Grounded, those magnificent men and their flying machine
A plucky band of OAPs spent 18 years building this World War I biplane ...but amid a clash with a museum, will they ever see it soar over Scotland?
IT is as if every perfectly-crafted piece yearns to soar skyward – the polished wooden propeller and gleaming metal nose, the taut struts of the tilted wings and the rudder in its livery of red, white and blue. Even in the hangar, this astonishing working replica of a Sopwith 1½ Strutter biplane seems eager for the freedom of flight. Back in the darkest days of the Great War, the development of the Strutter finally helped the Allies gain superiority in the air and defeat the enemy threat.
Now, with a steely determination and ingenuity which evokes the pioneering spirit of an earlier age of aeronautical excellence, a devoted band of elderly enthusiasts has crafted the ultimate tribute.
A century after the Armistice they have unveiled the dazzling working replica of the biplane, the product of an astonishing 18-year labour of love.
The team meticulously crafted and assembled 2,750 separate components – even learning to sew in order to make the fabric-covered wings and body.
But although the amazing creation is virtually complete, its maiden flight may have to wait a little longer after a row between the pensioners and the museum which originally commissioned the project.
Bosses at National Museums Scotland have ejected the team, all aged from 70 to 95, along with their beloved plane from the base in East Fortune, East Lothian, where it was painstakingly constructed, and from which the OAPs expected to see it take off.
Although the men have found the Strutter a temporary home, at present they have no access to the airstrip which they believe they were promised.
Bob Thomson, 72, chairman of the Aviation Preservation Society Scotland (APSS), said: ‘We now have this phenomenal aircraft, but nowhere to fly it.
‘We might have expected the current museum chiefs to have made space in the recently refurbished hangars for our worthy and historic project, particularly in honour of the Armistice.’
Fellow member Alan Manning, 70, said: ‘Just look at what we have achieved in honour of those young pilots who gave their lives to develop this aircraft or who flew it to get the upper hand in the war.’
The society has now urgently appealed to the public to help make the aircraft’s long-awaited maiden flight a reality.
It desperately needs money to pay the rent on its temporary base and secure a permanent home with a runway.
Originally the team was involved in restoring historic aircraft and
‘Just look at what we have achieved’
artefacts at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune.
When former director Adam Smith suggested they make a full-scale working model from scratch, the group – most of whom had no direct aeronautical experience – chose the 1½ Strutter, which takes its name from the one long strut and the shorter half strut which fix each of the upper wings in place.
The museum paid them an initial £5,000 plus £50 a month.
In 1915, even the Allies’ best planes were no match for the German Fokker Eindecker, which could fire through the arc of its propeller thanks to its synchronised machine gun.
It wasn’t until the arrival of the Strutter, forerunner of the Sopwith Camel and Pup, with its synchronised Vickers machine gun that the Allies could compete.
The Strutter was launched in January 1915 by the Sopwith Aviation Company and carried four 25lb bombs.
Around 1,500 were built for the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps.
Several were based at East Fortune, where women helped to build and maintain them.
Although not nimble enough for aerial dogfights, the 1½ Strutter’s long range was effective for attacks deep into German-held territory.
The modern-day enthusiasts – including a former orthopaedic surgeon, an ex-Concorde pilot, a former Rolls-Royce chairman and a chemist – spent thousands of hours studying original technical plans, then making and assembling the components.
Sharing their combined expertise in metalworking, carpentry and engineering, they mastered the skills needed to build the plane and constructed the skeleton from the original plans.
The only compromises on authenticity were a new nine-cylinder engine, imported from Australia, and modern cockpit instruments. And where the original 1½ Strutters had wings made from lacquered Irish linen, the modern replica uses fabric with a more robust and reliable plastic coating.
The replica is fitted with realistic metal machine guns – although they don’t fire.
The plan was to enlist a qualified pilot for the maiden flight, with those who worked on the two-seater aircraft or made significant donations invited to fly as passengers. But that dream has now been stalled
after the team was unceremoniously removed from the airfield.
Despite the recent £3.6 million refurbishment of two hangars at the Museum of Flight and an £80 million development of the main museum in Edinburgh’s Chambers Street, National Museums Scotland director Dr Gordon Rintoul told the men there was no space for them.
They claim passes to the site which they had occupied for 40 years were revoked and the APSS-maintained radio and radar section of the museum closed. Undaunted – and despite the deaths of a number of members – the men found space in a former market garden warehouse in nearby Congalton, shifting the hefty machine piece by laborious piece.
Volunteer Evan Pole, 80, said: ‘It has been a bitter disappointment. It has been frustrating because all the behind-the-scenes work we have had to do to keep the show on the road could have been spent on completing the machine much earlier.’
Members have also had to stump up £7,500 of their own funds this year for rent, but say they will struggle to afford that in the long term. Len Hart, 72, said: ‘We are in a perilous position financially. All the money we have has been self-generated.
‘But it’s a big deal, having to build the machine and also fund-raise, at our age. We welcome any support we can get.’
The volunteers fears that without a permanent base and, crucially, an airstrip for take-offs and landings, they may have to sell their beloved aircraft to a museum in England. They firmly
believe it should stay in Scotland – but public support, in the form of both donations and volunteers, is crucial.
Yet National Museums Scotland still maintains that without enough space – and without a dedicated NMS runway – the plane could not stay at its original East Fortune base.
Yesterday Dr Rintoul said: ‘We have assisted with the APSS’s project to build a replica Sopwith 1½ Strutter by providing them with space to work on the aircraft at the National Museum of Flight over a 15-year period.
‘This space was provided rent-free and with the cost of all amenities covered by National Museums Scotland.
‘As the project neared completion, a larger space was required for the aircraft to be finished, which National Museums Scotland was unable to provide.
‘In addition, since the intention had always been to fly the aircraft and the museum does not have its own runway, the APSS needed a location where this could take place.
‘It was also impractical to house and display a flying aircraft at the museum, given this position.’
But Mr Smith, who originally commissioned the project, confirmed visiting aircraft have regularly accessed disused Second World War runways which were once part of the site, but are now owned by a local farmer. He said: ‘I was at East Fortune for five years and worked with the neighbouring landowners multiple times per year to operate aircraft from the museum.
‘Although we did not have a runway, we did have a collaborative, can-do attitude.
‘The project was started because there was no aircraft from the First World War in the national collection. That’s a serious omission, given what happened at East Fortune, and indeed throughout Scotland, from 191418. On those grounds alone, the Strutter belongs in the museum.
‘A group of retiree volunteers has worked for 18 years to build a 100-year-old aircraft to airworthy standards. It’s an inspiring story that most museums would love to have, and I hope it will be told in East Fortune.’
Mr Thomson said: ‘Over the years, APSS gave the museum thousands of hours of free, skilled labour, supporting the maintenance of the aircraft collection as well as creating and managing the Radio and Radar Exhibition. Both that and the Strutter workshop were major attractions to visitors to the museum.’
Iain Gray, Labour MSP for East Lothian said: ‘I will take the matter up with the Culture Secretary [Fiona Hyslop] and urge her to find a way to help this remarkable group to ensure that the plane remains in Scotland and can be enjoyed by the public.’