Ferry Command Video Project!

Dear Friends:

Did you have a relative serve in the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, later known as 45 Group of the RAF Transport Command? Judging by the comments and questions we have received since we brought Capt. Don McVicar’s long-out-of-print Ferry Command Pilot back out into the world in 2011, we bet you’re proud of your ancestor!

Do you have any photos of this person that you have been wanting to share with the world?

Well, we have good news for you!

Donna McVicar Kazo has long cherished a dream to create a simple documentary to respectfully and elegantly showcase images of her father during his years as a Ferry Command Captain/Navigator, mainly using photos from his books. In the past few years, using various types of software, Donna has been making short videos using still images in the classic tradition of documentarian Ken Burns, setting them to music and sharing them without charge for education and enjoyment. As a professional artist, editor, writer and historian, she has embraced all of her loves within this single medium! Donna’s published movies can be viewed on her YouTube channel, using any type of device that supports the app, from a phone to a widescreen television.

The Ferry Command Video Project 

And now, we want to honor YOUR father, grandfather, uncle, great-uncle, or cousin with inclusion in our Ferry Command Video Project. The aircrew of the RAFFC were exclusively male, although we are aware women proudly served their countries by ferrying all types of aircraft within the U.S. and the U.K. during the war.

There is no cost. This is not a commercial project. It is intended only for education, honor and remembrance. No copies will be sold. The final project will only be able to be viewed on Donna’s YouTube channel, which is available everywhere YouTube may be accessed. Meaning, if you have the right type of television, you’ll be able to watch your beloved aviator be honored on a large screen amongst his peers and pals.

How Long Is the Video?

At this time, it is not known how long this video will be, as it depends on the number of Ferry Commanders who will be included, but probably not more than 20 minutes. Each image used in our movie will be on screen “just long enough” which means less than 20 seconds in most cases. You’d be surprised how long a second lasts in this process!

When Is the Release Date?

No date of completion has been set as of February 29, 2024. This is because it’s impossible to predict how long it will take for news of this project to find its way into the homes of the descendants of the men of Ferry Command. That being said, Donna has her eye on Veteran’s Day, Monday, November 11, 2024 as being an appropriate date.

Why a Non-Commercial Video?

One reason to keep this a non-commercial and educational project is that it allows us to use historic images for free that would perhaps otherwise incur a fee for use. The sole purpose for this immensely time-consuming endeavor is to honor a group of men whose important contribution to freedom and democracy has basically gone unheralded.

Partially this is because Ferry Command began as a secret organization. Its unusual, perhaps unique, history, founded by a combination of civilians and military personnel from several countries, deserves to be much more widely known. This documentary will seek to succinctly meet this important goal.

The stories of the courageous aircrew of Ferry Command must not be forgotten.

Even as the years pass and our last few WWII veterans depart this earth, the interest in that brutal global conflict grows. Some more well-known stories seem to push others aside. Those brave souls of the RAFFC answered the call according to how the organization ordered them to serve; some did not survive, their aircraft and their bodies gone without a trace. Many who lived bore emotional scars until the ends of their lives, tormented by “survivor’s guilt” as if their acts of bravery were not as important as those who served in combat!

How to Honor Your Beloved Ferry Commander

Dig out those old photo albums and have your precious images scanned at 300 pixels per inch, save them as TIFFs or PNGs (both good) or JPGs (okay but not ideal because of a loss of quality) and send the file(s) to dmkazo@proton.me so we can proudly add your beloved to our project. Do NOT send us the actual photographs! You should get them scanned to preserve them, anyway! This is a service now readily available commercially if you don’t own a scanner.

Good to Know

Although the video as a whole will be copyright to Donna, you will retain the rights to all of the individual items you supply to us that we use in our video; we may use some of them on our Facebook pages, on this website, or in other places we deem worthwhile to create interest in our project and to honor your aviator.

IMPORTANT!

These photos must have been taken during the war! No childhood, prewar or postwar photos, please. And it’s perfectly fine to send more than one photo. You don’t have to limit yourself! We are also going to be including photos of the various types of aircraft ferried by the RAFFC/45 Group, as well as photos of the airports, airstrips, buildings and so on that a Ferry Commander would have visited, so we will accept scans of those as well. Honestly, any image that helps us to tell the story of the RAF Ferry Command will be welcomed.

Please Tell the World a Little About Your Ferry Commander

While it’s not necessary to have an airplane in the photo, it will add a great deal of interest and authenticity. For example, many pilots preferred to have their photo taken looking out of the cockpit window, but a lot of pilots who delivered aircraft to Egypt posed on a camel in front of the Pyramids, and those are fine, too. A photo of your relative in uniform is ideal (even though Ferry Command didn’t provide much by way of a uniform!).

To properly honor him, include a few pertinent details, such as dates and places of birth and death, citizenship, branch of service (or, like Capt. McVicar, he may have been a civilian pilot). Where did he train, and do you know how many deliveries he accomplished? Was he a Pilot, Flight Engineer, Navigator, or Radio Operator, or like Capt. McVicar, was he a Captain/Navigator, as well as a Radio Operator?

What confused the matter is that some men were called “one-trippers” who worked their way just the once across the ocean with a RAFFC crew to the sharp end of the war, and who may or may not have been thought of as a “real” Ferry Commander. Even “one-trippers” are fine with us, as they were often mentioned in Capt. McVicar’s books.

Some brave souls who were assigned to Ferry Command had already served at least one tour of duty in combat, which also complicated the record-keeping.

Accuracy Matters!

This very brief bio will be included in the video, and we will be sure to double-check it with you before publishing it. To be fair to all, we will seek to verify that your loved one was indeed a Ferry Commander, so whatever proof you can find will speed up the process.

We Want to Hear from You

Please contact Donna by that email FIRST so we can expect the arrival of your image(s) and make sure the process goes smoothly; or if you have any questions, of course. 

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

You can buy our books from Amazon through the links on this very website!

Also: donations are gratefully accepted to help us pay the bills during this massive labor of love! To donate, please visit a crowdfunding website called Ko-fi where Donna maintains a Page. We’re using this platform built especially for creators as our Operations HQ because it offers so many free options and services! On Ko-fi, Donna can quickly write brief updates or longer blogs, share photos or videos, safely accept donations, and offer different levels of membership with various perks to her supporters. She has Galleries where visitors can virtually stroll around to view the confluence of her current and past artwork, and a Shop where both originals and prints are for sale. Some of these pieces are available nowhere else!

The name “Ko-fi” came from the word “coffee” as in the old internet saying, “Buy Me a Coffee” as a gesture of appreciation and support.

So, dear Friends, if you’d like to help us to honor those who served with the RAFFC, please donate a few bucks to “buy Donna a coffee” at Ko-fi.com/dkazo or buy a piece of artwork from Donna’s Ko-fi Shop. These small gestures of support mean so much to her during the countless hours of editing the hundreds of images and wrestling them into a documentary worthy of Ferry Command.

Even better: become a Member for a small monthly subscription fee and you will receive exclusive “Behind the Scenes” reports and be able to privately view the “work in progress” as the months go by; visit Donna’s Ko-fi Page to sign up.

To make things easier for us, we are reserving this perk only for Members who subscribe through Ko-fi. Monthly memberships start at just $5!

There are still details to be worked out, and undoubtedly problems will pop up, so bear with us!

Here is the link to Donna’s YouTube Channel, to help you get a feel for her work.

Visit Facebook and “Like” our Pages: Ferry Command Pilot, Words On Wings Press, and Capt. Don McVicar OBE. However, we know that not everyone is on social media which is why we are using Donna’s Ko-fi Page as the locus of activity. See you there!

Thanks so much for being part of this important project!