Rare Sopwith for New Zealand

摘要

The vintage aviator at Wellington, New Zealand, has acquired an original Sopwith VA Strutter from Kermit Weeks in Florida. The Clerget powered machine is one of only four genuine VA Strutters surviving (see Database, December 2009 Aeroplane). It will be restored to fly. Recovered from Argentina back in the 1980s, its identity is unclear. It is thought to be one of two French-built VAs that went onto the Argentine civil register in the late 1920s, as R-105 (later LV-BAA) and R-106 (later LV-CAA). The biplane, which is fitted with dual controls, is one of more than 4,500 of the artillery spotter/recce, single seat bomber and two seat short range bomber variants built in France by 11 subcontractors.