The Vintage Aviator at Wellington, New Zealand, has acquired an original Sopwith 1½ Strutter from Kermit Weeks in Florida. The Clerget powered  machine is one of only four genuine  1½ Strutters surviving (see Database, December 2009 Aeroplane). It will be restored to fly.

Recovered from Argentina back in the 1980s, its identity is unclear. It is thought to be one of two French-built 1½s that went onto the Argentine civil register in the late 1920s, as R-105 (later LV-BAA) and R-106 (later LV-CAA). The biplane, which is fitted with dual controls, is one of more than 4,500 of the artillery spotter/recce, single seat bomber and two seat short range bomber variants built in France by 11 subcontractors.