LOTS of people have a pet project to keep themselves occupied and enjoy a bit of DIY.

For most of us it is nothing more ambitious than restoring an old car or redesigning the kitchen.

But when Gerry Nash set to work on his own dream his plans were a little grander.

The impressive purpose-built workshop alone would have been challenge enough to satisfy most people's desire to achieve something but Gerry did not stop there.

Instead, he bought plans for a plane and set to work building it.

The American-designed Vans RV4 two-seater prop-plane has taken ten years to finish but is now finally complete and Gerry has been flying it since February.

If the whole idea of building a plane in your Bussage back garden seems a bit barmy it is worth pointing out that Gerry is far from a novice when it comes to aircraft.

"I was brought up in aviation and have been in it all my life so it wasn't as if I didn't know what I was doing," he said.

"I got my pilot's licence way back, a long, long time ago."

He started his career as an aeronautical engineer's apprentice and by the time he retired was a flight engineer for major airlines.

"I flew with British Airways and South African Airways," said Gerry.

"And when I retired from BA at 55 I continued with Airfreight Express for a further 18 months."

During his working life he has clocked up an impressive 18,000 hours in the air.

Though Gerry did all the work on the plane himself it was built under the auspices of the Popular Flying Association, which approves designs and safety.

"You can't just build a plane and fly it, it's just not allowed, it has to be safe," he said. "It has to be absolutely spot on, it's essential really."

He enjoyed learning new skills and honing those he already had.

"There was quite a lot of reading up on things before I even started it," he said. "It's multi-disciplined."

Though it took ten years from the time Gerry started building the workshop to finishing the plane he said he could have done the job a lot quicker.

"I was working 18 to 20 days a month doing long-haul flights for most of that time and needed to relax for a couple of days each time I got back, which didn't leave much time to work on the aircraft."

Gerry kept the costs down by buying reconditioned instruments where possible. The engine itself was, bizarrely, bought cheaply from the courts as it was used as evidence in a murder case.

"The court is allowed to sell things like this to recover some of the costs," said Gerry.

"I had to rebuild it as it hadn't run for eight years and was all rusted up.

"When I put it in the aircraft I set it up in a little orchard I have in my garden.

"I tied it up to a tree so it wouldn't go anywhere and all the neighbours thought I was completely potty.

"The engine ran first time, I just turned the key and it started, which totally took me by surprise."

Gerry then had to paint his aircraft with the specialist paint used for flight which at £1,000 a litre has to be resistant to temperature extremes, changes in air pressure and general abrasion.

"I'd never sprayed anything in my life before but sprayed on the paint with my little compressor and spray gun," he said.

"It was like being in a fog and the paint is extremely toxic."

The cockpit itself is built to Gerry's own specifications with the control sticks made from wood from a neighbour's cherry tree to give it that personal touch.

"It's designed to suit me and nobody else, it's a totally personal thing," he said.

"I'm quite a small person and I wanted to be able to reach everything.

"I always knew I would get there with this project but what I didn't realise was that it was going to take so long.

"People often start building and get so fed up with it they pass it on to someone else.

"Usually it's about the third person along the line who actually finishes the aircraft."

Once the plane was finished he borrowed a friend's trailer to take it minus wings, to its hangar at Kemble Airfield.

"That journey took years off my life because I could just see it flying off the back of the trailer," he laughed.

"I was crawling along at about 20 miles per hour with a string of traffic behind just praying it would stay put."

The wings had to be fitted at Kemble once the plane was in its hangar and Gerry took his plane, The Spirit Of Youth, for its first test flight this February.

Despite the blood, sweat and tears which had gone into building the plane he was not the first person to pilot it.

"The chief inspector of the PFA insisted an approved PFA pilot who was used to that particular type of aircraft did the job.

"If I'd have been piloting I'd not only be flying a brand new aircraft but something that I was not used to.

"Still, it was a bit of a downer really."

Nevertheless Gerry has made up for the initial disappointment with regular flights around the country and is enjoying the thrill of his aerobatic masterpiece.

While he enjoyed the challenge of building the plane he says one is definitely enough. "I wouldn't do it again, It's too much work and I think there's only one aircraft inside me," he said.

"But it was therapeutic, particularly when I retired.

"You're suddenly moved away from everything in your life, the company, the people you flew with, flying round the world every day.

"Being able to walk across the garden to the workshop with a purpose in life was great." He is clearly pleased with the plane he built with his own hands.

"My little girl" he says, patting the plane with pride.