[GrimReaper]

***6/6/18 EDIT TO SAVE PILOTS LOOKING FOR KEY INFO IN THREAD***

Link to joining instructions attached herewith - http://www.projectpropeller.org/PP/info.asp. Password has been publicised via e-mail, please get in touch with me if you need a refresher.

You've got your joining instructions, your landing slots and your veterans. Fire any residual questions that you may have at me.

Graham
_________________________________________________________________________________
No rest for the wicked, I am pleased to be able to announce the event details for Project Propeller 2018.

This will be held on SUNDAY 17th JUNE at Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport.

We were approached by Mike Boot, the newly appointed manager, and who was such a pivotal figure in getting the venue switched to Leeds East Airport with only 12 days notice. An ex-RAF man, Mike is absolutely committed to giving our veterans the best day out, and I'm thrilled to be working with him again. Long standing volunteer pilots will recall that we were hosted was WHGA in 2006.

We have been offered the use of hangar, which will reduce our hire costs, and the airfield is reasonably centrally located if the weather should be unkind to us. The date deconflicts with such events as the Cosford Air Show, Armed Forces Day, The Bomber Command Memorial Anniversary Service, so I'm hopeful we will have a good turnout of pilots and veterans. Hosting on a Sunday also means there will be less road traffic if people do need to jump in the car.

If you are able to volunteer to fly on this date, you can either register on the PP website http://www.projectpropeller.co.ukt, or just drop me an e-mail confirming that your details are unchanged. I'll send invitation letters out to the veteran guest list in late Autum/early Winter. The usual rules apply: existing pilot/veteran partnerships will be maintained wherever possible.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible again next June.

[Melanie Moxon]

This is something I'd like to get involved in but the veteran would need to be fairly mobile as the T67M needs a modest level of dexterity to get in and out of.

Full Sutton based FYI.

[Human Factor]

Ditto Chang and Yak. A chute wouldn't be necessary but a certain amount of mountaineering ability (particularly on the -52 which has no step) would be useful.

[mmcp42]

excellent
it's in the diary
my vet has already put himself down, too!

[neilmurg]

[edit]oops, could be misread, deleted.[/edit]

[Rob L]

Ditto Chang and Yak. A chute wouldn't be necessary but a certain amount of mountaineering ability (particularly on the -52 which has no step) would be useful.

There is a rather nice baggage compartment behind the rear seat "barn doors" of your Nanchang that could carry a small set of steps (similar to those used by Flt Sgt John Galloway getting in and out of the Maule at PP2017).

Not so for the -52 of course, so I should expect a certain formation being required!

Rob

[Human Factor]

I'll see what I can do.

[Lefty]

I'm not 95, and I find it a little bit of a challenge getting in/out of aNanchang or Yak52.
I'm sorry, but I really doubt that any of the Project Propeller veterans I've met could make the climb. First onto the wing, then over the side of the cockpit to get into the seat

"Aerobility" (flying for the disabled as was) have a couple of crane like devices to lift disabled pax in and out of aircraft. Perhaps we could borrow one - or manufacture something similar to hoist them up and lower them into the cockpit.

[GrimReaper]

Just a quick "bump" to the top to wish all volunteer pilots a Happy New Year, and to give you a quick update on the current position.

I'm a smidge behind schedule this year, because I'd normally try to get the invitations to veterans out in late November. Having missed that time, I decided not to send them out and risk getting them snarled up in the Christmas post. However, they'll be on their way out by this coming weekend.

We've had a scoping meeting with Mike Boot at Wolverhampton, and everything is proceeding smoothly from a planning perspective. We will be situated in a large hangar, so there will be no problems with uneven ground, thankfully. We've requested support from the BBMF in the form of the Lancaster, and we'll know more around the end of March - fingers crossed!

In other news, Ian Burnstock and his wife Ursula made an application to the Big Lottery Fund, and I'm delighted to report that they've approved us for a grant. It's not an enormous amount, but should allow us to fund the event for the next couple of years.

Best wishes for 2018 everyone

[Kemble Pitts]

Re-registered just in case my details had been lost.

As ever a superb effort by Grim Reaper in organising this excellent event.

Hoping for some decent weather...

[GrimReaper]

Good evening everybody, just a quick "SitRep" on the 2018 event.

Invitations went out in early January, and the response has been fairly strong again - as of today's date, I have 84 acceptances, and I'm still getting a steady flow of letters each day.

I've commenced the process of rostering - the usual principles apply - I won't break up an existing pairing if both pilot and veteran are available and happy to continue.

As ever, please feel free to call me if you want an update on likely rostering prospects. If you've not registered for this year's event, you can do so here: http://www.projectpropeller.co.uk/p/registration-pilot.html 4+ seat aircraft, particularly high wing or easy access aircraft are always in demand...

As an aside, some of you might be aware of the new International Bomber Command Centre at Lincoln, which is going to be officially opened in April. A Crowdfunding page has been set up, to help 8 Australian Bomber Command veterans to attend - if you can rummage around the back of your sofa and send a few quid, I'm sure it would be appreciated: https://www.gofundme.com/4j0syu8

[nmarshal]

The Project Propeller team is pleased to announce the launch of its new website at:

http://www.projectpropeller.org

The site includes details of the forthcoming 20th anniversary event, TV news reports and photos of past events, the background to Project Propeller, donations, useful information for participating pilots and other information.

We hope you find it interesting and useful.

The PP team

[GrimReaper]

Hi everyone...

Just a very short update on the event for 2018. I have 127 active veterans, and am about half way through the rostering process. I am hoping to have this largely complete by the end of the month.

In the meantime, if you've got any spare change down the back of the sofa (or anything more substantial! ) then please do enter the prize draw that we are running this year. There's some great prizes on offer, and all funds will be used towards the running costs of this and future events.

More details available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BYXuzr1jbA3LEuo5jixmmcODNjDo1Dzo/view?usp=drive_web

[GrimReaper]

Hi everybody - with just under 6 weeks to run, I thought I'd just post an update on the current situation.

Veteran roster

The rostering exercise is now largely complete - at present, I have 139 veterans due to attend, flying in around 110 aircraft.

My only known gap at the present time is a Lancaster W/Op, looking for a flight from either Prestwick or Edinburgh with his daughter. If you can help, please e-mail me.

Towards the end of this month, I will e-mail all pilots who haven't been assigned a passenger, asking them if they want to stay on the roster to cover pilot / aircraft drop outs. Before the Cosford event in 2015, 12 aircraft dropped out in the last 24 hours...

Joining instruction / landing slots

These are currently with Halfpenny Green for final sign-off, and I hope to be able to release them shortly. Landing will be from 0900 to 1200 local. HG will accept aircraft prior to 0900 if anybody fancies an early start, but you'll need to arrange this with me on an individual basis.

Once you've received this information, please do contact your veteran(s) and let me know that you are in contact with them. At present, I have 73 veterans who are rostered to their pilot, but the pilot hasn't confirmed that he's in touch with his passenger. I do appreciate that many of you will wait until there is something tangible to say.

As ever, if there are any questions, please let me know - and please don't forget to enter 2018 PP prize draw. Tickets will be available on the day, or you can enter beforehand - see instructions in my earlier post on this thread.

Cheers

[Lefty]

The key thing is the landing slots as this determines the pickup times that pilots need to discuss with their passengers.