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The company was first created as Aviation Photographic Press in May 1973 and since this time has been involved with the writing and publication of numerous aviation related books. In 1979 the company name was changed to its current identity, Photavia Press.

Whilst perhaps best known to most people for our publications such as our Airband directory ‘AIRWAVES’, we are also professional freelance photojournalists. Specialising in aviation and maritime photography we have accumulated a large photo-library of transparencies and prints during the last 30 years. We have regularly supplied photographs to Newspapers, Aviation and other Magazines plus enthusiast publications. Our photographs have appeared on many national magazine front covers including several in the the past decade.

2008, is the 36th year of publication of AIRWAVES in one form or another. Although AIRWAVES 2008 is only the 15th edition as a published book, it was originally compiled during the latter part of 1973 and the first AIRWAVES appeared in April 1974 as an annual, private circulation frequency listing.

The first edition of Airwaves was really very basic, typed initially onto stencils and then hand printed on a roller, it ran to only ten A4 pages and listed around 350 VHF frequencies. ( How ever did we manage without computers ? ). Just 28 people subscribed to the first edition and amazingly 5 of them still buy AIRWAVES from us over 30 years later. HF frequencies were added to the text in 1976 and UHF frequencies in 1977. Although included in our own records, the UHF frequencies did not appear in the printed version until 1983 when the first radio, capable of UHF Airband reception was launched in the UK, ( the legendary AOR 2001 ).

AIRWAVES continued to expand and by the late eighties it was over 60 pages with the frequencies presented in the two formats used today. The addition of UHF frequencies expanded our number of private subscribers to over 120 and by the early nineties was well over 400. The records were first computerised in 1978 using a borrowed Tandy TRS-80 computer, built in the USA. Around 1982, they were then transferred onto a Commodore 64, using a Superbase database. We then moved onto an Apricot and then a variety of IBM compatible PC’s, the current AIRWAVES was produced on a Intel Dual Core Computer using Word 2003, PagePlus 10 and the databases Paradox and Access.

Our first very basic aviation Callsign guide was compiled in 1970 and has continued to evolve over the years into the comprehensive publication it is today. In 1971, we were possibly one of the first people in the UK to compile a Military Callsign listing, ( not that we could show anyone the list ). This was made possible by using an old UHF radio which was brought by my Father from an Army surplus store in the back streets of Croydon in Surrey. The radio was damaged and was sold as inoperable, but thanks to the skills of my  talented Uncle, ( an ex - RAF radio engineer ), it was made serviceable within two weeks.

It is believed that the radio had been salvaged from a scrapped De Havilland Vampire but we were never quite certain. The radio was operated from our home near Biggin Hill for five years until it expired in 1976, needing spares that were not available. During those years, it provided some fascinating listening it was just a shame that we couldn’t tell anyone about its existence or what had been heard. How different it is in the modern era with hundreds of scanners in use at the average airshow.

From 1976, the next seven years saw military Callsign information added to our listing mainly from VHF listening - This then expanded dramatically with the introduction of UHF capable radios in 1983. As with AIRWAVES, our Callsign guide started as a private circulation listing in 1974 containing Civil callsigns only. Military callsigns were not added until 1984 and by 1988 the listing was circulated annually to over 100 people. The first published edition was CALLSIGN 95.

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