Photo/TOM CLARIDGE VOLUNTEERS WHO DISASSEMBLED the vintage aircraft from the Great War Flying Museum examine the damaged fuselage, which landed upright in a gravel pit near Mono's 10th Line and Hurontario Street. A replica of a First World War biplane was badly damaged last Saturday when it ran off the end of a grass runway at a private airstrip in Mono.

The 20-year-old replica of a 1918 Royal Aircraft SE 5 was one of three planes from the Great War Flying Museum at the Brampton Flying Club in Caledon that was being flown to the airstrip on Hurontario Street for winter storage. The other two aircraft landed safely.

One spectator said the SE 5 came in a little too high and touched down too late, becoming slightly airborne after hitting the ground. The plane crossed a laneway and crashed through a fence, coming to rest in a worked-out gravel pit.

It landed on its wheels and the pilot escaped without serious injury.

Museum members on the scene were confident that the plane can be repaired and made flight-worthy.