Club Meeting 18 August 2011

Andy Palmer gave a presentation on the Sally B, B17 Flying Fortress.
Sally B Supporters club link

Boeing B-17G-105-VE c/n 8693 was built in 1945 and just missed active service but served in various roles for the USAAF until 1954. She was then sold to the French IGN (Ordnance Survey) and registered B17 F-BGSR, and was used for aerial surveying until 1975 when she was bought by businessman and pilot Ted White. Ted re-registered her as N17TE and brought her to England.

She was (and still is) kept at Duxford and wears the letters A DF (A Duxford Fortress). He named the aircraft Sally B after his long term partner Danish born Elly Sallingboe. Ted struggled to raise the funds to keep Sally B on the airshow circuit for 5 years and in 1980 he and Elly formed the Sally B Supporters Club in order to help raise much needed funds. In 1982 they planned the first Great Warbirds Air Display at West Malling in Kent, but a few weeks before the event Ted was killed in Malta while flying his T6 Harvard G-ELLY. Elly took over the reins and the display went ahead as Ted would have wanted. The starboard inner cowl was painted with black and yellow chequerboard markings to match Ted’s Harvard, and to this day Ted still flies in formation with Sally B.

I went to that first Great Warbirds display and to every one that followed and have been a member of the Sally B Supporters Club for the past 27 years. Finances have always been a major problem and I like to think I am ‘doing my bit’ to help keep her flying. In 1998 she suffered a series of major engine problems and was stranded in Guernsey for 9 months, eventually returning to England in April 1999. The engine problems caused huge financial problems and in 2000 she became ‘B17 Charitable Trust’ and the official flagship of the American Air Museum at Duxford. She receives no financial backing from the Government, lottery etc and is only kept flying by the generosity of the general public and some company sponsors. She is now the only airworthy B17 in Europe and flies as a memorial to the 79000 Allied airmen that were killed in Europe in WW2.

Have a look at her website www.sallyb.org.uk where there is lots of information and the full story of her life so far. You might want to join me as a member of the Supporters Club and get all the benefits that involves but most importantly, help keep Sally B where she belongs… in the air.