Since January 2004 I've been fortunate to have done air-to-air photoshoots with the Irish Air Corps on multiple occasions, shooting both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

My first ever fixed wing photoshoot, courtesy of the Air Corps, was on January 29th 2004, almost 18 years ago at the time of writing this article. Both the subject and photoship were SIAI Marchetti SF260WE Warrior trainers of the Flying Training School (FTS).

Having never done an air-to-air photoshoot before, I had no idea what to expect, or what would happen, but thanks to the superb flying by Mark Prendergast (photoship) and Jim Gavin (subject aircraft), I managed to get a few very nice pictures.

I was using a Fuji S602Z 3.1MP camera, the quality of which was poor when compared to today's cameras, and when shooting burst the viewfinder locked up so you had to move the camera in the approximate direction your target was moving and hope you kept the subject in the frame. It was a case of on the job trial and error, but thanks to Jim Gavin's patience, we managed to capture a few nice photos, see below.

I'm ever grateful to the Irish Air Corps for introducing me to aviation and aviation photography, and in the year of their 100th Anniversary, I would like to thank them for their support over the years, and wish them all the best for the next 100 years.