DAAT was formed by Ann Thomas, in memory of her son, 18-year-old Ceri Thomas, who was fatally injured in a road traffic collision in 1986. At hospital, his mother learned that the quicker a patient receives hospital treatment, the greater that patient's chances of survival. Subsequently, she started a campaign to launch an air ambulance service for Devon. The service went into operation on 27 August 1992, covering the entirety of the county of Devon, including the rural and inaccessible moors of Exmoor and Dartmoor. The charity currently operates two helicopters, and can reach 50 per cent of locations in Devon within fiveminutes of taking to the air, with remaining locations accessible within 20minutes.
Organisation
The charity owns and operates two Eurocopter EC135 helicopters, from two different airfields, to maximise coverage of the county. Both helicopters fly for ten hours a day, seven days a week. From late autumn 2016, the Exeter-based helicopter flew into the hours of darkness, up to midnight, into one of a network of community night-landing sites created across the county. The Exeter-based EC135 P2+ helicopter, registered G-DAAN, is located along with the National Police Air Service helicopter at Exeter Airport. The previous aircraft was purchased in 2008 for around £3.3M. The North Devon-based EC135 P2+ helicopter, registered G-DVAA, is located at Eaglescott Airfield, previously at Belle Vue Airfield, near Great Torrington. In 2019, the charity announced that it would be replacing G-DVAA with a newly built Airbus H145. Registered G-DAAS, it was delivered to DAAT in June 2020. In 2020, the charity introduced two Volvo XC90Critical Care Cars, which allow the service to be delivered when helicopters are unable to fly.
Role
The charity's mission statement is: "To relieve sickness and injury in and around the county of Devon through provision of an emergency Air Ambulance service". The charity provides air ambulance cover for the entire county, in association with the South Western Ambulance Service, who provide the paramedics on secondment. The charity receives no funding from the government, nor the National Lottery, relying on public and businesses donations, plus income generated by its shops and society lottery helps to meet annual running costs. In 2019, the charity raised £9.1M, of which £5.9M was used to operate the two air ambulances.
Notable donations
Both of the helicopters bear the signature of television presenter and patron Jennie Bond, who named the charity as her choice during her appearance in the show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. The money raised enabled the charity to buy a GPS moving map system for the first helicopter. BBC Radio Devon also ran a two-year appeal which raised the final £850,000 needed to buy a second owned aircraft.
