Paddy Power Fergie 6/1

Eyes were on the skies at Old Trafford waiting for the ‘Moyes Out’ protest fly-past before Manchester United’s game against Aston Villa, but fans weren’t expecting a second banner to go overhead shortly after.

 Manchester United’s Premier League match with Aston Villa was merely two minutes old when the first of two planes appeared over Old Trafford calling for the sacking of manager David Moyes.

 In the build-up to Saturday’s early kick-off, Moyes had simply dismissed the planned flyover – the £840 act funded by angry United fans – and said that it had merely made him more determined to succeed, despite the banner reading “Wrong One – Moyes Out” in a response to the regular “The Chosen One” that remains on show inside the stadium.

But bookmakers Paddy Power had a stroke of genius as they arranged an Airads plane to follow the widely ridiculed fans’ protest, advertising 6/1 odds for Sir Alex Ferguson to return at United boss. The PR stunt reading ‘Fergie back in 6/1 Paddy Power’ is the latest in a string of marketing ploys by the bookies, who last season trolled Chelsea striker Fernando Torres outside Stamford Bridge.

Top Ten Flying Banners in Football.

Group Photo Before Flight

Will the Mayor Resign?

The first outing of the season and with a rare window of good weather, it's out to Portsmouth, with a banner asking the mayor to resign over her position on the loss of the historic naval presence in the city.

There's a Twitter hashtag #CEPACTION if you would like to follow the campaign

My thanks to James Kirby for the photo. More on our Facebook page here.

Lost Submarine

German U-Boat © Airads

It's been a fine day and as you can see from the first photo, I've been busy looking for the wreck of the recently exposed German U-Boat on the Hoo Peninsula, near Sheerness.

From the air, you can gain a much better idea of it's condition now the tidal surge has freed most of its structure from the mud. There's also a link to my Flickr gallery where you can find my other photos of the wreck.

What the submarine's story was is still to be revealed but if you know, perhaps you can share it here. It must have a a history and there must be records of its crew and actions in World War One.

Over at Manston I spotted the KLM flight returning to Amsterdam, as well as an RAF Tornado blazing through at low level. One had a bird-strike yesterday and I'm wondering if it was the same one returning home. It led me to speculate that at the present rate of attrition we will soon have more operational Spitfires in private hands than front-line fighters in the RAF.

KLM Flight Departing

First4Lawyers TV Advert Appears with an Airads Plane Banner

The latest TV advertisement for 'First4Lawyers' made its debut appearance this week and so that means Airads now has two ads running on TV at the same time with plane banners. The first is of course the latest Go Compare installment, filmed with two aircraft but you can see the result below on YouTube.

 

Wyjdziesz Za Mnie Iwonko

A very Polish proposal at Leeds Castle in Kent today. Andrzej's flying proposal to Iwona. It all worked out in the end despite the thick fog at first.

The day started with fog down to 100 feet but with luck, it lifted just in time for Andrzej to "Pop the question."

The new telephoto lens at just under £1,000 makes a huge difference from a 1,000 feet and almost 100 mph trying to capture the moment.

Fighters at Lakenheath

(C) Jim Bennett

United States Airforce F15 fighters photographed while passing over the Lakenheath airforce base in Norfolk. Possibly more operational military aircraft below than the entire RAF on any one day?

Airads Appears in Latest Go Compare TV Advertisement

Originally filmed in March outside Blackbushe airport at the Sun Microsystems offices, the Go Compare advertisement featuring two banner aircraft has appeared.

You wouldn't realise how long we were orbiting from the film and in fact the letters were red. However, it's amazing what a little post-production CGI can do these days.

Special K's Magic Moment

A special proposal moment captured at Leeds castle in Kent this morning as Del proposes to his partner, 'Special K.'

Is that a ring he is giving her?

Is that Ed Milliband?

A banner pilot's view at 11:15 this morning, as the Airads plane arrives as scheduled, over the TUC Congress in Bournemouth, flying a special, "Leave the EU' banner message, to the Labour Leader from Bob Crow of the RMT Trade Union.

Ice Pilots Series Theme

If you wondered what the theme song for the series Ice Pilots was, then here it is. It's by David Usher and here's the YouTube track. We will have to cut it into the next Airads video.

A Wedding and a Proposal on a Wet Afternoon

Two different scenes on a very blustery September afternoon.

A banner for the wedding of Chris and Rachel at the Ashdown Country Club and Marijus proposes to Viktoria at Leeds Castle in Kent.

 A good result all round in trying weather conditions.

Daredevil Proposal

Wayne proposes to Alex in a most unusual way. Wing-walking at Damyns Hall aerodrome on a Stearman Biplane with an Airads proposal banner at just the right moment.

The first time I've ever met a happy couple in all these years.

The BBC One Show Display

Wondering what the BBC's One Show will include or leave on the cutting-room floor this Wednesday evening, as I've been told, that the project which took almost a year in planning and preparation will be screened at 7pm and here's a link to the programme on BBC iPlayer.

Can't tell you what happens before that but here's a little behind the scenes filming.

A Norwich Romance

The weather was perfect on this Bank Holiday Monday, for another successful plane banner proposal flight.

This time it was Norwich and Jamie was popping the question to Georgia, who of course said "Yes."

Airads was operating from the old USAAF WWII bomber base at Seething, ten miles from Norwich and after the first flight was postponed by Saturday's thunderstorms, this one was spot on!