Arthur Gibson

(1926-1992)

Arthur Gibson was a photographer...and an excellent one at that.

He built up a reputation for creating imaginative and exciting air-to-air photographs from his twin-engine Aztec which had the registration G-FOTO. As far as we are aware all the images taken from G-FOTO are in the archive.

CONCORDE AND THE RED ARROWS

Arthur is today mainly remembered for his photographs of Concorde and the Red Arrows, Arthur's company had the contract with BAE to promote and advertise Concorde. He followed Concorde round the world capturing images at dozens of airports and in trials from New York to the Far East. The huge number of images that he took are in these archives as are the thousands he took of the Red Arrows. His close friendship with Ray Hanna gave him amazing access to the team, from which two books of 'the Reds' were produced, one with the original Gnats, and the second with the Hawks. Ray Hanna was part of the original Red Arrows team in 1965 and then became leader of the team from 1966 to 1969. Arthur remained the preferred photographer until his death. Arthur was also a film director and his film of the Red Arrows with the Hawks aired on the BBC in the 80's.

THE BEST OF BRITISH

The image Arthur was most proud of was the Internationally acclaimed "The Best of British" which caught the Red Arrows formatting with Concorde and QE2 on 18 May 1985. Arthur would explain that this image did not happen by chance. It was several months in the making, coordinating 'the Reds', the British Airways Concorde and Cunard's QE2. There was a tight window where all three were in the same location at the same time and the weather had to play its part (which it did). The image we know today was taken from 'Red 11', flown by former Reds manager Ray Thilthorpe, inverted over the best of British trio below. 'Red 10', flown by former Reds leader Brian Hoskins, was carrying a BBC camera. The shot bad been thought up after a jokey comment from Concorde pilot, Captain Jock Lowe, who suggested 'throwing in' QE2 alongside the Reds and Concorde. However impossible the idea seemed it gained pace, got approval from all parties, and history was made.

TORNADO, JAGUAR, LIGHTNING AND MORE

From the 1960s until his untimely death in 1992 he was the first port of call for companies both in the aircraft industry and out. During his time photographing for BAC, the British Aircraft Corporation, he covered such events as the rollout, taxying trials and first flight of the Panavia Tornado F2 and the Sepecat Jaguar. He travelled far and wide capturing iconic images of the Royal Saudi Air Force's Lightnings and Strikemasters, the ill-fated Nimrod AEW, French carrier trials on Clemenceau for the Jaguar, the maiden flights of ATP, BAE-146 and many more.

CIVIL Aviation

In the civil world Arthur photographed many of the BAC 1-11s, HS748s and BAE-146s for airlines such as Faucett, Aspen, Ozark, BUA, Caledonian, British Airways and Air 2000. His regular airline customers included extensive work with Gulf Air as well as Aer Lingus, BUA, BIA, Caledonian, Seaboard World and Cyprus Airways. But perhaps his most regular client was Northwest Orient.

NORTHWEST

Bryan Moon had been assistant advertising manager at BAC when he was recruited first by Aloha Airlines and subsequently by Minnesota-based Northwest Airlines. Bryan had a very strong opinion of Arthur Gibson's work. "Arthur Gibson was by far the best aviation photographer ever. I flew with him many times. He was a perfectionist and my best friend. . .the NWA pictures were commissioned by me. In those days, when a 747 or DC10 was scheduled for delivery, I chartered a chase plane for Arthur to work his photo magic. I was in the NWA aircraft at the time and his pictures were used in NWA advertising for years. Sadly he died organising a British Airshow and I was at his funeral service.

The collection is packed with some glorious air-to-air images of Boeing 747s, Tristars, VC10s and many others.

FIGHTER MEET, FARNBOROUGH ETC

In the world of airshows he was a founder of the world-famous Fighter Meet from its inception in 1984 along with pilots John Watts and Paul Warren Wilson. Arthur took many air-to-air groups of classic warbirds as well as all the images required for the following year's publicity and promotion. He also regularly covered Farnborough, Paris, Alconbury, Greenham Common, Middle Wallop and Biggin Hill air shows.

CATALINA

Again with John Watts and Paul Warren Wilson Arthur was a founder member of Plane Sailing's Catalina operations. David Legg of The Catalina Society very kindly provided the following information.

During 1984, Royal Air Force fast jet pilots John Watts and Paul Warren Wilson decided to acquire a Consolidated Catalina flying boat in South Africa and bring it to the UK to operate on the UK airshow circuit and to take part in other promotional and film work as opportunities arose. They formed Plane Sailing Air Displays Ltd. Arthur Gibson was a founding member of Plane Sailing's Catalina operation and provided the group with a great deal of support and advice during the early days.

When Plane Sailing's first Catalina arrived in the UK in February 1985 with an RAF Nimrod for company, Arthur was aloft over the English Channel and RAF Manston to record the event in his photo-ship Piper Aztec (G-FOTO). During the first few seasons of operation, Arthur used his contacts in the media world to negotiate advertising and film opportunities for the Catalina. In 1986, The Catalina Society was formed to support Plane Sailing's Catalina and Arthur was very much involved in providing material that formed the initial membership packs sent to subscribers.

During the 1980s the Fighter Meet airshow at North Weald was taken on by John, Paul and Arthur, and Arthur was instrumental in publicity and sponsorship, gaining hard-hitting sponsors that over the years included the Express Newspaper Group, Northwest Orient Airlines, the Kenning car and van rental company and Kodak. The Thursday before the show became the traditional 'press day' and Arthur would gather sponsors and the media at North Weald for a briefing that invariably culminated in formation flypasts by Second World War 'warbirds', including the Catalina, with accompanying pyrotechnics detonated on the airfield, all filmed from his Aztec.

Arthur died in 1992 but Plane Sailing and The Catalina Society will always be grateful for the very great deal of help he gave to the Catalina operation, starting with his practical advice and funding during our first Catalina's recovery flight from South Africa.

CLIENTS

Arthur was what you might call a 'jobbing' photographer and. as such, he was hired by many other clients, He did plenty of work for Field's, the aircraft service company based initially at Croydon, later at Heathrow and eventually at a number of UK based airfields. He worked for companies as diverse as Cadogan Travel, Halmatic Boat Builders, Parker Pens, Gonzalez Byass sherry, Ramsgate Harbour, Allied Irish Bank and Helena Rubinstein. However the core of Arthur's work was aviation and that was how he will always be remembered.

There are more than 50,000 negatives and transparencies in the collection, most of which have either never been seen before or have been in storage for more than 30 years. More will be uploaded to this site regularly creating an unparalleled collection of great aviation images.

Many thanks to David Legg and Dominic Winter Auctioneers for the opportunity to use extracts from their text. The Bryan Moon quote is from ladyskywriter.com, from the sadly recently deceased Anne Kerr's blog.