Help Fund the Desert Rat

Become a Good Friend of B-17E 41-2595

To all our friends, followers, and those who have loved the B-17 for as long as they can remember:

We first want to thank you all for following the progress of B-17E 41-2595, otherwise known as Desert Rat/Tangerine. It has been a long road, but we continue to prove the naysayers wrong by getting things done, without any major financial backing. Outside of unsolicited donations and money left by visitors, this project is self-funded by Mike and his volunteers. The reason for that was to avoid conflict and disappointment regarding choices made during the restoration. The project has sold excess equipment and T-shirts, but this has generated only a trickle of money. A 4' x 8' sheet of aluminum can cost hundreds of dollars, while an extrusion run can be in the thousands. Because of this, we need to take a different tack if we are to realize the dream of getting 41-2595 back into the air. For those whom have been following our progress on Aero Vintage, Facebook, or in person, you know that little is wasted. Other restoration shops have remarked that we do more with $250 than they can do with $2500. Unfortunately, frugality can only go so far.

The Desert Rat restoration team has decided to test a "crowd funding" approach for some items that we are going to need, but are not in the funding plan budget as of yet. In order to maximize the contributions, we are not using one of those "Fund Me" web sites, which charge a percentage of the money collected, but will try to do this on our own, posting updates, emailing contributors, and providing incentives for various levels of donations. One of the problems we have with these "Help me pay my bills" raisers is that we are skeptical about where the money is really spent. To alleviate his issue, we have enlisted the help of a third party, whom we trust and have given access to the account, so that he can audit the contributions and confirm that all expenses paid out are for the B-17 restoration effort only. He can then report on what has been given and where it was spent. Accountability. No personal yachts. No shenanigans. No worries.

We have set up a dedicated PayPal account:

FundAFortress@gmail.com

Anyone can "Send money to a friend" for no fee using your PayPal account balance (see PayPal fees to fully understand their fee schedule). For full disclosure, we are not a 501(c)3 organization, so the gift is NOT tax deductible.

If you have a PayPal account, you can just log in to your account, find the Send Money button, enter the above email address...FundAFortress@gmail.com...decide on an amount (and then double it, maybe?), and send it on its way. It is going to directly help fund the restoration.

Funding Drives

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