This is because of crippling new EU third party liability insurance requirements, based on aircraft weight, which have placed Sally B in the same insurance category as a commercial airliner. The effect is an increase in liability insurance of almost five hundred per cent, which is the equivalent of a staggering one thousand pounds extra per flying hour, on top of the already incredibly high running costs. But unlike a 737, Sally B operates for only twenty hours a year, is on a Permit to Fly, and can neither fly commercially, carry passengers, fly for hire and reward or fly over built-up areas.
Elly Sallingboe, head of the aircraft’s operating company, said ‘In this anniversary of the end of World War Two, Europe has managed to ground the last B-17 in the UK. This is a bitter setback to the B-17 Team and Members, who have put in over a quarter of a century of relentless hard work and dedication to keep Sally B in the air. It seems the Government is powerless to grant an exemption to this new regulation, which is destroying historic aviation in the UK. It is particularly upsetting when you think that Sally B flies as a memorial to over 70,000 Allied airmen who lost their lives in the skies over Europe. The aircraft is ready to fly, and we will do everything humanly possible to find a solution.’
So what are we doing about it? We have begun a national media campaign"
The joys of being part of Europe
