Our Pilots

Lee Proudfoot

Lee has been a professional formation display pilot since 1991 and has flown more than 12,000 hours in over 60 different types of aircraft. Lee has flown for various commercial airlines and spent 7 ‘exciting’ (and very cold!) years as chief pilot, ‘Bush’ flying in the Antarctic for the British Antarctic Survey, as well as taking a permanent position with Breitling fighters for 4 years. More recently, he was responsible for flying the Austrian aerial action sequence in ‘Spectre’.

Brian Smith

Brian joined the Old Flying Machine Company in 1986, following a background of aerobatic and display flying with the Tiger Club, during which time the association with Ray Hanna was made.

A retired airline pilot, Brian has amassed over 27,000 hours flying time on many different types of aircraft ranging from ultra-lights to Jumbos, including 8 different variants of the legendary Spitfire.

Alongside OFMC, Brian is privileged to continue to fly with the other private collections based at Duxford and elsewhere in the UK, and proudly continues to display historic aircraft in the true Hanna tradition.

Paul Bonhomme

Red Bull Air Race Champion Paul Bonhomme is relishing the thought of another year of flying for OFMC.

It all began for Bonhomme as a “hangar rat”, cleaning planes as a boy in an Aero Club, and by the time he was 17 he had a flying licence and he started training in aerobatics immediately. His father was a pilot in the British Army Air Corps and later an Airline Captain, and his brother is also in the aviation industry as an Airline Captain too. It’s little wonder then, that the youngest member of the Bonhomme family also ended up as a professional pilot flying as Captain on the Boeing 747.

Paul has flown in over 500 airshows since 1986.

Steve Jones

Steve is a professional pilot who has been immersed in aviation from a very young age. He got involved with aircraft engineering when he was 16 and learnt to fly at 17. He towed gliders, then advertising banners, taught aerobatics then flew corporate jets and Boeing 747s. After a long career he is now a retired B747 captain. His first aerobatic display was in 1983 and has since flown aerobatic displays in far-flung parts of the world. Steve’s sporting flying has included winning the Kings Cup air race in 1991, being British Aerobatic Champion in 1996, competing in the Red Bull Air Race and winning numerous medals for formation aerobatics as “The Matadors” duo with his friend Paul Bonhomme. When not flying interesting aircraft he will probably be tinkering with old racing cars.