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Picture this: a weekend along the iconic British coastline blessed with the ideal summer weather, a beautiful blue sky with just a few fluffy clouds. A line-up of warbirds and vintage aircraft flown by expert pilots, with the aim of recreating the ‘Battle of Britain’ theme. Finally a real sunset flight! Oh, and of course the Pink Skyvan photoship filled with enthusiastic
warbird photographers to capture these unique moments from the air. We
have flown the traditional UK warbirds weekend from ‘classic’
locations as Sywell, Shuttleworth and Duxford, for the 2025 edition we
really wanted something different. We got off to an ideal start on the Saturday, flying from the very convenient Bournemouth airport. The weather – always a risk factor for aerial photoflights – could have not been better, an almost steel blue sky all day! We planned on taking the Skyvan up for 3 different photomissions. |
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We started with the vintage line-up, a super enjoyable Tiger Moth ‘K2567’ and Magister ‘N3788’ both posing solo and as a 2-ship. Our main backdrop for the day were ‘The Needles’ and the surrounding coastline, what an absolute treat!! Also in this flight was the Harvard ‘FE511’, you can’t find a more classic trainer then the original T-6! |
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| The second flight was to be thé highlight
of the day entire weekend, as for the first time ever we would be able to
photography not one, not two, but three Hurricanes flying together. It’s
for unforgettable moments like this we organize the warbird weekend. It
was an absolute epic view to behold, seeing Hurricane Pair ‘R4118’
and ‘BE505’ coming first as a pair, building up to Hurricane
Trio ‘R4118’ ‘BE505’ and ‘P3717’ , followed
by Hurricane solo ‘P3717’ AND that was not the full line up,
as also the famous ‘Silver Spitfire’ G-IRTY joined the Hurricane
for some fantastic formation photos. It really does not get any better than this….or does it? |
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While sunset warbird flights are very common in the USA, we had to wait a long time to see our first sunset sortie in the UK become a reality. What better aircraft could we ask for then the Silver Spitfire showing up again. The reflections in the water and on the warbird were both a beautiful reward and a challenge to capture that in the best way possible. This was a day everyone enjoyed with the full ‘100% satisfaction’ mark. | |
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| For the Sunday we had to relocated to Headcorn, another airfield close to the coastline where a fantastic line-up of prime warbirds were awaiting to fly behind the Skyvan. Unfortunately we could not fly too early, as a nasty and stubborn marine fog layer kept us on the ground till shortly after noon time. Richard Paver re-organized the flights in two sessions, starting with an impressive parade of WW II fighterbirds. Hurricane, Spitfire and Huricane, Spitfire solo, a two ship with a second Spitfire, Spitfire with the Buchon, the Buchon solo. Unfortunately this record long photomission did not take us to the White Cliffs, but with the Bewl Water lake as a backdrop we were able to make again stunning photos and videos from these genuine warbirds. |  |
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| More bad luck on the Sunday, as some of the expected aircraft broke down, and so often there is simply only ‘one of each’ , so we had to replace last minute with other aircraft available. The second flight saw us flying with the T-6 Harvard ‘Cozy Rosie’ and the Kent Spitfire. Headcorn is a really nice historic airfield, and we already decided we will return here in 2026 for our next UK warbirds event. We do plan to fly out to the White Cliffs, as famous landmarks as Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters are reachable. If you like genuine warbirds in a historic setting, you are invited! | |||
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