Man from Odiham who built replica Spitfire aircraft from scratch receives permit to fly

Steve Markham created the aircraft in one of the barns at his farm from 2006 to 2017 - it took a total of 11,250 hours to create.  

The aircraft is a replica of the most successful type of Spitfire that was based in Odiham during the Second World War in 1944, the PL793, which had no cannons or guns but was instead used to fly over Europe and photograph.  

The aircraft known as the Odiham Spitfire flies at a maximum speed of 222 miles per hour and Steve built the aircraft by buying Spitfire kits from a company called Supermarine to commemorate the skill and courage of Photo Reconnaissance Pilots. 

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After Steve watched the film Reach for the Sky as a young boy, which is about a flight cadet in the Royal Air Force who sadly had both of his legs aputated, he was inspired to also start flying his own Second World War-style aircraft. 

He got his pilot's licence in the 1970s and he has since flown different vintage aircrafts.

Steve has previously tried to buy vintage Spitfires on different occasions, but always got out bid. 

In 2018 Steve's aircraft was flown by two test pilots, but the engine overheated, so it came back to his workshop. 

In the following year, 2019, a test pilot from New Zealand flew Steve's Odiham Spitfire. 

After Steve completed the aircraft's test flight programme in July this year, on September 2 he was presented with a permit to fly his handmade aircraft by the Civil Aviation Authority and Light Aircraft Association. 

The day after receiving his permit to fly - roughly 16 years since first starting to build the Odiham Spitfire - Steve received an award for his aircraft by a number of judges for the Best Kit Airbuilt Aircraft. 

During the first stages of making the aircraft Steve would receive calls from people wanting to see the Spitfire, then when the calls started to double each day with people interested he decided to start a collection port to help raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. 

Group of people gathered around to raise money for RAF Benevolent Fund at the Roll Out party and Steve Markham's spitfire plane before it had been fully finished and painted in 2016. (Image: Steve Markham)

In 2016 when the aircraft was nearly built Steve held a Spitfire roll-out party where he raised £4,000 for the RAF Benevolent Fund, which 200 people attended. He also held a celebration party three years later in 2019 which was even a greater success. 

The blue colour of the aircraft replicates that of reconnaissance aircrafts during the Second World War, that were painted blue to camouflage into the sky.