Alnwick pilot leads team of microlights round Britain

A disabled RAF pilot from Alnwick is currently leading a team of injured servicemen and women around Britain in microlights.
Flt Lt Kat JanesFlt Lt Kat Janes
Flt Lt Kat Janes

Over the coming fortnight, a team of wounded, injured and sick (WIS) servicemen, women and veterans will fly around the UK.

Their mission is to fly more than 2,000 miles, visiting Help for Heroes Recovery Centres and providing air experience flights to more than 100 of their wounded comrades in order to inspire them during their own recovery. They also aim to raise £25,000 to support their endeavour and help fund future WIS pilot training.

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En route, the team will be conducting open-air, twilight screenings of the film A Wing and a Prayer, which records the amazing 2000-mile, nine-day trip round the UK which the team undertook during the summer of 2015 and was the inspiration for this year’s mission. Ultimately, the team aims to be the first to fly flexwing microlights to the South Pole.

The team is being led by Flt Lt Kat Janes, who is a serving RAF officer from Alnwick. She became partially paralysed after contracting a brain-stem infection while on operational service and has had to overcome many difficult physical challenges to become a qualified pilot.

Flying for Freedom are partnered with Help for Heroes and supported by the Endeavour Fund of the Royal Foundation founded by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The team set off from Kemble Airfield, in Gloucestershire yesterday and will be heading anti-clockwise around the UK. They will be passing through the North East early next week between stops in York on Sunday and Edinburgh next Tuesday.