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James (AKA AviaColour) has travelled across the world in pursuit of photographing aircraft, but is most frequently found here at Heathrow.
We caught up with James to find out about his interest in aviation and shared a selection of his best Heathrow photos, enjoy!
Name: James Mellon
Age: 34
Location: Hertfordshire, England
All 3
My Father took me to Luton Airport from a very young age. The sights and sounds of the aircraft were fascinating to me, and I was hooked. On special occasions I was taken to Heathrow, where we enjoyed the views from the visitors terrace on top of the old Terminal Two. The airport was so busy, there were aircraft everywhere. DC-9’s, 727’s, Concorde. Operated by airlines from across the world wearing colourful liveries and logos that I began to memorise. The experience from that vantage point, right in the middle of the action, ignited something within me. I soon knew that I wanted to grow up to be involved in all of this, somehow.
Nowadays I work right beside Heathrow (so I visit more frequently than when I was five years old!) I love many of the same things that excited me 30 years ago. It’s a very busy airport with almost constant movements, flown by a variety of airlines from across the world, some wearing colourful liveries. We also get to see aircraft wearing special liveries. I love to photograph these as many are unique, colourful designs, and some are worn on the aircraft for only a short period of time.
I like to see aircraft of all shapes and sizes, but the vast number of widebody jets present at Heathrow is staggering. It’s also a good place to see aircraft perform a banking manoeuvre shortly after take-off, turning left or right to head in the direction of their destination. It’s a particularly impressive sight when performed by a widebody, and the abundance of Boeing 747’s and Airbus A380’s here allow for some great photo opportunities.
The British Airways ‘Landor’ Boeing 747-400. It’s the one of BA’s four retro liveried aircraft which excites me the most, as it evokes memories of my earliest visits to Heathrow in the late eighties and nineties. This was the livery and brand identity used by BA during that period, designed by London-based agency Landor Associates.
The General Electric GE90 is the world’s most powerful turbofan engine. The largest variant to date is rated to produce up to 115,300 lbf of thrust. For comparison, one GE90 has approximately the same amount of thrust as all four engines powering an Airbus A340-300. The GE90 was designed specifically for the Boeing 777, and dozens of GE90 powered 777’s can be seen and heard at Heathrow every day.
Flickr – jamesmellon
This is the primary location for my photos, with regular uploads of aircraft I’ve seen on my travels.
Twitter – AviaColour
Occasional tweets with photos, the vast majority taken at Heathrow.
Instagram – aviacolour
I’ve only just joined Instagram so I don’t have any followers! I’ll begin to use it if people would like to see my photos there!
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