Our Team
We are a family run business with father and son duo as Chief and Deputy Chief Pilot; whilst Maggie & Maeve work behind the scenes on our bookings, charity days, marketing and accounts.
The rest of our team are all aviation enthusiasts and highly qualified pilots; many of whom have known our family for over 20 years. Wing Walk with us and we promise to make you feel safe, with a viewing spot for your family and friends directly in front of the aeroplane and most importantly the flight of your life!
Father & Son, Chief Pilot & Deputy Chief Pilot; Richard & Michael Pickin
Richard Pickin - Chief Pilot
Richard has been flying for 50 years and has a passion for aerobatics. He was a member of the British unlimited Aerobatic Team for over 25 years and has competed all over Europe. At the end of 2023 he estimates that he has flown over 4000 wing walk flights.
Richard’s first flying lesson was in a glider at age 14 and he quickly moved on to powered aircraft, soloing on his seventeenth birthday, the youngest possible age at that time and qualifying as a flying instructor at twenty three years of age. Soon he was teaching aerobatics in old biplanes and flew his first airshow at age twenty five. He came 2nd in his first aerobatic competition although now admits only 3 pilots entered !
Richard holds a Commercial Pilots Licence, Flight Instructor Rating, Display Pilot Authorisation and is a Display Pilot Examiner regularly revalidating other airshow pilots during the summer.
Michael Pickin - Deputy Chief Pilot
Michael started flying at a very young age being inspired by his father. Winning his first aerobatic competition at just fourteen years old, he went on to become the youngest person ever to be awarded a CAA Display Authorisation for display flying.
At the age of twenty three he became the youngest ever British Advanced National Aerobatic Champion. Michael is still a very active display pilot and has performed all over the world as a solo display pilot and as part of a formation aerobatic team.
Michael is equally passionate about vintage aircraft and flying warbirds, ever since completing his Private Pilots Licence in a Bucker Jungmann and now flies experience flights in the Spitfire. Michael has flown over fifty different aircraft types ranging from gliders to airliners and is an active Commercial Pilot on the Boeing 737.
Dave Evans - Pilot, Safety Officer & Ground Crew
Dave, an aviation enthusiast since childhood, began flying at 14 in an Auster. He learned to fly gliders at RAF Manston in 1982 through the Air Training Corps. Working at a pub helped him finance his Private Pilot’s Licence after leaving school. Joining the Tiger Club at Redhill in 1984, he honed his skills in vintage planes, aerobatics, and formation flying. In 1994, he started air display piloting with the Tiger Club’s Turbulent Formation Team, including wingwalking displays on a vintage Tiger Moth. Transitioning to a Commercial pilot in 1999, Dave left his job as a London Fireman to join The AeroSuperbatics Stearman Wing Walking Team. He flew air displays around the UK & Europe during the summer months. In 2001, he joined the Hardwick Warbirds team in Norfolk, flying various aircraft before piloting the P-51 Mustang in 2008. Dave has diverse experience, including flying for the WingWalk Company, working as a Commercial Pilot, Flying Instructor, Parachute Pilot, and examiner, accumulating over 6000hrs on 100+ aircraft types, from ultralights to fast jets.
Tim Barnby - Pilot & Ground Crew
Tim, inspired by his family, started flying at 14 on a Tiger Moth in Surrey. By 17, he got his Private Pilot's License and flew old biplanes. He flew various aircraft for three years, even towed gliders to advance for his Commercial License. At 20, he landed his first commercial flying job. After 40 years and 30,000 hours, he's flown many different planes, including Boeing and Airbus models. Tim is a dedicated sports pilot who's done aerobatics since 1982. He was part of the British Aerobatic Team from 1987 to 1994 and became the British Unlimited Aerobatic Champion in 1997. Tim still flies vintage planes like the Pitts Special and works as a Captain on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner for a UK airline.
Jeremy Britcher - Pilot & Ground Crew
Jez gained his licence in 2005, and went on to fly 757s and 767s commercially. He has also flown the Tiger Moth, P40 Prentice, DH Devon, Jackeroo, and Harvard before progressing to the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar in 2018, flying two-seat and Single-seater Spitfires. In April 2021 Jez reached the milestone of 500 flying hours on the Spitfire.
Jez is a highly experienced pilot and joined The Wing Walk Company in 2022 ,he was part of our first wing walk formation airshow display at Headcorn Aerodrome in June 2022 for the Battle of Britain Airshow.
Ollie Babbage - Deputy Chief Pilot & Ground Crew
Ollie’s first solo came aged 22 whilst he was studying Aviation Engineering at Brunel University. From here his love for anything aviation led him into work as ground crew for several years allowing him access to fly various types of aircraft around the UK and Europe.
Ollie learnt to fly at Headcorn aerodrome, in Kent and started to build hours whilst studying for his Commercial Pilots Licence and working as Pilots Assistant for The Wing Walk Company where he managed to regularly get his hands on the controls of our Boeing Stearman.
His day job now is as a First Officer flying another type of Boeing, the 737-800 based at Stansted and traveling to destinations around Europe and North Africa.
His passion for sport aviation takes him to Headcorn on most days off where he is learning to fly aerobatics in a Russian Yak 52.
Callum Collins - Pilot & Ground Crew
Callum entered into aviation joining the Headcorn Parachute Centre making his first jump at 16 years of age, then very soon after obtained his Private Pilots Licence learning on the Cessna 152 in 2011.
He worked within Airline Operations at TUI Airways and also the Aircraft Registrations Department at the Civil Aviation Authority before training as a Commercial Pilot in 2016. This involved 18 months of training and fourteen written exams.
Now based at Luton Airport, Callum is employed as a first officer flying the Airbus A320 and A321 for a major UK low cost carrier to destinations in and around Europe.
On his days off, Callum ferries light aircraft to various bases for maintenance and loves getting his hands on anything that flies, especially our Boeing Stearman when we visit different airports during the summer.
Chris Bulman - Groundcrew
A love of aviation the result of being born on and subsequently brought up on RAF bases. His first chance to ‘get the stick’ came at the age of 14 learning to fly gliders at RAF Cosford with the occasional flight in the Chipmunk tow plane thrown in for good measure. Aspirations of a career flying fast jets quickly disappeared when a RAF medical turned him down for flying training due to a childhood skull fracture. Not perturbed Chris decided that if he couldn’t go up he’d go down, and joined the Royal Navy as a diver. Trying again to get airborne Chris applied to be a search and rescue diver on the Navy’s helicopters but was thwarted again by the central air medical school again bringing up his previous injury.
After a career in commerce Chris retired and started working with vintage aircraft at Headcorn but the flying bug was still there so at 60 he obtained his PPL and promptly bought a small plane to play with, and he’s still playing!
Luke Cope - Ground Crew
Luke is currently an A'Level student and has had a passion for all things aviation from a very young age. His dream is to someday become a commercial airline pilot where he can travel the world doing what he loves most. Luke is at his happiest at an airfield or 37,000 feet above the ground!
Tobias Blundell - Ground Crew
I am currently in my last year of A levels and once completed, hope to go off to start commercial training to pursue a career in aviation. At the time of writing this, I am now at the end of completing my PPL training at Compton Abbas Airfield and this is where I first met the members of the Wing Walk Company where I was intrigued to learn more about this fantastic form of flying. My love of aviation first became apparent when my dad started to take me to air shows such as RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo) and Yeovilton air day. When treated to a trial flight for my 14th birthday, the passion just grew from there and continues to be my dream career.
Elliot Styles - Ground Crew
Elliot has always been passionate about aviation from a young age. He started out his career in aviation working as part of a small team to develop a brand new company offering WW2 flight experiences.
During his time working and building up his experience at Headcorn Aerodrome he gained his Private Pilots Licence in 2018. Shortly after gaining his PPL he went on to complete his Airline Transportation Pilot Licence (ATPL) exams and enrolled at Stapleford Flight Centre to complete his training to become a Commercial Pilot.
Elliot has since gone on to gain his Flight Instructor Rating and is now teaching students how to fly from Headcorn Aerodrome. He loves nothing more than to share just how incredible aviation and flying can be with anyone new yet to experience it.