Politicians clutching (not-so) confidential papers have been caught out by press photographers in the past, but what about a scrawled note a piece of paper apparently aimed at photographers photographing a jet fighter flying at several hundred miles an hour?

[URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east_orkney_and_shetland/10412257.stm"]According to the BBC[/URL] an RAF Tornado co-pilot was photographed holding a note against the canopy, apparently for the benefite of photographers on the ground, with the message "I'm with Stupid" and an arrow pointing towards the pilot in the front seat.

The picture was taken by ex-forces freelance photographer, [URL="http://www.lightstalkers.org/andrew_chittock"]Andy Chittock[/URL], while the Tornado was on a training exercise in Snowdonia. The picture appears to be taken from another plane above the Tornado, but in fact by climbing up one of the Snowdonia mountains you can actually be higher up than the ground-hugging fighters that often use the mountainous terrain for training.

Considering the Tornado would have been several hundred yards away and travelling at several hundred miles an hour, Andy's skill and the quality of modern cameras, combined to produce a shot that very clearly reveals the text in the note on the side of the cockpit.

Whether or not the co-pilot thought he would be photographed quite so clearly is not known, but it seems that he has escaped any negative consequences after the RAF responded to press reports in good humour, indicating that the co-pilot was simply enjoying a light-hearted moment without endangering the mission of the aircraft.