Thanks Richard!
After much worry about her flying future, it has now been announced that Richard Branson will step in to cover the extra insurance costs on IWM Duxford’s Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Sally B”. It had been grounded due to the fact that the EU (European Union) had imposed extra liability insurance costs totaling an extra £1,000 per flying hour. The legendry B-17 bomber, which only flys about 20 hours a year was grounded after the IWM found that they simply could not meet the extra cost.
At the Duxford VE Day Anniversary Airshow Sally B was grounded and open for the first time to members of the public. I paid my £2 to go inside and take a good look around and felt that I had helped (even though a tiny tiny tiny bit) to find the extra £20,000 the Imperial War Museum needed. The future of Sally B was still unclear until this week when Richard Branson agreed to fund the IWM with the extra funds required to get her off the ground again using his Airline Virgin Atlantic.
The article from ThisisLondon reads:
“Sir Richard Branson has stepped in to ensure the UK’s last remaining airworthy Flying Fortress B-17 bomber will be able to take part in next month’s fly-past over Buckingham Palace to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Sir Richard’s airline Virgin Atlantic is to cover the costs of the liability insurance of the American-made plane - the Sally B - to enable it to continue flying for the next three months.
New EU regulations had resulted in a rocketing of insurance costs and it was feared that the plane, based at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford in Cambridgeshire, would not be able to take part in the July 10 fly-past.”
This means that for the next three months Sally B can fly for the July 10th flypast at Buckingham Palace as well as Duxford’s Flying Legends Airshow of which I will be attending (stick revising for that week :))
Jamie.