Flight of fancy; Grandad builds plane in garage.Byline: STEPHEN WHITE ALAN Shipp can join the magnificent men in their flying machines - after building his own plane from scratch. It took 11 years, cost him pounds 25,000 and took thousands of hours of his own labour - and even two extensions to his garage - to build the four-seater aircraft. The retired firefighter worked from plans and had parts shipped to his home in Hull from all over the world. His hard work has finally paid off as the Jodel D140E Mousquetaire has taken its maiden flight Noun 1. maiden flight - the first flight of its kind; "the Stealth bomber made its maiden flight in 1989" flying, flight - an instance of traveling by air; "flying was still an exciting adventure for him" from a private airfield in York York, former name of Toronto, Canada York, Ont.: see Toronto, Ont., Canada. York, city, England York, city (1991 pop. 123,126) and district, North Yorkshire, N England, at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers. . The grandad, 67, said: "I must admit, when the plane took off on its first flight I did have my heart in my mouth. But to me it's just magic." Now the plane is finished it is believed to be worth pounds 75,000. Wife Andrea, 68, said: "It's very emotional. He's worked very hard on it for 11 years." Alan, who is a qualified pilot, is now waiting for Civil Aviation Authority Civil Aviation Authority civil (Brit) n → Behörde f für Zivilluftfahrt to give him approval to regularly pilot the plane. CAPTION(S): UP AND AWAY First flight, above, with Alan in the plane and at his garage |
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