Duckpond FC - Champions of Essex

Duckpond FC Flies with Airads

Out to Harwich this afternoon to find an open-top bus, celebrating DuckPond FC as the 'Champions of Essex.'  I followed the big red bus for a while and took the photos below, while chasing the bus in and out of the traffic.

Nice coverage on the BBC too!

Past the End of the Pier

Congratulations Terry and Maria on the first proposal at Brighton pier this year.

Terry conveniently wore an orange shirt, which made the happy couple easier to spot among the crowd below, as you can see from the photos.

Wellesbourne Open Day

Airads Over Stratford-upon-Avon

A couple of nice photos taken yesterday over Stratford-upon-Avon by Mike Roberts of Take Flight Aviation, who co-sponsored a banner for Wellesbourne Moutford's open day.

The airfield is another facing the threat of housing development and needs everyone's support.

Last Games of the Football Season

Banner over Anfield

It's been a busy day for plane banners, with one over Anfield, a second over Glasgow and the weather over Norfolk, frustrating plans for a third over Norwich.

The two that flew made a considerable public and media impact, proving once again that advertising or sending a message by plane, has a unique and cost-effective appeal, not found elsewhere.

Magners over Glasgow

Pilot's View of Celtic

Always Looking Up at Us

Always Looking Up at Us

A controversial flight over Portsmouth's Fratton Park football ground on Saturday, when rival Southampton fans, flew a banner with the message: "ALWAYS LOOKING UP AT US #SFC" over Pompey's game with Bristol Rovers. Portsmouth won 3-2.

Lots of comment on Twitter and the local Daily Echo newspaper carried the story.

Thanks to the glider fraternity at Lee on Solent airfield for helping make it a seamless operation inside their own busy afternoon of flying.

Fratton Park

A Tough Act to Follow?

Another Airads Plane Banner?

Old Trafford is certainly a tough act to follow but Easter weekend comes with another challenge and an unexpected surprise over someones' football ground. Not quite as big as Manchester United or Anfield but certain to attract a little attention of its own.

Congratulations John and Natalie

At Brimpton airfield this afternoon, under the pretext of visiting to look at a unique Percival Provost aircraft in the hangar, Natalie was surprised by a waiting Airads aircraft, which conveniently flew down the runway, with John's proposal flying behind.

Pictures below and unfortunately the pilot could not share the champagne celebration

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.