4. The source referred to is Sam Rutherford who was initially a flight planning and logistics sub-contractor to the Africa expedition. By the end of that flight our logistics and flight planning were withdrawn from Mr Rutherford and brought in-house. Mr Rutherford was not engaged further by the BIAB expeditions from UK to Australia, or across USA.
Sam Rutherford will be able to answer and clarify point 4 above. Were his services withdrawn (implies an early termination of contract) or did the contract reach its natural end?
There is a big difference between these two possibilities.