The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship was established in 2002 following a fundraising banquet held at Mansion House to mark 50 years of Patronage for the Duke of Edinburgh. The Scholarship is awarded to a previous flying scholar who has displayed outstanding potential and allows the individual who is member of the Air Training Corps and who also holds a Duke of Edinburgh Award to achieve their full private pilot’s licence.
The Air League has awarded the 2021 full PPL Prince Philip Flying Scholarship to Venessa Njoki.
Venessa was born in Kenya and moved to the UK aged 7. She attended 393 (Finchley) Sqn RAF Air Cadets for five years where she completed her Gold, Silver and Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award.
Coincidentally, in 2016 aged 15 she attended the Air League’s Annual Reception and was part of the contingent of cadets, along with the then Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Andrew Pulford and Commandant Air Cadets, Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty to collect the Air League’s Founders’ Medal from the Duke of Edinburgh, which was awarded to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, in recognition of its 75 years of service.
In 2020, she aged out as a Cadet Warrant Officer and was subsequently commissioned to continue her adult service as a Pilot Officer, where she is also a D of E assessor. She is currently working as a health care assistant and is planning a career within aviation or aerospace.
On receiving the award Venessa Said:
I wholeheartedly thank the Air League and express my gratitude for proving me the opportunity to build the foundations of my dreams. I am sincerely honoured to have been selected as the recipient of The Prince Philip Scholarship 2021, which has allowed me to complete my exams and flying hours towards my license. This award has boosted my confidence, expanded my knowledge, and allowed me to make new friends. I have loved and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I can appreciate the growing diversity in pilots and moreover the aviation industry and I want to represent that in everything I do – within The Air League especially, which has given me a great platform to showcase and break the stereotype and show my generation and generations to come that’s the industry is inclusive of all races, genders, and beliefs and that regardless of one’s background you can achieve tremendous things. I look forward to being able to give back to The Air League and its member and I am ever so grateful.
Venessa is currently undertaking her PPL training at Tayside Aviation in Dundee Scotland.
In 2021 seven scholarships in total have been awarded (one full PPL and six additional 5-hour scholarships) to current or past of members of the Air Training Corps to commemorate the seven decades of Patronage the Duke of Edinburgh had bestowed to the Air League.
All scholars under the Prince Philip fund are:
| Award | Recipient |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship Full PPL | Venessa Njoki |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | James Jarman |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | Charlotte Cropper |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | Alec Baldwin |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | Chad Davies |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | Suraj Chavda |
| The Prince Philip Flying Scholarship 5 hour | Tabitha Shaw |
