Langley, BC — The Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley has agreed to provide a replica of a century-old Sopwith Pup biplane for the 100th anniversary of the First World War battle of Vimy Ridge.
Now all they have to do is build one from scratch, then get it flight-tested and certified.
They have 18 months to pull it off.
If all goes well, the Langley museum’s Pup will join another Pup and four Nieuport 11 fighters from the same era in a flypast to mark the anniversary of the bloody battle for high ground on the western edge of the Douai Plains that pitted four Canadian divisions against three German divisions from April 9 to April 12, 1917.
A replica of a Sopwith Camel fighter plane was put on display outdoors on Canada Day by the museum of flight. It is planning to build a replica of the Sopwith pup, the fighter that preceded the Camel.
It’s an ambitious schedule that will require “tons of volunteers,” said Dave Arnold, vice-president the of museum’s board of directors.
“It’s pretty exciting,” he said.
“It’s got to get off the ground quickly,” said George Miller, the former Langley airport manager who was approached by the Vimy anniversary organizers who were looking to pay someone to build a Pup.
Miller and former Langley mayor Kurt Alberts took the idea to the museum board.
“They had to think about it for three seconds,” said Alberts.
The single-seater aircraft is technically known as the Scout, but the nickname stuck because pilots considered it to be the “pup” of a larger two-seater Sopwith.
Most Sopwith fighters that followed became part of what was known as the “flying zoo” with animal names like the Camel, Dolphin and Snipe.
The replica Pup will be slightly smaller than the original, and will use aluminum ribs instead of wood.
Read more: http://www.langleytimes.com/