Leeds girls flying high after winning restoration prize

The sisters, from Pudsey in Leeds, spend every weekend up to their elbows in oil and grease restoring historic helicopters which to most look little more than a pile of rusty metal.

Now their commitment has been recognised as they have been named Young Preservationists of the Year by the Transport Trust. In doing so they chalked up a plethora of firsts: the first females, first shared award, youngest recipients and first time the award has been given to a helicopter restoration project.

The award was presented to Charlotte by HRH Prince Michael of Kent, patron of the Transport Trust, for the work the girls have done restoring the cockpit of a Whirlwind HAR1.

Sadly for Chelsea she was sitting her A-level psychology exam and had to miss the event.

“It was an amazing day,” said Charlotte, who is one of just two girls embarking on an engineering course at Bradford College.

“It is great to get some recognition for what we’ve done. It was also great that an aviation project won the award as it normally goes to a car or train restoration.”

The obsession with all things whirlybird started four years ago when Chelsea was 14 and Charlotte just 12.

When they attended the official unveiling of a vintage helicopter their grandad Mike Fitch had helped restore.

“We went a long and started to look round,” explains Charlotte. “We got really interested when people were telling us about the helicopters. We asked if we could help and they said yes.”

They work with the Doncaster based Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group.