New Insurance Requirements Leave Sally B Firmly On The Ground

Enthusiasts who grounded their World War II B-17 bomber due to spiralling insurance costs have launched a campaign to raise funds to get the aircraft back in the air for this year's Victory in Europe (VE) Day celebrations.

The owners of Sally B, the last airworthy Flying Fortress in Europe, were forced to cancel 60th anniversary VE Day weekend appearances at the Imperial War Museum's Victory in Europe Air Show and a flypast in Southampton, southern England.

Instead, the dark green US-built bomber was left in its hangar at Duxford, near Cambridge in the east of England, because of "crippling" European Union third-party liability insurance rules, based on aircraft weight, which have placed it in the same insurance category as a commercial airliner.

The effect of the new rules is an increase in liability insurance of almost 500 percent, which is the equivalent of 1,000 pounds (1,475 euros, $1,890) in extra hourly flying costs, its operators said.

Sally B -- identical to thousands of B-17s that flew dangerous daylight raids over Germany for the US Army Air Corps -- usually operates for only 20 hours a year. It carries no passengers and steers clear of built-up areas.

"In this anniversary of the end of World War Two, Europe has managed to ground the last B-17 in the United Kingdom," said Elly Sallingboe of the B-17 Charitable Trust.

"It is particularly upsetting when you think that Sally B flies as a memorial to 79,000 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. We have begun a national media campaign to spread awareness of the aircraft's plight, raise the additional funds and continue our fight for an exemption."

The new EU insurance rules, prompted by the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, were adopted by the EU Council of Ministers and European Parliament in April 2004. They took effect on April 30.

FMI: http://sallyb.dcgservices.com