News | Reverse Engineering A Never Built WWII Era Plane, Man Dies During Test Flight

News | Reverse Engineering A Never Built WWII Era Plane, Man Dies During Test Flight | World War Wings Videos

Planes Of Legend

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Scotty Wilson, a veteran pilot of the United States Air Force, has clocked in over 11,000 hours of flight time. From F-16s to private jets, his passion was flying. It was during his downtime during service that he stumbled upon an article that stayed in his mind for decades to come. It was about a rare, never produced aircraft called the Bugatti 100P.

Designed as an air racer by Ettore Bugatti, it was never completed. With Germany invading France, Bugatti had the airplane disassembled and hidden as not tho let the Nazis get a hold of it. He died in 1947, and the plane was never fully finished. In 1971 however, the U.S. wanted to get their hands on it, and eventually the EAA Airventure Museum procured the frame and finished it. It’s now a static display.

bugatti-100p

Scotty Wilson was not ok with just seeing a static display however. Spending over $400,000 dollars and 10,000 hours building the replica, he achieved his dream 2016. With the first two test flights successfully completed, those close to Wilson said the third flight was going to be his last in this plane. After that, he was going to retire it and put it in a museum.

Sadly, on August 6th, 2016, it was his last flight but not in the same way. About a minute after takeoff, the 100P made a sharp bank to the left. Within seconds, the nose of the plane was pointing completely down and it crashed into a field. Wilson died instantly upon impact.

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