In 2010, Company managing director; John Lawson volunteered his expertise to a project in Oklahoma attempting to build a full scale, flying reproduction of Bugatti’s only aeroplane, the 100p which sadly never flew.

The original 100P was built in the late 1930s but never flown, it was hidden and left to rot in a barn near Paris, another victim of a terrible war. Few know the plane exists; fewer still have seen it. Seventy-five years later the original 100P sits tucked away in an American museum, too fragile to be moved.

With no gearbox to copy and no plans or drawings, Company managing director; John Lawson was asked if he thought he could “reverse engineer” what is possibly “the most complex component in the aircraft” – the nose mounted gearbox. This component takes the power from the twin engines and distributes the drive to twin contra-rotating propellers.

After five years of design, build and testing, the Lawson gearbox has now flown in the aircraft and has made history. This is the only time the Bugatti 100p design has ever flown and Lawson Modelmakers played an instrumental part in the project.

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