RESPONSE TO ARTICLE WRITTEN BY BRIAN MILTON
By Storm Smith
This letter only to be used in full
Dear David
Thank you for extending me the right of reply to Brian’s account of his involvement in Miles Hilton Barber’s Seeing is Believing flight from the UK to Australia.
Much as I can admire Brian’s ability to write a dramatic narrative, his sense of the dramatic is at the expense of fact and fairness. His account is littered with inaccuracies and in what he writes about me amounts to little more than uninformed character assassination verging on defamation. Starting with my CV, I did indeed serve with G Squadron 23 SAS from 1982-1985 but don’t tend to brag about it – I am not sure where he picked it up from or why he feels the need to mention it. His article ends with an implied slur regarding a microlight sponsored by Optical Express, for the UK High Altitude World Record which Miles and I achieved in 2004 and our participation in the 2003 Cross-Channel Commemorations of the first cross-Channel flight. (For anyone interested, the machine is owned by Optical Express and hangared in full agreement at Eshott Airfield. For a while there had been an intention for Miles to use this aircraft to make the long flight to Sydney with Brian at the controls but I don’t think he could come to a suitable financial agreement with the Sponsor).
I am as you might imagine shocked by the aspersions and disparaging remarks contained in what Brian has written here and on his web-site. Having had to withdraw from the project at such short notice, I was pleased and relieved that it could go ahead with Brian and Richard’s capable hands on the controls to support Miles. I am unsure what Brian hopes to achieve and given he knows nothing of my personal situation, wonder why he feels his narrative gains from such unscrupulous commentary. His part in this adventure and what it will add to his and Richard’s reputations was made possible only by the planning and funding already in place but his account reads as nothing short of malicious.
Having secured the sponsorship and spent six months in the preparation of this current venture to Australia in aid of Seeing is Believing, I had no option but to withdraw with great reluctance and at the eleventh hour for personal reasons. It was not a decision I made lightly but circumstances left me with no choice but to pull out of the dream project I had given a large chunk of my life to and to make other arrangements for Miles to be able to complete the project without me. It is neither appropriate nor necessary for me to explain or detail these reasons to the microlighting world en masse but suffice to say it is a private and difficult matter which would gain nothing from airing in public. I trust it is obvious that only issues of considerable scale and importance would have led to this decision and I make no apologies for putting these first.
I am enormously grateful for the compassion and understanding that Miles has shown and continues to show. I am, in equal measure, disappointed by Brian. As he says he did not talk to me - either about my reasons for withdrawing or the choices Miles and I made in selecting our equipment and route - before attacking my character and my honour in these matters so publicly. There were no questions about the preparation or equipment or anything that had been organized over the previous six months of planning and it was made quite clear he and Richard wanted to take a different tack and take over. After four hours, I made my excuses and left, feeling it was a sad and ignominious end to something I had worked so hard to make happen.
I do not wish to get into any sort of on-going conflict with Brian Milton but I am hugely disappointed. As the self-appointed leader of the microlighting community, Brian has shown no regard for me or for what our Australian friends call respect and ‘mateship’. Reading Brian’s commentaries you can’t help noticing that they are all about him as hero, requiring a suitable villain which in this case is me. I also recognise I am not unique in becoming the source of Brian’s journalistic ire, as Keith Reynolds and others have found out along the littered path of Brian’s past.
Brian describes himself on his website “One of Britain’s greatest 21st Century Adventurers”. Yes, well. Sometimes there are more important matters in life than self-aggrandisement and top of that list for most of us is family – and that notion of mateship before self comes close behind. Perhaps I can console myself with the peculiar irony that Brian agreed only to fly the first couple of weeks because Richard also needed to put his family first and that his final literary reference to the ‘four feathers’ recalls a man branded a coward through ignorance and inaccuracy.
Ultimately this trip is not about Brian or me; it is about raising awareness and significant funds to help with preventable blindness around the world. The star of the show, if there is one, is not Brian, not Richard and not me. It is Miles Hilton-Barber whom I am happy to call my friend. I remain proud of having helped make the whole project happen and urge readers to support the project by making a donation at www.seeingisbelieving.org.uk.
Both Miles and I are extremely grateful to Brian and Richard for stepping in at the last moment. There are probably many others reading this article who would have loved to do this flight but at such short notice, Brian seemed the best replacement both for Miles and the sponsors. Having been handed this project on a plate, Brian’s reaction to me is inevitably, disappointing – though it is perhaps an example of the single-minded approach characterizing many of his adventures over the years. Despite my sadness that his own publicity machine and his taste for headlines causes increased hurt and seems to put Miles and the core goal of raising funds and awareness in the back seat, I remain an admirer of both Brian and Richard’s many achievements, which inspire so many of us to push the boundaries and adventure in our own lives.
Sincerely,
STORM SMITH
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