Retired RAF pilot creates Europe's fastest biplane in his garden shed

Wacky Rich Goodwin, 60, spent four years and thousands of pounds building himself the Pitts Special muscle biplane at his home near Malvern, Worcs.

He can often be seen taking to the skies and wowing the crowds by doing loop-the-loops and barrel rolls at aerobatic displays across the country.

But now the former Tornado pilot has gone one step further to create Britain’s first homemade jet-powered plane, which can hit speeds of 220mph.

Having previously needing to remortgage his house to fund the original aircraft, he has now forked out £100,000 on two jet engines with 850lbs of thrust apiece.

The married dad-of-five began working to install the engines back in 2021 and was able to test out his new creation in January following almost two years of labour.

Thrilling Top Gun-style GoPro footage shows Rich putting the aircraft through its paces by pulling numerous dare-devil stunts.

Rich now reckons he can boast being the owner of Europe’s fastest biplane - which weighs 1,500lbs (630kg) and has a 650bhp engine.

He said: “It is very unique, many people can't believe the authorities allow me to fly it as it's a bit off the wall.

“The plane has more thrust than before, it has excess thrust. If you look at the Harrier and the F35 which hover, they all have excess thrust.

UP IN THE AIR: Rich Goodwin, from near Malvern, performs a stunt in his plane (Image: SWNS)

“It's not going to be going any faster than 220mph. But what can you do with this plane, we'll be able to get an altitude record for a biplane.

“It's certainly the most powerful. It's the fastest biplane in the country, theoretically, but you'd have to break all the rules. It most likely is in Europe, too.

“It's a plug-and-play situation with these engines. They just slot in on the frame.

"Having flown it nine times now with the new engines, I'm confident that's it going to be a pretty good aeroplane.

“Its taken a couple of years in extra building for the structure of the jet engine and the paperwork.

“There’s a saying, when the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the plane they'll let you fly it.

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“I respect the authorities and the air shows are tightly regulated for good reason but it's important to keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible."

Rich began building his labour of love six years ago after spending £135,000 and finally completed his initial project in 2020.

Before then his only experience of building aircraft was putting together model planes.

Rich, who served in the RAF between 1984-1993 and flew in the Gulf War, added: “It took four years to build the biplane, it was built in my garden shed "The top wing is 20ft long and it only fits in the shed diagonally, “Then it’s hard to transport it to the airfield as you can't fly it out of the garden.

"My wife knows where I am and I'm not far from the house, it's like an upmarket mancave.

"I don't like to use the term that it has been pimped, but hot-rod biplane is preferable. Its had a lot of loving extras.

“During the modification process I needed to build a new set of wings and I thought I’d build a new biplane with all the modifications added on.

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“The only experience building I've had before was putting together a model airplane but sometimes in life you’ve just got to get on with it.

“It's all quite extreme stuff, it's not easy to do. Part of the challenge here is the authorities have to be open minded, you have to get the authorities on board.

“It's a much cheaper way to get into aeroplanes as you fly and maintain it yourself.

“We've still got more test flying to do. It encourages our generation, our youngest. If you can do this in a shed, imagine what you can do in a hanger.

“It will be a different type of air show with the engines, I'm hoping it will be entertaining."