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How I found my aviation passion
I was looking for something British, something very British. While I was looking for something British, I came across the Supermarine Spitfire. I spotted the Spitfire around February 2023. I'm unsure how I came across it. I visited RAF (Royal Air Force) Cosford museum a few years ago as a young kid, and they have the oldest Mark 1 Spitfire in a museum in the world. It's truly incredible to see it in person. I visit RAF Coford museum a lot. It's my favourite place to go, no matter how many times I go, it never gets old, and I always learn something new. I really enjoy talking to the amazing volunteers and staff. When I found out about the Spitfire, I started learning more about it and its history. I looked around online, on loads of websites, YouTube videos, and I got a few books on the history of the Spitfire. I then did a very long research piece on every mark of Spitfire, which you can see in the image carousel. It took me a few days and lots of research and writing to finish. I want to learn more about its navy counterpart, the Seafire, at some point. I can't find the words for why I love the Spitfire and why I'm so obsessed with it. I really don't know what it is about it I love so much, maybe the sound from the power of the Merlin or Griffon engine, the engineering behind it, or maybe it's the legacy of it and what it stands for, a true British icon. I love seeing the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flights (BBMF), the Spitfire flying with a Lancaster and a Hurricane, what a sight, and I feel very lucky we still have them flying! It's a big thing being able to see one of the two Lancasters that can still fly.
How I stumbled across aviation
When I was little, I got to see the two Lancasters fly together. The RAF PA474 and the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) FM213. I don't really remember it because of how young I was, but I can imagine the eight Merlin engines humming in harmony. I went to the RAF Cosford air show in 2015 and went to the Cosford museum a few times when I was a little kid. These are the earliest things in my life related to aviation. I believe what really gave me the interest in aviation was when my mum went for an experience flight. I didn't go with her on the flight, but I watched the other little light aircraft taking off and landing too. I also love visiting the Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford Museum to see the Spitfire Mk.1 which is the oldest one in a museum in the world, it is a very special Spitfire!
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 K9942
At RAF Cosford Museum
Why Cosford Museum?
RAF Cosford Museum has been part of my aviation journey since before I was really into aviation. Cosford is amazing! It is the easiest place for me to go to and is really accessible for me because it is free entry. It is a great way for me to be an avgeek and not be judged by others. It is also a great day out with family and friends! It gives me the opportunity to go out and learn more about what I'm interested in. Cosford is having Hangar One redone! I'm very excited to see what they do. It will take a while, but hopefully it's worth the wait. I'm sad to see the Comet go, but I have spoken to someone from the South Wales Aviation Museum (where the Comet has been moved to), and they have assured me it's in safe hands and will get the care it needs to keep the aviation history going strong! I hope to visit it again someday, hopefully soon!
Some of my photos of the aircraft at Royal Air Force Cosford Museum on the image carousel.
Please note: My photography journey and my aviation story are interlinked with each other. I would recommend reading both for it to fully make sense.
'Where photography meets aviation, growth takes off'
Doing photography hasn't just taught me new skills on how to take photos, but has also let me meet some incredible people, who have taught me so much already and keep teaching me new things! I have also made some great friends. The amazing people who make up the aviation community are truly what make it so brilliant! I love that everyone has one thing in common, aircraft! The aviation community is huge and covers every corner of the world from Australia to the United Kingdom it is just amazing. Everyone I have met and had a chat with who are in the aviation community have been fantastic! A lot of what I know has come from talking to people as well as a lot of deep diving into aircraft topics. Thank you all for your help.
My first photo shoot event was with Avro Vulcan XM655. Find out more on My Photography Journey. I loved doing that shoot, even though it was in November and was very cold, it was worth freezing for a while. It was a lot of fun!
But, the photo shoot that really made me think aviation engineering was a possible career for me was with the two English Electric Lightnings.
They have a static lightning with two liveries, one on each side, which was very cool. They have two English Electric Lightning aircraft, which are in full taxiing condition, XS904 and XR728. They used to have two miles of runway to blast down, but unfortunately, they lost the runway in 2020. The English Electric Lightning live in a quick reaction alert shed (QRA shed) and has a small apron outside the shed.
There are a few other aircraft there, too. They did an engine run for both engines, which is incredibly loud to loud for me, even with ear defenders on! It was way too loud, so I ended up borrowing one of the group members' spare pairs of ear defenders, which were a bit stronger than mine were. After the engine runs were done, I spoke to this mender, and after lots of emailing, I managed to get to help them out with the preparation for the engine runs and to go over more about the aircraft's engineering at the next shoot. It was fantastic and really opened my eyes to engineering.
About Flight Crowd
Flight Crowd is a non-profit organisation founded by Mariya Tarabanovaka. Flight Crowds' goal is to bring together Future Flight enthusiasts and experts, both to educate and to grow the wider public interest in the Electric Aviation industry. Flight Crowd events are a fantastic opportunity to grow your understanding of the aviation industry, how the aviation industry is trying to become more sustainable in future flight and how drones are starting to change how things are done.
The founder of Flight Crowd Mariya Tarabanovska
How Flight Crowd has helped me
I was very lucky to get on the list to attend one of their events. It was a 5-day event, consisting of 4 days at a two-hour team meeting each evening, where I worked with a group of people on a project, and on the last day, we were in Birmingham for an in-person event. At the team's meeting, the first hour was spent with an industry expert talking about their job and how they got into the industry, and the second hour was spent working on the team project. On the team project, with each group having a wonderful volunteer helping us, we were given a few different topics from 3 categories to design a sustainable aircraft to perform the role of the chosen topic. In the group I was in, we chose the search and rescue air ambulance, and helping older people topics. We had to come up with a design for an aircraft which uses sustainable fuel, covering the topics chosen. Over the 4 days, we each had a task to do, including internet research, aircraft design and making a PowerPoint presentation to present at the Birmingham event. After a really good team effort, we got it done on time ready to present.
The day in Birmingham was really fantastic! Everyone was lovely! It was really nice to meet everyone in person. The first thing was getting to know everyone with a few team-building exercises and instructions, and how the day was going to go. We commenced by listening to all the groups' presentations and ideas which were very interesting. Every group approached it very differently, some totally outside the box and others just ingenious. I really liked that it was judged, love a bit of friendly competition. The questions from the judges were quite tricky to answer making us really think, but we were up to the challenge. The presentations were judged over 3 different categories. This gave everyone a good chance. The second part was a careers fair, where you could talk to people from the RAF and the Police, and a few others. It was very good. I got some of my questions answered about joining the RAF.
My overall experience with Flight Crowd had been brilliant! I still stay in contact with them and some of the friends I made there, too.
More from Flight Crowd
More from Flight Crowd
My poster on the Airbus is about the testing of a hydrogen-powered engine on an A380, as part of a poster competition organised by Flight Crowd. It was for a poster on sustainable fuels. It was voted on by everyone who attended the event. Not many people entered it, I think it was 4 or 5 people, because of that, everyone won! It was very interesting to do. I learnt a lot and I love a good aircraft research project.
My group won one of the categories from the presentation, and I was one of the winners for the poster. I asked Mariya a question about whether, as a prize if I could have tickets for the RAF Cosford Air Show 2025. I was really looking forward to going, but the cost of £40 a ticket was the main problem. I knew it was a big ask, and I understood if it wasn't possible. After talking to Mariya, I had an amazing email! Two tickets to the RAF Cosford Air Show 2025! I was super excited! I thank Mariya and Flight Crowd very much for the two fantastic opportunities! The air show was good, but unfortunately, a lot of aircraft were cancelled a few days before, and the British weather had other plans, with on-and-off rain most of the day, but that's just one of those things. It was still good, I got some great photos and really enjoyed it. I also got to go to Cosford museum with Flight Crowd too. They were short on people to go. I thought it would be nice to teach others if they wanted to know about some of the planes there as I am a regular visitor there and know the aircraft and history quite well. It was a nice day out, and it was fun to meet some more new people.
I am very grateful for what Flight Crowd has done for me. I hope that by telling others about Flight Crowd, it will help them in their mission and help others learn and have more opportunities. They have helped me, now I'm trying to help them.
The beauty of aviation
What showed me the true beauty of aviation. It was a very long day, but totally worth it! The number of aircraft on static display alone from all over the world is hard to imagine. The number of planes doing a flying display was even more impressive. The amount of skill each pilot has is amazing, and how they bring their own bit of art to their display truly makes it memorable. Everyone I spoke to was really nice. I'm not very tall, which makes it very hard to see over other people in the crowds. When I was at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) 2024, I was really struggling to see the planes, which also made it a lot harder to get photos. I saw a small spot by the fence line. I really didn't want to be in anyone's way. I know how it feels to have someone in your way when you're trying to get photos, and I didn't want to be that person. I asked the person who was next to the small spot by the fence line if they were okay for me to stand in the small open spot. They were. I did check a few times that I definitely wasn't in the way. Throughout the day, I talked to these people, who were very nice and were happy to have a bit of a chat. I think my favourite part of the flying display was the Canadian F-18 doing a fly past with a Spitfire. What a sight it was! I really liked the RAF Typhoon Display team's Typhoon livery. It was a typhoon with a D-day livery with F-MOG on both sides. It was nicknamed Moggy, and the pilot was Flight Lieutenant Turnbull. He was very good. I have a slight obsession with Moggy, and I'm very sad it only did one display season and has been retired to RAF Lossiemouth. Doing RIAT for the first time really let me see what aviation is really all about. The true capabilities of fighter jets and the cutting-edge engineering behind them.
In 2023/2024, there weren't any RAF Battle of Britain Memorial flights (BBMF) Spitfires or anything with a Merlin engine (except the Lancaster later on) flying. There was a tragic accident involving one of the BBMF Spitfires. It is with great sadness to say, this tragic accident was fatal for the pilot, Squadron Leader Mark Long. My thoughts are with his family and friends. I wish them the best in this difficult time. You will be missed by many, Mark Long. Rest in peace.
Poland F-16 Tiger Demon Team
I was very lucky in 2024 at the Royal International Air Tattoo, to see the F-16 Tiger Demon Team Poland twice this year! The first time I saw them was at Cosford Air Show, and then I saw them again at the Royal International Air Tattoo. The skill of the pilots was just incredible, and the display really showed that.
I believe I saw SLAB at the Royal International Air Tattoo, chilling on the wing of one of the other Polish F-16s.
Unfortunately, one of the F-16 Pilots, Major Maciej "SLAB" Krakowian, was practising for an air show when, for unknown reasons, there was an accident.
My thoughts are with his family, friends.
I did this art piece as my way of showing appreciation for the fantastic display I got to see him do.
Blue skies forever, Major Maciej "SLAB" Krakowian, you will be missed very much.
To be continued...
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