When the sky comes cloudless and wind ripples to breeze Mike Clark, the 62year old from Horsham, UK will take the World War I fighter plane out of his garage!
Taxiing out on the lawn, he will climb the skies to tootle over the country side.
This replica of the Fokker Eindecker E.III has cost him just £12,000, less than what a used roadster costs. The single-seat fighter once sent jitters to Britain’s Royal flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service over the skies of France and Belgium. It was then fitfully called “Fokker Scourge” thanks to its ‘blitzing powers’.
This commercial airline pilot has no murderous intent, Daily Mail quips. It comes with 50-horsepower ‘Hirth motor’, which manages the same fuel rate as his car. Weighing just 115 kilos, it took some 18 months for him to build it. This airworthy craft owes much to the parts kit from Grass Strip Aviation Company in UK.
Just 20-liter tank full of fuel gives him 90 miles range at 25 mph speed limit. Clark has flown up to 3,000 ft so far and he is too scared to climb up higher than that.
Clark’s wife, Esther who is a teacher and textile artist, is very supportive of his flying craze, “I’m not too worried about him flying, I worry more when he has a long drive. I think driving on motorways or country lanes is more dangerous. It makes him happy, and I suppose it’s better than him lingering in bars”
