John Allison has been a friend of Sally B for many years and has been directly involved since 1983 when he became Chairman of the Flying Safety Committee for the Great Warbirds Air Display (from 1983 to 1990). From 1997-99 John was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Strike Command, and Air Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty The Queen. Previously he held a number of distinguished posts within the Royal Air Force, including Assistant Chief of Defence Group, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander in Chief, Strike Command, and Air Member for Logistics and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Logistics Command. John has always enjoyed recreational air display flying and gliding; now retired from the RAF, he still does. We are so honoured to have John as our Patron.

Danish born Ellinor Sallingboe, better known as “Elly” heads the B-17 organisation. In 1979 Elly Sallingboe and Ted White formed B-17 Preservation to operate and raise funds to keep the last remaining B-17 in the UK flying as the USAAF WW II Memorial Flight. In 1981 Elly obtained her Private and Commercial Pilots Licences. Following Ted’s untimely death in 1982, Elly took sole control of the B-17’s operation, including 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. In 1981 she created the Great Warbirds Air Display which became the greatest show of vintage aircraft in Europe which she run for 13 years until, due to increasing costs it came to an end in 1992. Since taking over the operation of the B-17 organisation in 1982 her life has been dedicated to the formidable task of keeping Sally B flying.

Laurence Chandler has been a close friend of Sally B for over 40 years. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in January 1962 and shortly after joined an international helicopter operating and sales company rising to financial director. He set up his own accountancy practice in April 1974, soon becoming associated with B17 Preservation, and was the late Ted White's accountant. He has been a great supporter of Sally B ever since. Laurence recently retired as a Justice of the Peace having served more than 22 years as a magistrate in Kingston upon Thames. We are delighted to have him join our charity as a Trustee.

Ted Inman was Director of the Imperial War Museum Duxford (Sally B's permanent home) from 1978 until June 2004 and in that time built the Museum up to be the outstanding success it is today. Major projects have been the restoration of the historic site, the build up of the collection, a huge conservation and restoration programme, the development of facilities for 400,000 visitors per year and above all, the planning and execution of the American Air Museum in Britain, opened by Her Majesty The Queen in August 1997, and rededicated following the addition of a rare B-24 Liberator and SR-71 Blackbird by President George Bush Senior in September 2002. Ted was awarded his OBE in 1998 for services to aviation history. He has become a good friend to Sally B and we are extremely proud to have him as a honorary Trustee.

Peter joined the Sally B family as a display pilot and B-17 co-operator in 2009. Peter also displays the DC3/C47 Dakota., which He has also displayed the Dutch B-25 Mitchell. Over the past many years he has flown hundreds of displays in numerous countries in Europe and dropped airborne paratroopers from Dakota’s over Normandy and Arnhem for WWII memorials. Peter started his flying career as a young boy of 14 on gliders and progressed from there to become captain for KLM on the Airbus A330. During his comprehensive career Peter has flown almost 20.000 hours on a wide range of aircraft types including helicopters. In 2014, after years of supporting the operation of the B-17, he was made Trustee of the B-17 Charitable Trust.