Few organisations are as seasoned in restoring and reproducing First World War aircraft as the Memorial Flight association in France, and its current projects will produce an array of outstanding 1914-18 specimens
Look at any of the Memorial Flight’s aeroplanes close-up and the quality of workmanship cannot fail to impress. Then consider how this French organisation has achieved such things with a small group of volunteers, generally coming together on two days a week. To watch its original SPAD XIII flying, its 220hp Hispano-Suiza 8 engine purring contentedly away, is to witness perhaps the exemplification of France’s role in the aerial combats of the First World War and those whose names were rendered immortal as a result. The sole flyable example, it is a uniquely potent piece of national aviation heritage. And to think it was the association’s first ever restoration…
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