History

VintageAirRally began in 2008 as a brainchild of Prepare2go – a company specialising in extraordinary logistics (moving people and equipment through difficult places). Original, and ongoing, clients include the BBC and CNN to mention just a couple.

Sam Rutherford’s passion for aviation drove the core of Prepare2go’s activities. In addition to the more serious requests, clients began demanding flying safaris around the world. Soon, we were landing small planes on the sands of the Sahara and even landing on the ice caps at the North Pole. Then, a biennial expedition to Cape Town and back became a recurring adventure. At the same time, plane owners around the world wanted us to ferry their aircraft from one corner of the globe to the other – expanding the knowledge base and experience of our team (now including no less than four pilots, over 50%).

It was at this stage that Prepare2go started getting involved in vintage aviation. The first VintageAirRally was the Crete2Cape in 2016. It was a huge success – viewed with interest (and anxiety!) from around the world.

The VintageAirRally was born out of a desire to take antique aircraft on incredible journeys. The aim is to demonstrate that even many decades after construction they are still capable of flying difficult and demanding routes – as they did in the early 20s and 30s. Where possible, we follow the original post and passenger routes across the continents that have always held fascination for travellers.

Our travellers are equally important, and this is why the pilots flying the VintageAirRally events are carefully chosen to ensure they understand the difficulties ahead – and will tackle them with the determination (and sense of humour) they require to have any chance of success. On a VintageAirRally, the journey is as important as the destination. VintageAirRally specialise in long distance, intercontinental Rallies – but we also run smaller, more local events. These involve classic car rallies in entirely interactive events, where the aircraft and cars are in competition – a unique formula marrying the modern with the antique.