For the success of Project Lanoe, Trustees of the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust have been invited to attend The National Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on 11 November 2018, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armistice. Members of the Royal family, and religious and political leaders will be joined by members of the public who have contributed to the Centenary on a national, regional and local level.

Recognising the huge contribution the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and its First World War projects have made to the Centenary, the Department for Digital, Media and Sport invited HLF to nominate people to attend the Service. As a result over 300 people who have been involved with HLF funded First World War projects across the UK will be attending the Service on Sunday.

Project Lanoe brought together the students from Colchester Institute and Ormiston Academy, volunteers from Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome, and members of the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust to recreate a flight simulator called back in the day a Rocking Nacelle to help new pilots in 1915 master the intricacies of firing at moving targets on a range.  The basic 3-axis motion created by parallelogram of cables was the brainchild (amongst many) of Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO RFC after whom the project was named.  The Trust replaced the Lewis Machine gun with virtual reality and the simulator has already inspired thousands of budding pilots.

Our Centenary project was made possible by a grant of £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which distributes the heritage share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide variety of projects across the UK. HLF has invested £97million in 2,200 First World War Centenary projects.