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. Non-commercial aviation in the USA was then almost entirely unregulated, and it was in this freewheeling environment that one Edward Baird Heath developed his very special business model. Born in 1888, Ed Heath was a keen motorcycle racer in his teens and had designed and built his first, albeit unsuccessful, aircraft, a Bleriot-type monoplane, at the age of 21. In 1911, his aviation supply business, trading as the E. B. Heath Aerial Vehicle Company, sold a wide range of aircraft equipment and materials. Heath's 1919 catalogue ran to more than 30 pages and not only included complete surplus military aircraft but a range of his own designs, together with several automobile and motorcycle engines adapted for aviation use. Among his surplus stock was a substantial quantity of lower wings for the Thomas-Morse S-4C Scout, a single-seat biplane, similar to the Sopwith Pup... of which more later.
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