http://www.vintageaircraftclub.org.uk> Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship
Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship
Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship 2021 winner announced.
The Vintage Aircraft Club was pleased to present the club's Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship for 2021 to twenty-two year old Alistair Lawrence at the Light Aircraft Association's LAA -75 Rally at Sywell on 3rd September. This is the sixth year the club, with the support of the LAA, has made the award in memory of the late Liz Inwood, instructor and CAA examiner, who amassed over 1,000 hours, many of which were in de Havilland Tiger Moths and other taildragger aircraft. Her enthusiasm resulted in encouraging many young people to take up flying in vintage aircraft. Alistair says, "I am delighted to have been awarded the 2021 Liz Inwood Taildragger Scholarship by the VAC . Flying has always been a huge part of my life. Most recently I have completed my commercial flight training, and currently work as part of the flight operations team at a private jet charter company. Growing up I spent a lot of time at Popham Airfield, attending most of their vintage fly ins with my grandparents, and this is where my love for these types of aircraft just grew and grew. This love for vintage aircraft has continued right up to today. I have a real soft spot for 'G-A . . .' registered taildraggers, in particular the de Havilland Moth series, of which I have become familiar with many great examples, restored by family friends at Aero Antiques, Durley. Having been awarded this scholarship, it will now give me the opportunity to gain the appropriate skills to fly such aircraft. I plan to complete my training on a de Havilland Tiger Moth. The scholarship will give me the opportunity to encourage more young people to enjoy vintage aircraft both by introducing friends and colleagues to taildragger flying and by sharing my experiences on social media platforms." For a post scholarship report from the 2021 winner, Alistair Lawrence, see here. Anne Hughes (VAC Chair)
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.
