Good evening everybody
I just wanted to check in, primarily to thank everybody both for the kind words above, but also for the numerous e-mails I've received.
I still don't have final details, but I think approximately 83 of the 110 scheduled arrivals got through. More than I was expecting, following a spate of early withdrawals. There's no criticism in that comment - a pilot's operational decision will never come under pressure from me.
I'm always somewhat embarrassed to receive thanks for things that aren't of my doing; my friend and colleague Harry Burgoyne looks after virtually everything that takes place after your wheels touch the ground, and the smoothness of the operation in and around the hangar is wholly due to him and the rest of the Ground team.
I was really touched to read Paul's comments about veterans mingling with public; I've always found the notion of ensconcing ourselves with veterans in a hangar, away from the general public, absolutely bemusing. Our veterans are national treasures, and they won't be with us in numbers for much longer. Let the public meet them, talk to them, and understand the enormity of the sacrifice. They will remember.
A few of the many highlights of my day were these:
1. At Cosford in 2015, we managed to get 4 veterans together, who'd all been in the same PoW camp, and all on the same Long March. After the event, I found out that there'd been a 5th, Jim Mulhall, and I badly wanted to assemble them again. Sadly, weather intervened in 2016 and 2017 to prevent Jim travelling, and one of the original 4 passed away. We finally assembled the remaining 3 at Wolverhampton, and found another who'd also been in the same camp. 4 Kriegies together again for the first time in 74 years.
2. Two days before the event, I got a call from Bernard Ennis, a Sunderland Air Gunner - shot down in the Bay of Biscay in 1944. He asked if it was too late to come, which of course it wasn't. He was driven up from the South Coast because he didn't want to fly. Only on driving through the gates did he recognise it as the base he trained at in 1943 - he hadn't realised that RAF Bobbington and Halfpenny Green were one and the same place. We only had 1 other veteran with a connection to Halfpenny Green - Joe Stanley was a gunnery instructor there. You guessed it - Joe was Bernard's instructor, and they happened upon each other by chance, and each recognised the other. Wow.
3. The meeting between Mellissa Shepherd and John Ottewell DFM. Mellissa's father was an Air Gunner, but passed away when she was young. John was the navigator on her father's Lancaster. Knowing that PP helps make connections like this is hugely satisfying.
4. The collection of vintage aircraft on display - they really added a lovely touch to the whole proceedings. My thanks to Rob, for engineering the Beech 18; we very much hope to see it again next year. Rusty's flight in the Stearman was wonderful - I'm so proud to be able to call him a friend.
5. The Lancaster - I've never seen the Lanc flying at a PP event before; I must confess that I abused my position and watched the display from atop the Tower with my mum, wife & kids, and my best friends who worked on the catering line all day. No photos taken, because there are people better equipped than me to do this; just reflecting on some very dear friends made, and one in particular (now RIP), that it's been my privilege to meet in my 5 years of airside planning.
I will always thank you, the pilots, for the time and trouble that you go to, to make our veterans feel like the heroes that they are. Some of you undertake large repositioning exercises. Some of you redeploy at very short notice. Some undertake flights entirely outside of Project Propeller and undertake wonderful, unforgettable trips for veterans. To all who participated - and all who offered to participate, but weren't fortunate enough to be allocated a veteran - my heartfelt thanks.
If there's any way you think that the event can be improved, either for yourselves as pilots, or for our guests, please feel free to drop me an e-mail.
And so on to 2019 - the venue has now been identified, and no, I'm not telling yet*. The date is yet to be finalised, but I hope to have everything confirmed in the coming days. Stand by for further communication.
Best wishes to you all - fly safe.
Graham
*will reveal venue in return for large denomination, non-sequential bank notes...