After some careful planning, which involved several envelopes and beer mats, I built an aluminium tubular frame around a bicycle. The 5 metre fuselage had to be built in two detachable sections, with four separate wings, to be able to make it transportable. All went according to plan, except for the undercarriage. Both mark I and II versions collapsed during testing. This was resolved with the use of a heavy steel section. Rather than cover the frame in fabric, which we found to be too heavy, we used a heavy polythene sheet, painted with acrylic paint.
I have an enjoyable part time job as a Technician in a local Harrow High School. I have something of a history in building various parade floats to represent the local Harrow Borough in the London New Years Day Parade.
After last New Year, I was asked to consider building a float to take to Harrow’s twin town Douai in France. To take part in the annual Douai festival. The Douai Fetes des Gayants, featuring several giant figures, dates back many centuries. The theme of this year’s parade was to celebrate 100 years since the worlds first air show.
The idea was to build a replica of an early aircraft, powered by a bicycle. We settled on a half scale rough replica of a Bristol F2, the biplane flown by our local hero William Leefe Robinson VC. To be painted in the colours of the 48th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. He was in fact shot down near Douai by Baron von Richtofen, the ‘Red Baron’, though survived.
The Bristol Fighter......bicycle powered..! and not paper!
After an initial outing at a local festival in Harrow, we were off to Douai.
All went superbly well. The Douai parade is a huge extraordinary event, at which we received a very
enthusiastic reception. Our ground crew of the five lads that we took from School had a particularly
unforgettable weekend.........
