First Is Already Completed And Should Fly Next Week

A flight instructor with the Enstone Flying Club in Oxfordshire, UK, has embarked on an ambitious project to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The club hopes to build a dozen 90-percent-scale Supermarine Mk 26B Spitfires by the anniversary date.

The UK newspaper The Mail reports that the person spearheading the effort is Paul Fowler, one of the flying club's instructors. And he's not just talking. The first airplane is reported to be complete, and may fly for the first time next week.

Twenty volunteers have helped build the first replica Spitfire. Each will cost about $340,000 to build, according to the report. The club is soliciting donations and sponsors in an effort to complete the squadron of 12 airplanes. The total cost of the project is estimated at just over $6 million.

The 53-year-old flight instructor said that the project is unique. "No one else is doing this anywhere else in the world," he told The Mail online. Fowler hopes he can enlist the help of the RAF's Red Arrows flight demonstration team to train County of Oxford Squadron pilots in formation flight. He added that he hopes that WWII veterans can ride in the backs of the airplanes for displays during the anniversary.

(Spitfire image from file)

FMI: www.enstoneflyingclub.co.uk/cp7.php