HEATH PARASOL’S 80 YEAR PROGRESS

This is the story of a tiny, 80-year-old aeroplane — scarcely the length of a family car — which, despite many mishaps along the way, is the sole UK survivor of a design dating back to the 1920s...

 

Heath Parasol G-AFZE ready to be assembled at Elstree on 5 September 1948.
R. H. PARKER VIA ARTHUR W. J. G. ORD-HUME

The Light Aircraft Association, the UK’s authority for homebuilt aircraft, has approved some 270 designs, approximately 100 of which are — or were — available in kit form. In order to meet the regulations, a minimum of 51 per cent of a kit-plane must be fabricated and assembled by the builder. With such a wide range of offerings now on the market, kit planes may be thought a relatively recent development. However, the first homebuilt aircraft to be available as a kit appeared nearly a century ago.

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