A flight museum in Langley, B.C., unveiled a replica of a First World War fighter plane on Friday June 17, 2016, with plans for it to soar over Vimy Ridge on the infamous battle's 100th anniversary.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tamsyn Burgmann
June 18, 2016 - 6:00 AM
LANGLEY, B.C. - A flight museum in Langley, B.C., has unveiled a replica of a First World War fighter plane with plans for it to soar over Vimy Ridge on the infamous battle's 100th anniversary.
The Canadian Museum of Flight has been gifted the fully functioning replica 1916 Sopwith Pup biplane as one of two being built for a legacy project.
Next April, a squadron of former Canadian military pilots is planning to use the biplanes in a flyover of the Vimy Memorial in France to commemorate Canada's heroism and loss in a battle that saw more than 10,000 Canadians killed or wounded.
About 20 adults and six teenaged Royal Canadian Air Cadets helped build the Pup, while learning what it took to make biplanes a century ago.
Tim Joyce, president of Sound Venture Productions, says building historical biplanes from scratch was an unprecedented undertaking with tight deadlines.
The project has been under construction since last summer as part of an initiative known as Wings of Courage and was funded in part by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016