The mods won't strangle your post Danny because here we are all in the world of surreal awards for events that never happened.
For new reader's this thread is all about how Boeing Aircraft Corporation twisted the story of British women aviation pioneers Amy Johnson and Lady Mary Heath to suit their centenary.
Amy Johnson and Lady Mary Heath both flew good old British built DeHavilland biplanes across the world setting records for the British in the 1930's.
Boeing,Artemis Investments and Tracey Curtis Taylor convinced the worlds media that they could 'emulate' the heroic British women pilots flying British biplanes.However the story they peddled involved a 1500 hour British PPL flying a rebuilt American aircraft of 1942 vintage.
Because the Stearman is a biplane everyone from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots to the UK Royal Navy bought the story hook line and sinker.
To be fair it might have worked had it not been for the fact that Tracey Curtis Taylor never flew the Spirit of Artemis solo on all the well publicised legs.
Those pictures of two people on board have been her undoing.
The whole Bird in a Biplane story has been a sham from start to finish made worse by the fact there was a Bloke In The Biplane. ( I did think of using the male term for bird :-)
Newspapers,magazine,sponsors, the Royal Navy and Marines Charity, Royal Navy Reserve,Portsmouth University and and the BBC have been taken in by one massive con trick.
If one is going to 'emulate' (match or surpass (a person or achievement), typically by imitation) Amy Johnson then it stands to reason they will be female and fly a similar aircraft and route alone.
That includes all the flight planning etc.
When Tracey stood alongside these high ranking officers of the Navy (see below) she,Boeing and Artemis knew it was not going to a solo event.
She admitted it in a statement once the Daily Mail exposed her.
I and the Bird in a Biplane Team believe it is helpful to respond to some commentary appearing in the press about whether the flight expeditions undertaken in 2013-2016 were flown solo or in company. For the avoidance of doubt, I have always been the sole pilot of Spirit of Artemis. In planning the expedition through Africa in 2013 there was an initial hope of a solo flight in the beautiful & original 1942 Boeing Stearman. However, in the early stages of the flight this concept was intentionally and officially dropped as I and the Bird in a Biplane Team brought our flight planning and logistics increasingly in-house and the expedition evolved into a much bigger opportunity to extend the program with documentary filming, an extensive outreach program involving different charities along the route and sharing the experience of open cockpit flying with others.
I am deeply disappointed at the comments coming from a particular source making false assertions that my flight expeditions should have been executed as solo flights. They were not. They are all about a collaborative team effort and celebrating the brilliant achievements of women like Amy Johnson and Lady Heath who made history when aviation was in its infancy.
So Tracey ....why did you not fly a Tiger Moth?
Was it because the big money would not have come from Boeing?
I worry about the the way our senior service can be conned by such a simple trick to,get high ranking officers parading in support of a commercial publicity event.
Make you wonder what sort of security service we have in the UK that allows the
upper eschelons of the Royal Navy to be exploited for a private reality TV production.
Royal Navy Officers and Gentlemen in the picture below....can I suggest you have been taken for a ride by the team of the Spirit of Artifice
