RidgeRunner

That's me with my dad in 1961 in my profile photo! It was taken at my first Battle of Britain Air Display. It was at our "local" airfield - Biggin Hill. Thereafter I went to almost every one until the sad end came in the mid-70's.

From a very, very early age (the mid-1960s) I was sticking plastic together in the form of Airfix or Frog kits - planes, figures, AFVs, etc. It, together with my love of plane spotting, fed my passion for anything with wings and I went on to work in the aviation industry, where I have been since 1977.

Over the years my interests and work have both taken me around the world and I've been lucky to get to air shows, museums, base visits and more, in countries such as the Ukraine, Denmark, Italy, India, Greece, Russia, Libya, Sri Lanka, Serbia, Sweden, Argentina, the USA and many more, accompanied by my sack full of Nikon gear!

Having stopped building models in my late teens I re-started in 2013 as an occasional hobby amongst my many others. Of course it is very addictive and the pile is building. I re-started with a couple of French and Gabonese Skyraiders, went through Latin American Mustangs and Corsairs, then some Russians and now I'm sticking in the main to my love of Post-war jet fighters and always trying to depict the unusual. I still like Latin subjects of the 1960s and 70s, though. Having said all that I am always tempted by something exotic or unusual and so have "branched out" to Africans, Indians, Greeks and Turks.

My No.1 flying machine? Without any doubt it is the sleek, fast, beautiful, howling Starfighter. She always drew heads and thrilled whoever saw, touched and heard her. Like many at the time, I was fortunate to see, hear and touch many of them. Apart from that, anything military that drinks Jet A-1 and spits it out from the rear gets my interest. To me there really isn't anything that compares to standing close to a roaring afterburner! I love the sound of four T56s strapped to a Herc or Orion too :). 

Aside from all that I love a good beer, and I mean good beer and not golden dishwater. Its Harveys Best and Old all the way!

I hope to link up with many of you.

Martin