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| The Team & Crew of Sally B | |
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Throughout the long winter months when maintenance is taking place, everyone involved in this vital work pulls together so that, come the spring, Sally B can take her place on the grass runway at Duxford, ready for her engines to roar into action. Spring is also the time when many more Team and Crew Members become involved. From cleaning the aircraft to sourcing spare parts, from selling souvenirs to signing up new Members, from helping at the annual Members Party to actually flying the aircraft, everyone has their part to play in keeping Sally B flying. Without teamwork, this aircraft would not have flown for one year, let alone 35! Sally B really does have the best team spirit anywhere in the world. So, meet our Crew and Team, whose aim is to ensure that Sally B will continue to fly for the education and enjoyment of thousands of people for generations to come.
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| Elly Sallingboe - B-17 Operator & Chairman of Trustees | |
Danish born Ellinor Sallingboe, better known as “Elly” heads the B-17 organisation which; in 1981 included the creation of the Great Warbirds Air Display with Ted White. This became the greatest show of vintage aircraft in Europe and run for 13 years until, due to increasing costs it came to an end in 1992. In 1979 Elly and Ted formed B-17 Preservation to operate and raise funds to keep the aircraft flying as the USAAF WW II Memorial Flight. Following Ted’s untimely death in 1982, Elly took sole control of the B-17’s operation, taking on the major challenge of raising the essential funds to keep this four-engined aircraft flying - a struggle that continues today without any official support of any kind. Elly’s background includes 10 years as a stewardess, with TWA, Ethiopian, East African and Sudan Airlines. In 1981 she obtained her Private and Commercial Pilots Licences. Since taking over the financial operation of the B-17 organisation in 1982 her life has been dedicated to the formidable task of keeping Sally B flying.
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| The Crew | |
  
Left to right: Training Captains Andrew Dixon and Roger Mills, Chief Engineer Peter Brown, Sales Team Leader Derek Smith, Engineering Supervisor Mike Stapley, Deputy Engineering Supervisor Steve Carter, First Officers Bill Tollett and Daryl Taplin .
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| Andrew Dixon – Training Captain | |
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Andrew joined the team in 1995, initially as First Officer, then as Captain and in 2000 the aircraft’s Training Captain. Andrew had harboured an ambition to fly Sally B since he joined the Supporters Club on the day he first saw the aircraft at Biggin Hill 1978. His extensive career flying vintage aircraft includes some 12 years flying DC-3s and DC-6s for Air Atlantique before combining 4 engines and tailwheels with the B-17. He is now based in Bournemouth as Operations Director of Meridian Aviation for whom he flies all varieties of New Piper and Pilatus Aircraft on ferry/sales and demonstration flights all around the world. In addition to the “day job” Andrew flies various historic aircraft including his own Percival Pembroke “Percy” Andrew has amassed some 23,000 hours, over 12,000 of which are on multi radial-engined piston aircraft.
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| Roger Mills – Captain | |
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Roger Mills became a Captain on Sally B in June 2002. During his vast flying career he has amassed some 17,000 hours, with thousand’s on multi -engined aircraft. Roger learned to fly in 1963 at Birmingham under the RAF Flying Scholarship scheme gaining his PPL in two weeks. Then followed the College of Air Training at Hamble from 1964 to 1965 for CPL/IR training before joining British European Airways in 1966 as a co-pilot on the Vanguard. He transferred to the Trident in 1971 and became a co-pilot instructor in 1973. In 1974 he became a Captain on the Viscount (by now the company had become British Airways) and in 1976 a Training Captain and Examiner. Roger held the same position on the B737 from 1979 until 1987. In 1987 he transferred to Concorde becoming the fleet Route Check Captain in 1989 until he retired in March 2000. Roger has been involved in extra curricular flying throughout his career and owned various aircraft and at present his pride and joy is the Hawk Speed Six G-ADGP. He is an instructor on light single and twin-engined aircraft and also flies the SCFA Super Constellation in Switzerland. He has flown more than 100 types of aircraft from the Zaunkoenig ultra slow speed single seater at one end of the spectrum to the Concorde at the other.
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| Peter Brown - Chief Engineer | |
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Peter is responsible for the overall maintenance of the B-17 and the mountain of paperwork this entails. Following a plea for help he joined the team as Chief Engineer in 1984 and 2006 is his 22nd year with the aircraft. Peter's very extensive career in aviation engineering began in 1950 with the RAF. On leaving the Air Force he worked at Marshall’s of Cambridge, the late Freddie Laker's Air Charter, Aviation Traders, Monarch Airlines, Cargolux and Trans-Meridian. He has worked on York Tudors B170, DC-3s, DC-4s, Vanguards and on the DC-3 replacement named " The Accountant", He was Chief Engineer for HeavyLift Cargo Airlines until he retired in 1998. Peter's personality, engineering knowledge and expertise play a vital role to Sally B's existence.
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| Mike Stapley – Engineering Supervisor | |
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Although Mike has always enjoyed a general interest in aviation, it was when working at as a British Telecom engineer with John Littleton that he first heard of Sally B. He decided to see for himself what the attraction was, and when John asked him to join the team, he was pleased to accept. Mike has now retired from BT, which allows him more time to spend with Sally B. He is responsible for documentation, controlling maintenance schedules and worksheets and the recording of such. He is also responsible for supervision of personnel, ensuring that all work and components are to an acceptable standard. Mike also accompanies Sally B on most flights away from base.
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| Derek Smith – Sales Team Leader | |
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Derek first saw Sally B fly at Great Leighs, Chelmsford in 1984. He was so impressed by the "beautiful silver aircraft" that he found the sales stall and joined the Supporters Club there and then. In 1984, Derek increased his involvement and helped set up one of the sales stalls at the Great Warbirds Air Display, since when he has not looked back, and is now head of the sales team. Wherever Sally B flies, you are almost certain to find Derek with the B-17 sales team. Derek has also set up the internal structure of the crew room at Duxford and more recently the new Sally B sales unit. Derek is a Trustee of the B-17 Charitable Trust.
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| Sally B Support Team | |
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Left to right: The late Keith Jones, David Gray, Andy Jackson, Kevin Belfield, Jo Redfarn, Rodney Smith, Annie Jones, John Owen, Nigel Bird and Derek Smith. Team missing from photo: Peter Antill, Cliff Bishop, Richard Bird, Christine & Michael Butcher, Geraldine Dixon, Mathew Elmes, Jeff Lawton, Ken Reed and Geoff Smith. Also missing are Overseas Team Leaders, Roger Hilfiker (Switserland) and Elisabeth Dinesen (Denmark).
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2010 will be Sally B’s 35th flying season in the UK. For three decades, this unique, historic aircraft has been kept flying thanks to the time, effort and dedication of a group of people we call our Team and Crew. Keeping Sally B going has always been, and continues to be, a labour of love for all concerned. Even so, it’s not enough simply to love the aircraft (although it helps!). This is an operation that relies heavily on teamwork.