http://www.vintageaircraftclub.org.uk> Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship
Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship
Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship 2024 winner announced.
Pan receiving his certificate from Anne Hughes.
This year the VAC Taildragger Scholarship Panel have selected twenty-two year old Panayis Yiasimi to receive the award. The annual scholarship pays £1000 toward the awardee's training to upgrade their PPL to enable them to fly vintage taildragger aircraft. Pan says, "I am incredibly excited and grateful to have been selected for the Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship this year. My first ever flight from Felthorpe, my home airfield, was in the front of a de Havilland Tiger Moth. I remember the loud noises of the engine and wind, the smell of avgas and the strange feeling of being outside whilst the flight played out in front of me. I was hooked, and I knew then that I wanted to fly vintage aircraft myself one day. Over the past year I have been hour building towards a CPL, flying from Felthorpe in an old 172E. Learning to fly taildraggers will be an excellent boost to my flying skills; I look forward to beginning the training that this Scholarship offers. It is a venture that I could not have afforded to pursue alone. As my commercial training continues, I wish to continue flying light aircraft and aspire to get involved with the Tiger Moth at my home airfield, backed by the training from this scholarship. Thank you very much to everyone at the VAC." Pan received his certificate at the VAC AGM at Old Warden on 26th October.
Pan and Cessna 172.
The VAC has been in existence for over 50 years, and currently has some 300 members who own and operate almost 200 classic and vintage aircraft. In common with many organisations today, the Vintage Aircraft Club is most conscious of a rapidly widening age gap in its membership. As the majority of our membership are either already at, or rapidly approaching, bus pass age, if our club is to thrive and survive, we recognize that not only must we attract new younger members, but must also hand on the skill sets required for these younger people to operate the older type of conventional undercarriage aircraft - or taildragger as they are more commonly known - since it must be recognized that nearly all training and recreational flying is carried out today on machines with the tricycle type undercarriage. We also have to accept that flying as a hobby is generally not a cheap sport, and that just staying current on type will strain the financial resource of most young people.
So how did the Scholarship come about? Liz Inwood, who unfortunately died in October 2013 after a long battle with cancer, was a passionate aviatrix with a tremendous sense of humour. Although originally trained as an artist, Liz was bitten by the aviation bug at an early age in the 1980s, and initially learned to fly at White Waltham. Every spare moment was spent flying, eventually amassing over 1,000 hours and she became both an instructor and CAA examiner. Primarily based at Oxford (Kidlington) she was also madly keen on the older classic aircraft, particularly the de Havilland Tiger Moth and similar types, once making a tour of Europe in a DH Hornet Moth. Liz was an inspiration to many fledgling pilots and was particularly enthusiastic in encouraging younger people to take up the sport. After her untimely death some of her family members decided to give a legacy to the VAC, of which she was a long-time active member, to be used as the Club saw fit. To this end the Club decided to match the family's generous donation and set up this Scholarship in her memory. The purpose now is to enable a young person to fly the type of aircraft she loved so much. After much scrimping and saving, begging and badgering, by the end of 2015 the Club accumulated sufficient funds to ensure that this could be not just a single event, but an ongoing award. In May 2016 the Club launched its first invitations through the GA press for young people to apply for the 2016 Scholarship.
The applicant must be the holder of a current PPL, NPPL or LAPL, 35 years old or less, with 100 hours total flying time of which at least 50 hours are as a pilot in command.
Applications for the 2024 Scholarship are now closed, but will re-open at the end of August 2025, so if you were unsuccessfull in 2024, you are welcome to apply by revisiting this page in August 2025.
