Paul Bonhomme. The fifth round of the Red Bull Air Race series took place around a circuit within the arena of the Ascot racecourse
Paul Bonhomme (born 22 September 1964) is a British aerobatics and commercial airliner pilot and owner/race pilot of Team Bonhomme, the muliple World Champions of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Bonhomme was born into a family of aviators. His father was an airline pilot and his mother worked as a flight attendant. His brother is a commercial pilot. Bonhomme's flying career started in 1980 at White Waltham Airfield as a general dogsbody by cleaning hangars, polishing aircraft and refuelling aircraft. At age 18 he gained his Private Pilot License and subsequently became a flight instructor. In 1985 he became an air taxi pilot and in 1987 joined Air Cymru, a Welsh charter airline, flying the Boeing 737. He now flies as a captain of Boeing 747s for British is married with a stepson and three daughters, living in South Cambridgeshire, England. His aerobatics career started in 1986, flying an Ultimate Pitts. He went on to fly the Yak-50, Extra 300 and then the Sukhoi Su-26 in 1991 for Richard Goode Aerobatics. He has flown over 650 public displays and flies vintage fighters for "The Old Flying Machine Company" at Duxford Aerodrome. Aircraft types Bonhomme has flown include the Supermarine Spitfire (MkV, MkIX, MkIXT and MkXIV), Hawker Hurricane, P-40 Kittyhawk, F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-63 Kingcobra, P-51 Mustang and AD-4 Skyraider. Since 1994 he has been flying formation displays around the world with his colleague former Air Race pilot and Television commentator Steve Jones as "The Matadors". They won three gold medals and one silver medal in the FAI series. He has competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship since its inception in 2003 achieving an unsurpassed record of 36 podium finishes out of 50 races that includes 13 race wins. He was champion in 2009 & 2010. In 2015 Bonhomme went into the final race in Las Vegas (18/10/15) leading the table having won in the UK leg at Ascot as well as other rounds
Size: 6159px × 4080px
Location: Ascot, Berkshire, UK
Photo credit: © Avpics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2015, aerospace, air, ascot, aviation, berkshire, bonhomme, britain, british, bull, champion, copyspace, england, english, event, gb, great, kingdom, motor, motorsport, paul, plane, race, racecourse, racer, racing, red, royal, sport, tourism, uk, united, venue, winner
