Back on a real high...

18 November 2006 06:00

When television star Martin Shaw watched his beloved vintage plane come crashing down at a Norfolk air show in 2004, there was only one thing on his mind after he heard that the crew had walked away.

With a steely determination that his famous character Judge John Deed would be proud of, Mr Shaw has spent the last two years putting the 1941 Stearman biplane back together, piece by piece.

Yesterday, his hard work finally paid off with aviation officials giving the plane the green light and, as sunlight broke through the grey clouds, the Norfolk-based actor gave a great grin and took off.

Since that fateful day in August 2004 almost every move of Mr Shaw's has been filmed for a documentary series on his attempts to get the plane flying again.

But as Mr Shaw landed his vintage plane after a 15-minute test flight and the cameras swooped in on him, there was no need for any acting to show how delighted he was to be back in the cockpit.

“I've waited two years for that and it was just brilliant,” he beamed. “It's fantastic, she performs better than I could have hoped. It's just great to have her back.”

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the plane, which saw active service training US pilots during the second world war, looked unsalvageable - and its insurers wrote it off.

Mr Shaw was watching his plane perform at an airshow in Old Buckenham, near Attleborough, when it developed a problem shortly after its fourth take-off of the day.

The pilot landed in a stubble field at the end of the runway, with the impact snapping off the undercarriage and flipping the aircraft on to its back, where it caught fire.

Neither the pilot nor his passenger were badly hurt in the crash, but Mr Shaw was forced to watch from the airfield's clubhouse as firemen battled the blaze that soon engulfed it.

“I thought it must be the end of the plane,” said Mr Shaw. “When I saw it I had no idea whether it was restorable but I knew that if it was I would get it done, whatever the expense. This plane has so much history to it. Pilots who flew it fought and may have died in the second world war. It's so important to keep these planes flying, to keep them alive.”

Putting the plane back together was clearly a job for the Professionals - and Mr Shaw had a ready-made team in the nearby village of Tibenham, plane restorers Bob Sage and Paul Bennett.

Yesterday the pair were proud witnesses as the Stearman took off smoothly from Mr Sage's farm, soaring into the air for the first time in two years.

Mr Sage said: “It wasn't so much a case of what needed doing, more of what didn't need doing. It needed a new fin, the wings were broken, the engine had crashed all the way back to the cockpit, the propellers were smashed, the undercarriage was torn off.

“It's safe to say it was a pretty big and expensive job, but we knew we could get her back in the air and we're both overjoyed now she's finally flying again.”

Mr Shaw said: “The two of them have done an amazing job, she even flies better now than before. It's been a difficult two years but I knew they could do it and the day would come when I could fly her again.

“It's been well worth the wait, going back up there was beyond words, absolutely delightful.”

The six-part documentary follows Mr Shaw's attempts to rebuild the plane and also sees him meet another Norfolk character, Ken Wallis, inventor of the autogyro.

Martin Shaw: Aviators begins on the Discovery Real Time channel on Tuesday, December 5, at 10pm.

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