SUPERMARINE Mk.26 - Spitfire

Due to the huge value and the irreplaceable nature of a real Spitfire, very few select pilots will ever get the opportunity to pilot a real Spitfire.

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FOR LESSER MORTALS there is the option to build and fly your own replica.

This is what Australian enthusiast Mike O'Sullivan did after completing a couple of homebuilt projects.

O'Sullivan built his first Spitfire replica in the early 1990s as a 75%-scale version of the original, which he called the Mk.25.

Inspired by legendary Spitfire test pilot Alex Henshaw, O'Sullivan completed his own Spitfire and liked it so much he decided to sell kits to like-minded enthusiasts worldwide.

Several Mk.25s were built before he came out with a slightly larger model that had bigger engine options and added a second seat behind the pilot.

This was naturally designated the Mk.26.

However the second seat was cramped and so he expanded the fuselage yet again to become a 90% version, which he called the Mk 26B.

Whether in Mk26 or Mk.26B forms, the aircraft is an all-metal, monocoque design with a fiberglass cowl.

An important goal for Mike O'Sullivan was for his Mk.26 to look like an original.

This ruled out any Rotax engine options.

Fortunately Australia is also a great source of aero engines - in particular, the widely used Jabiru air cooled direct drive engines. There are hundreds of Jabirus flying in South Africa and so there is a vast repository of skills and experience for the operation and maintenance of these simple yet proven engines.

Top of the range is the 8-cylinder Jabiru 5100 which is good for 180 hp. Despite this being far less than the original Merlin's 1,600 hp, this still gives much the same power to weight ratio yet with a proven engine that is far simpler and cheaper to maintain than a supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin that needs to be overhauled around every 250 hours.

Murray Kester's Mk.26