All pictures are copyright Steve de Roeck. Please do not copy them without written permission. To purchase prints or for enquiries, please email Steve de Roeck.

Home

Steve de Roeck has been connected with aviation since 1956 when he joined 140 Matlock Squadron of the Air Training Corps. Like so many of the post war generation he never wanted to do anything other than join the Royal Air Force and fly what is probably still the worlds most famous aircraft, the Spitfire.

The day he was old enough he joined the RAF, not as a pilot, but as an aircraft technician, first training as an instrument fitter then an electronics engineer, specialising in computers at a time when computers were still very much in their infancy.

Unfortunately the specialisation was so important to the RAF that it was impossible to later transfer out of that profession into the role he wanted most, to fly. Undaunted he went off and obtained civilian licences, first as a private pilot, later adding an instrument rating and flying instructors ratings.

Now working two jobs, coincidentally both for the RAF, he found himself designing and repairing advanced computers as an RAF NCO during the daytime whilst evenings and weekends were spent as a civilian pilot instructor, teaching RAF scholarship cadets to fly.

An RAF fund sponsored two epic aeroplane adventures, but this was not enough to satisfy his needs and so having obtained a civilian Commercial Pilots Licence and after ten years of service, he left the Royal Air Force to spend the next thirty five years pursuing his yearnings for flying adventure and travel.

He spent time in Africa, teaching flying, navigation, law, and aircraft subjects. His fondest memory of his time in Africa is when he flew one of his students to the students ranch at Timbavati, famous for its white lion cubs.

Following an overnight stay at the ranch, they found their way back to the aeroplane obstructed by a herd of zebra and several giraffe. After some time and a lot of hurried “tactical withdrawals“, they were eventually able to reach the aircraft and return to civilisation.

Flying in the bush, he would occasionally find himself flying his old J3 Cub along high cliff edges, formating with large vultures which would happily soar with him, just a few yards off his wingtip.

With marriage and two children adding to his responsibilities and having obtained an Airline Transport Pilots Licence, Steve moved from bush flying into the airlines, living and working in Hong Kong and Australia before returning to Britain when his children reached school age.

With over 150 types of general aviation aircraft already under his belt, he added F27’s, Viscounts, DC9, B737, B757, Learjet, Embraer 145 and a host of other types to his long list of aircraft flown.

During his time in the UK he also managed to find time to buy, manage and sell several small hotels, design web sites, become a Magistrate, a Community Councilor, a founder member and CEO of a national charity, travel to Antarctica and China, and spend protracted periods of time in Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany.

Due to his frequent transatlantic flights, for Monarch Airlines, he also spent a lot of time exploring the wilds of Maine, Nova Scotia and Quebec.

Hand in hand with traveling comes photography, which was always in the background until Steve finally retired from full time flying.

Steve started off with an old Chinon Memotron camera and 55mm lens, graduating through Rollieflex and Mamia to full plate, then back to Pentax 6X7, before obtaining a Canon EOS5D. All his images are now recorded digitally.

As a result of the digital revolution in photography he is renewing his acquaintanceship with computers, as a student of Photoshop CS2 and Dreamweaver.

All the photographs on this site were taken by Steve with the Canon EOS5D which, though large by modern standards, is still smaller, lighter and considerably more convenient in the confines of a cramped aircraft cockpit than the old Pentax 6X7.

Email Steve de Roeck