At the age of fourteen I started developing an interest in military aviation. Before that I saw military aircraft like the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter and the Fokker F27 Friendship overfly my parents home but unfortunately, I did not fully appreciate the true value of these until sometime later. When in 1984, the Tactical Air Meet was held at the airbase of Gilze-Rijen in the south of Holland, I got infected by the aviation virus. An infection that only got worse. Since I have been travelling around Europe and the rest of the world both to taste many different cultures and to capture and experience foreign military air armed forces.

Yours Truly in his element: reporting both visually and through writing on this world's air-armed forces. I became an "Honorary Tailhooker" on Nimitz Class aircraft carrier CVN-73 USS George Washington in 2004 when it was sailing in the Persian Gulf in support of OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom). Photo courtesy Erik Sleutelberg

Since 1993 I have been contributing articles and news to several aviation-related magazines worldwide. In the early nineties South-East Asia was my main focus area, This resulted in the publication of some articles and many photographs of the air forces of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

During my first visit to the Middle-East, Jordan in 2000, this area caught my attention. The hospitality encountered during mu subsequent visits to Middle-Eastern countries, contradicted the well-established anti-Muslim bias that is present in many westerners. Since, I have visited Oman, Syria, Bahrain and quite a few other Middle-Eastern countries were visited and their respective air armed forces reported upon.

I hope to be granted the opportunity to visit many more countries and their air forces. In an ever changing world with ever changing demands for our armed forces, it will be my challenge to depict them in my work as a freelance journalist.

Click here to open my Curriculum Vitae (PDF)