As the sun started to illuminate the breathtaking Swiss scenery, we reached the top of the ski lift, it was around 7:00am, this was when the real work begun. I’d heard rumours and read about people’s experiences of the climb, this proved to be tougher than any climb for photography I’d attempted before, particularly with a heavy camera bag full of equipment.

We went to this event not knowing what to expect. We cannot say that we had the aircraft and livery variety of previous editions of the NTM, but taking into consideration the limitations caused by the pandemic, it was a positive experience. As we say in Portuguese, “everything that comes up in the net is fish”.

The EA-18G "Growler" is a mythical beast. We've probably all seen her; a Rhino all dressed up in Electronic Attack aircraft clothing, with stubby-looking "missiles" where the wingtip rails would be, a few bumps and bulges where a typical Rhino would be smooth, and of course, usually carrying the oddly-shaped pods-with-propellers made famous by Prowler crews on the under-wing stations.

When the FDA Northeast crew arrived, the Flood yellow and green Fleet was all lined up, Pitts S-1C, Aeronca Chief, Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser (owned by Jim Schultes) and a “smiling” RV-4. One plane was notably missing. Jason Flood would be flying in later in his Pitts S-1S affectionately named “The Red Ghost”.