Roadside assistance for replica Spitfire (From The Northern Echo)

Roadside assistance for replica Spitfire

8:48am Monday 5th May 2008 in

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A STRANDED replica Second World War fighter built by volunteers will tour air shows in the UK after a businessman stepped in to help make it mobile.

Volunteers from the Royal British Legion's (RBL) branch in Ripon, North Yorkshire, spent 7,000 hours and more than 11 months building the full-size replica Spitfire.

It is the only one of its kind in the UK and was built as close to the original drawings for the fighter as possible.

The aircraft is more than nine metres long, but does not have an engine, so volunteers were left with the problem of how to transport it.

Then Ripon-based Bill Plant Limited, a driver training company, contacted the group and arranged to move the plane with the loan of two vehicles and an exhibition unit.

Howard Whiting, chairman of the RBL's Ripon branch, said: "Interest in the aircraft is immense.

"But it's not an easy thing to take around. In fact, travel arrangements to air shows and events was a nightmare until Bill Plant Limited stepped in."

The Spitfire was stored and maintained at RAF Leeming, near Bedale, while it was being built.

Funds raised by the plane's appearances at events will go towards helping to support RBL members and their families.

It is also hoped that the Spitfire project will educate people about the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces.

Bill Plant, managing director of Bill Plant Limited, said: "We are very proud to have the opportunity to be able to help in this way to support the Royal British Legion.

"We are proud to support its work with servicemen past and present - in particular those involved in recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq."

The replica Spitfire will be at Ripon market place on Saturday, May 17, before heading off on a nationwide tour.

Among the shows it will visit are The Great Yorkshire Show, at Harrogate, and the Sunderland International Air Show, both in July.

The plane is built from aluminium and instead of an engine has counter balance weights fitted to keep it level.

Visitors can sit in the plane's cockpit and feel what it was like to be a Second World War fighter pilot.

Its wingspan is 11.2 metres, but the wings can be detached for transportation.