From RAF to DIY flat-pack aeroplanes

Aformer RAF pilot has got off to a flying start with his latest venture – building flat-pack aeroplanes in his garage.

Falklands veteran Peter Gilmour of St Andrews, 67, is due to finish his fifth project at the end of the month after a year’s work on the single-engine planes.

While it might seem an unusual hobby to most of us, Peter seems surprised by the attention he attracts.

“I just buy the kits from a company in America which ships them all over the world,” he said, describing the project as a “godsend” distraction from Covid-19.

Peter, who flew Phantom fighter jets, and then 220-seater Airbuses and Boeing 737s during a 25year commercial career, built his first plane from wood at his kitchen table.

“It had a Volkswagen car engine in it,” he said.

Now he receives flatpacks of aluminium through the post “like a big Airfix kit” he said, that look a bit like an Ikea delivery.

The difference, though, is this “Airfix kit” can fly at 200mph and take two grown men and their luggage to Paris on a single tank of fuel.

Each kit contains around 10,000 parts including 50 sheets of complicated plans, thousands of rivets and the aluminium and fibre glass sections. The wings come separately.

“On average, from start to finish it takes about 18 months. This one is a year in the making,” he said.

His brother-in-law Colin Acland is a former RAF aircraft technician and helps with the installation of avionics and electrics.

The entire build is inspected by a professional engineer before being cleared for take-off. Peter keeps one of his previous creations at the former RAF Leuchars base, where he was stationed three times with 111 Squadron.

Before Covid, he often flew to visit friends in Devon which takes just two-and-a-quarter hours.

“They’re built to take two large Americans and 125lbs of baggage and, fully loaded, it does about 23 miles to the gallon. I have a friend who regularly flies to Munich in his,” he said.

The plane he is currently building is for a friend and is nothing more than a hobby, he said.

He added: “There’s no commercial interest in it for me – that’s not allowed.”

For as long as he can remember, Peter has always wanted to fly.

He joined the air force in 1971 and spent 20 years primarily flying Phantoms.

He was based at Leuchars for eight years but also had spells at RAF Coningsby in Lincoln, Germany and the Falkland Islands, where he was head of the Phantom detachment.

During the Falklands War he was based on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic before leaving the air force in 1991 to work on holiday flights.

He started with Loganair and ended up as chief pilot with Thomson Airways.

“Now, I just prefer touring in my two-seater and building my kits.”

FLAT-PACK: Former RAF pilot Peter Gilmour is building an aeroplane in his garage.