A military family
I was born into a military family in Wiltshire, England in the mid 60s. My Father, who joined the RAF in 1957, was stationed at RAF Yatesbury at the time of my arrival. I was immersed into the world of aviation from the very start. I began school life at RAF Tengah, Singapore 1969, with the background noise of Lightning's and Canberra's. So it's with no surprise my school books were full of drawings of aeroplanes and pilots.
Air Training Corps
My love of aviation continued into my teenage years when I joined the Air Training Corps in 1978. 1116 Sqn Woodley was my squadron for 3 years. A great time was spent shooting, flying and attending camps on RAF stations in the summer holidays. A lot of family time was spent at airshows with vivid memories of Starfighter's and Phantom's roaring over the skies of RAF Greenham Common. It looked liked my career ambitions were working towards a life in the RAF, but I also had a talent for art as well. As school life came to an end, decisions had to be made. Academically I did not excel so a career in the RAF looked unlikely so a creative path was chosen.
Graphic Design
A long career in the commercial art world as a graphic designer had begun. My passion for aviation continued though, with the added interest of sports cars., spending the early 80s buzzing around in an old beat-up 1969 MGB. Frequent visits to Brookland's and Old Warden satisfied my fascination with aircraft and cars. The classic aircraft and car collection at Shuttleworth was a regular haunt. After working in various design agencies for nearly 20 years I decided to forge my own way in 2000, going solo with a freelance business. The MGB was exchanged for a sensible family car and I concentrated on building a reputation for myself.
Flyingraphic's takes flight
One day my brother was looking over my shoulder and saw some aviation poster ideas I was sketching. "They would look good on a t-shirt," were his words. This fired off a light-bulb moment in my head., so before we knew it the name Flyingraphics was registered at Companies House and I was learning how to build a website. The initial idea was to sell out of the back of our car at small shows and get some sales online. This would get us into airshows for free and earn some pocket-money at the same time. It was 2014 and ecommerce platforms were basic, but the first website helped to kickstart the Flyingraphic's brand. It was hard work and great fun with long days and nights printing, folding and packing while continuing with our day jobs.
Airshow adventures
Setting off in the early hours to get to a windswept airfield in the middle of nowhere was a new weekend occupation. We started with a garden pagoda that blew to bits on our first outing, requiring a larger, more substantial Gala tent. Our UK airshow adventures took us to Bruntingthorpe, Abingdon, Cosford, Farnborough and the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford. We spent many happy hours meeting our customers and making new friends who also loved aviation. The design collection grew and grew with many suggestions coming directly from customers. Designs ranged from the Fairey Firefly to the F35B and everything in between. The Flyingraphic's brand started to reach around the world with sales going to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all over Europe.
Pivoting
Then the world came to a sudden halt in 2020. Flyingraphic's went into damage limitation mode to ride out the pandemic. This situation also made me re-evaluate the business and the direction it would take next. Technology in digital printing onto garments was advancing all the time with the emergence of 'print on demand' suppliers. The decision was made to outsource all the print, which overcame the challenge of stock control and gave me the opportunity to grow the design collection even more. At this pivotal point my brother stepped away from the business as he was unable to commit any more of his time and continue with his day job. There would be no more airshows so the focus would be on building the business online with improvements to the website and adding more products. I started to collaborate with other aviation artists to extend the design range. With illustrators such Chris Sandham-Bailey whose stunning aircraft profiles are well known in the aviation publishing world.
What next?
In 2024 Runwaygraphics was launched as a sister-site to Flyingraphics with designs aimed at enthusiasts of commercial aircraft which is enjoying a slow and steady start. Another new brand called Slipstreamgraphics is in development aimed at customers who love their classic cars and motorcycles. This new website will hopefully be launched later in 2025.
To readers of this story who may have their own business ventures they will appreciate building a small business is a journey of highs and lows with a mixture exhilarating successes and stomach-churning failures. I am excited for the future of the business as I continue to enjoy drawing pictures of aeroplanes and cars and to share my work with enthusiasts around the world.