Dear All,
I have recently become a team member on the Test Flying Memorial project. The idea is to create a permanent memorial to those brave souls who have lost their lives in test flying accidents (both pilots and engineers) since powered flight began in the UK one hundred years ago. Details can be found at
www.testflyingmemorial.com
Apologies if the list of accidents on the website is not up to date, this will be rectified shortly.
My motivations for becoming involved are twofold: -
Firstly, as an active pilot I fly safe aircraft, which are only that way because someone much braver than I has tested them before I go anywhere near them. I feel that I have a debt to those people and I intend to repay it by honouring their memory.
Secondly, my father was a Tornado test pilot and was killed in an accident in prototype 08 when I was a small boy. My family has no grave nor memorial to visit, and I want to rectify this for both myself and the many other families in the same situation.
Why the post here? I'm looking for contacts, information, money or anything else that you can think of to help us on this mission. Please PM me if you have any thoughts on the matter.
Kind regards,
Jim