GPS Portrait of Queen Elizabeth Made By Light Aircraft

A stunning GPS portrait of Queen Elizabeth was created over a period of months using six individual light aircraft.

The 12 aircrew members from Henstridge in Somerset, England, teamed up to complete the world's first-ever GPS portrait to be drawn by multiple aircraft.

Followers of FlightRadar24 may have spotted a few strange recent goings-on with aircraft across the county as flight paths generated some very unusual shapes over the course of several months.

Code-named "Art Force 1," six individual club aircraft belonging to the Light Aircraft Association's Wessex Strut and 12 crew members were handed a secret GPS plotted path from team leader, Amy Whitewick.

"None of them had any idea what the final image would look like – each team was given a small, unrecognizable chunk which, when flown, recorded on SkyDemon [aircraft GPS software] and sent back would be stitched together digitally to form the final image."

Whitewick began illustrating images by air in 2020 between lockdowns, having since drawn a wide range of images in her 1972 Cessna 150 Aerobat, including an award-winning and world-first GPS portrait with her co-pilot, Mervyn White, of early aviator John Stringfellow.

"It was a fun skill to try out when flying the local area. I was bored of bimbling and wanted to start something exciting and new," she added.

"My fellow pilot friends at Henstridge showed a great and kind interest in my GPS scribbles, and then it clicked; it would be so much more fun to try one together as a united team with as many aircraft as possible."

There were many challenges involved, including planning around tricky weather conditions, a reflight undertaken due to co-pilot health and a carbon monoxide scare in one aircraft's cockpit.

But the teams took the problems in their stride with extraordinary courage, skill and determination to complete this image.

Whitewick continued: "I must thank the team members for their extraordinary courage to push the boundaries of aviation forward, to try something new to them and air sports as a whole.

"Their unwavering trust in following a somewhat crazy artist, and their unrivaled strength and tenacity of spirit is of considerable merit.

"The range and diversity of our members and fleet is truly demonstrated in this mind-blowing image that we are proud to present to Her Majesty the Queen and the United Kingdom – I'm so immensely proud of our whole team who are like a family to me."

Produced in association with SWNS.

This story was provided to Newsweek by Zenger News.