‘Bring the Noise!’

We’ve been working on four projects for almost a year now and it is a privilege to release all of them in support of the Typhoon Display Team’s chosen charity for the 2023 season - Head Up.

You may have noticed some very special auctions being offered by the team, starting during the Royal International Air Tattoo 2023. Typhoon display pilot Brighty, has been part of this story, along with Sainty and Paddy, as we sought to recognise a very special jet that has been an integral part of all three of their seasons - Blackjack!

Three very special patches have been released in support of the charity, along with one print - featuring 29(R) Squadron’s colours and that most recognisable airframe, ZK914.

We’ve built a 2021/22 patch for Sainty and Paddy, with the cards surrounding their jet totalling 21 - which is of course a winning hand in Blackjack! The card numbers featured recognise the Squadrons they have each served upon and the Jack features Paddy in his Martin Baker Mk.16A ejection seat! His helmet is recognised in all its glory, proudly displaying the callsign ‘Anarchy’ with the reflection in his visor looking out across the clouds as his spare jet breaks to land. Even the Union Flag canards are visible in the reflection, behind the arch of the canopy!

The 2023 patch displays a new profile of Blackjack, but of course Brighty loses the game, having accidentally hit a total of 23 with his previous Squadrons, IX(B) and 617. His cards display the mighty Tornado GR.4, which he flew before transitioning to the Typhoon and his ‘leather’ flying helmet is depicted with an entirely different reflection - that of the beautiful and iconic Lancaster busting the dams of the Ruhr during the famous ‘Dambuster’ raids of 1943. His 2023 season has been very special, with joint flypasts alongside the Lancaster featuring at air shows across the UK.

Of course Blackjack and other airframes would not get airborne on the display circuit without the dedication and effort put in by engineering teams on the ground. To recognise these extraordinary individuals who ensure the jet is ready for flight, we created a patch that marks them out as members of 29(R) Squadron. Their Typhoons all display the ‘XXX’ symbology synonymous with the unit, and atop that is an eagle, which features at the centre of the Squadron’s badge, dropping a spanner past a silhouette of a Typhoon beyond. From a display point-of-view, this honours Team Lightning, Tornado and Phantom, who bring the noise in so many ways!

In this bundle we’ve also added in a bonus Typhoon patch from us. The patch for the RAF’s II(AC) Squadron before they deployed on Operation SHADER.

All of this effort has been made to support a very important charity and we are so very pleased to be able to help the RAF’s Typhoon Display Team do so. Head Up is a charity set up by four veterans to promote mental health awareness for the UK Armed Forces and help Forced personnel build a positive mindset to improve their mental resilience.

We hope that these four projects will be a success for Head Up and encourage all to engage with the auctions and competitions which are to be run by the Typhoon Display Team, to be in with a chance to own signed copies of our print and patches. All those made available via our website will be unsigned.