To mark the joint 100-year anniversaries of the first patent for PVC manufacture and the first flight of the World War 1 Sopwith Camel biplane, PVC roofline and rainwater specialist Swish Building Products has built a large-scale static model using its cellular PVC fascia boards.
The company says the Sopwith Camel first flew on 22nd December 1916 and went on to be the most successful allied fighter with 1,294 victories to its name. Of the 5,490 built, only eight are thought to remain.
In recognition of the event, Swish thought it would be a great idea to build this 1/8th scale model, making the wings, fuselage and control surfaces from their off-the-shelf cellular PVC facia and soffit boards.
Also around 100 years ago, industrial chemist, Friedrich Heinrich August Klatte became the first inventor to receive a patent for PVC with a polymerization method for vinyl chloride using sunlight.
