09/02/2025
This is a (repeat) appeal for support, to all of you, for a very worthy cause. The Friends of the SAAF Museum at Ysterplaat provide care and support for the fleet of venerable aircraft at the Museum at Air Force Base Ysterplaat.
They rely entirely on donations to do their incredible work in restoring and maintaining the aircraft and artefacts at the Museum; there is no budget or financial support from the SAAF. One of the biggest ticket items is maintaining Pelican 22, one of only 2 Avro Shackleton’s in the world, which is currently in running (not flying) order.
Two years ago FlyAfrica made an appeal to our members for funding support to provide fluid supplies (fuel, oil and glycol cooling fluid) to permit the continued running of the Shackleton’s 4 Rolls Royce Griffon engines and through an incredible wave of support our members raised over R 100,000 in support of such cause, which together with some corporate company’s support, has allowed the Friends of the SAAF Museum at Ysterplaat to provide 100LL Avgas supplies, a 44 Gallon drum of engine oil and Glycol supplies to allow the small team of SAAF technicians and engineers assigned to the Shackleton to continue their regular engine runs, the next one of which is scheduled for Saturday 1 March.
My wife, Sheila, an accountant and I administer the Shackleton fluid fund, which currently sits at R 32,354.24. Engine runs over the past two years have depleted the onboard fuel in the Shackleton’s fuel tanks to barely enough to support the next engine run on 1 March. We could use the remaining balance in the fund to purchase an additional 1,000 litres of fuel, which would sustain requirements for approximately a further 18 months of engine runs however, being a pilot, I hate to drain any reserve to zero and would appeal to all of our members for financial support, in as much as you can provide; any amount is gratefully accepted, to top-up the fund, to allow us to purchase an additional 1,000 litres of Avgas in advance of the end of this month, whilst enabling us to maintain a decent reserve in the fund, to provide for any short-term requirements.
In such terms my wife and I have today donated R 1,000 to the fund to kick-off this latest fund-raising drive. I’d appeal to you for support please 🙏. We’ll be posting updates on the status of the fund and a list of donors by month-end (you’re most welcome to donate anonymously if that is preferable).
Details of the Shackleton Fluid Fund are as follows:
Account Holder: Mrs Sheila Gillespie
Bank: Standard Bank
Bank Account Number: 10 09 916 459 9
Bank Address: Paarl
Bank Branch Code: 051001
For overseas remittances, the Swift Code is SBZAZAJ
Your support is greatly supported - let’s show the power and influence of this group!
Sincerely
Duncan Gillespie
