When Donald Trump flew to Iraq on Christmas Day, the White House reportedly went to extraordinary lengths to keep the trip a secret – but they couldn’t stop one South Yorkshire aviation enthusiast from blowing the President’s cover.

Plane-spotter Alan Meloy, who describes himself as a “nut” for all things aviation, stood on his door-step in Chapeltown, Sheffield taking photos of aircrafts above him before he noticed something quite profound about one plane in particular.

Quickly snapping the unusual plane, Mr Meloy immediately recognised the jet’s iconic liveries and identified it to be the Air Force One, the plane of the US President.

At this point Mr Trump’s Iraq visit was still top secret – he and First Lady Melania had left Washington DC under the cover of darkness in complete secret.

So when Mr Meloy posted the image on photo-sharing site Flickr to see if anyone else had spotted it, he was met with some scepticism, as the plane was flying under a false callsign to keep the trip a secret.

But when other enthusiasts spotted the image and also recognised it as one of the two VC-25 planes used as Air Force One, they cross-referenced it with tracking data and deduced the president was likely to be on his way to the Middle East.

With the news being so widely discussed online thanks to the photo, a ban previous reporting embargo of the trip was lifted by the White House, several hours ahead of schedule.

Mr Meloy, meanwhile, has found himself in a media frenzy on both sides of the Atlantic.

"It’s one of those weird moments where you’re right place and right time,” the former NHS worker told the Guardian.

"Boxing Day dawns clear and bright, the next thing there’s an interesting airplane."

Donald Trump headed to Iraq for a surprise Christmas visit to US troops, alongside his wife Melania.

It’s Trump’s first visit to US troops overseas since becoming president.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump met with military personnel on Wednesday at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq.

He has made the trip despite the US Government being shutdown over a budget impasse as Trump holds out for $5bn in funding for a border wall.

Trump recently announced that US troops would be withdrawing from Syria, a decision which prompted his Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis to resign.

He also said about half the troops in Afghanistan would be heading home.

Today Trump said he has "no plans at all" to remove US troops from the country.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted: "President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas."

Veteran White House correspondent for CBS Mark Knoller reported that Air Force One was boarded in privacy in the hangar and departed under cover of darkness.

"All on board instructed to pull down window shades and surrender cell phones," he tweeted.

Journalists who travelled with the president were not allowed to report on the visit until more than two hours after they landed.

National Security Advisor John Bolton is also in Iraq for the visit.

Trump had tweeted that he was "alone" in the White House on Christmas Eve and sent of a barrage of tweets.

His silence since late on Christmas Day sparked questions about his movements.

He cancelled a Christmas trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida shortly after it became clear a deal would not be reached over the budget and the government would be shutdown.

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