Tom Grant designed and built his 3/4 scale Albatross D V replica from his own plans over about 14 years, which included a building time of around three and a half years.
The fuselage was built up from white pine carvel planking (a boat building technique), with a lightweight fibreglass finish. The wings are of standard spruce spars and ribs with fabric covering. The engine is a 4 cylinder Toyota 480E from a Corolla.
ZK-DVR (c/n TG01) was registered to Tom Grant of Dunedin on 8 November 2007. Tom says that it flies just like it is supposed to, and he had flown around 50 hours.
On 26 October 2015 it was reported;
Witnesses to the emergency landing of a replica World War 1 fighter heard the plane coughing before a loud ”boom” gave way to silence as it descended on to a ridge high above Ocean View on Saturday.
Police lauded the quick-thinking pilot for his ”perfect” emergency landing of the three-quarter Albatros D.Va replica on farmland above Brighton Rd about 10.50am.
The pilot, Tom Grant (87), was fine despite the plane hitting a fence on a ridge about 100m above Brighton Rd during the emergency landing, his wife, Jeanette, said.
”It was a controlled landing. He just caught the top of the wire as he came in,” she said.
”He got a tiny bump on his nose … but he’s fine.”
It appeared the landing buckled the plane’s wheels and damaged the right wing and undercarriage.
The plane, which Mr Grant built, was salvageable and would be ”next winter’s project”, Mrs Grant said.
All Aero 