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Plane being restored may have flown Charles De Gaulle

A plane built in Bedfordshire and being restored in Norfolk could be flying again, more than 60 years after it was last in the air.

Rex Ford is rebuilding the Percival Q6 at his workshop at Seething airfield near Norwich.

Rex Ford

It was one of 28 built at the newly opened Luton aerodrome in the 1930s. The man who designed and constructed them was Edgar Percival, an Australian world war one hero.

Rex has been working on the last surviving one for six years. He hopes it'll be airworthy again in 2019.

"The joy is that you're bringing something back to life - an aircraft that hasn't flown for 62 years," said Rex.

The Percival Q6 being restored

During the restoration it's emerged that this plane might well have carried a famous passenger during the war years.

Nik Coleman produces documentaries about plane restorations and while researching the Q6, a chat with one of Charles de Gaulle's biographers revealed the French general was almost certainly flown to Britain in it after the Germans invaded France.

Contrary to what we had been told about de Gaulle leaving France on a fairly decrepit transport plane from the RAF, the biographer was insistent that in fact he travelled on his own in a small aircraft, " said Nik. "We really believe this is the plane that hoisted De Gaulle from France, which is incredible.

– Nik Coleman