fairer weather in the shape of this pretty little Grob.

And the 200th S92 ever built

This winter has seen some unusual weather with spectacular shows of the Aurora Borealis and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  Here is the sunrise from a couple of weeks ago.  Glad I always have my camera.

The Aurora is a bit harder to capture but I was in the right place at the right time, very hard to take and this was my first attempt.

This was taken using a tripod but it was so windy that it is still shaky.  Hopefully I will be more prepared next time.  Hunt for Orkney Sky on facebook to see some stunners.

WE had a vist from the P2’s from St Andrews primary school a couple of weeks ago.  Children certainly liven the place up and we had one of the busiest Q&A sessions we have ever had.

Thanks to all staff for their help.

We had a visit on thursday from G-LGNO.  The first Loganair/Flybe Saab 2000 to visit which will be taking over some of the schedules from the smaller Saab 340.  It is certainly much bigger with a capacity of 50 passengers.  I am looking forward to eventually getting a flight in one of these.  

And the inside

That’s it for now, hopefully much more to come.  As always thanks for taking the time to read, I appreciate it

All the best

Neil 😉