IT is a plane which flew into history decades ago, but could now take to the air once again thanks to a team of volunteers.
Members of the Aviation Preservation Society Scotland (APSS) have spent the past 16 years building a replica WW1 Sopwith Strutter biplane at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, East Lothian.
But now the project has run out of space and they are looking for a new home where they can finish the job.
Squadrons of Sopwith Strutters were based at the airfield during the First World War, and the team decided to construct the plane to honour their memory.
Once completed, it will be fully air-worthy and a perfect recreation of the WWI fighter plane as it is possible to create.
APSS member Gerard Lohan, who is working on a documentary about the project, said: "It is a full-sized replica of a 1916 biplane which will be capable of taking to the air once it is built.
"However, the aircraft is too big for the shed it is in at the moment and we can't complete it here, so we are looking around for a new home.
"Wherever we end up, we will need a big shed and ideally some sort of hanger would be perfect."
The team, who are all pensioners, came together through their love of the aircraft and have been working on the replica in their spare time.
Crews made up of female workers originally assembled the Sopwith Strutter East Fortune, and the two-seater plane was used during World War I as a fighter aircraft and bomber.
Squadrons of Sopwith Strutters were used by the British, French, Belgians and the US armed forces.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel