Desoutter I

Marcel Desoutter was a renowned pioneer aviator before World War 1 and lost a leg in a flying accident in 1913. His brother built an artificial leg for him, using aircraft materials, which halved the weight of the leg he had previously been provided with, and allowed Marcel to resume flying. Together they formed a company to produce false limbs, but Marcel left in 1928 to set up the Desoutter Aircraft Company.

In 1929 the Croydon based company acquired the construction rights for the Dutch designed Koolhoven FK41, a three seat high-winged monoplane, and 41 examples were built in the United Kingdom.

About this aircraft

The Shuttleworth Collection`s Desoutter was built in 1931 and, on receiving its certificate of airworthiness (C of A), began operations as an air taxi with National Flying Services based at Hanworth, Middlesex. In late 1932 it was purchased by William `Sam` Stephenson who was also based at Hanworth.

The Desoutter was entered in the King’s Cup Air Races in 1933 and again in 1934. In January 1935, G-AAPZ was purchased by Richard Shuttleworth who flew it from Hanworth to Old Warden. Now permanently based here, it underwent a lengthy rebuild incorporating a new supercharged 150hp Menasco C-45 Pirate engine, redesigned tail surfaces, modified windscreen and new Bendix brakes fitted to Puss Moth wheels. The fuselage was painted in blue Titanine with silver flying surfaces and the aeroplane was test flown in 1938.

It flew in camouflage from Barton in Bedfordshire during the early years of the War and was then displayed at Hendon in 1951 for the Daily Express ‘50 Years of Flying Exhibition’. Later, in 1971, it was exhibited on loan to the Torbay Aircraft Museum until its return to Old Warden in the late 1970s.

In 1985, a long term restoration programme began to rebuild the Desoutter as a Mk 1 standard model, to be repainted in the original National Flying Services livery. On 26 January 1998, G-AAPZ was successfully flown for the first time in 56 years. It regularly flies during the Collection’s event season.

Specification