Building a Full-Scale Replica of a WWI Biplane

University of California, Irvine (UCI) students who study engineering participate in hands-on, interdisciplinary learning. They design and build rockets, develop race cars, and launch autonomous drones. Yet, among these notable undertakings one project stands out. Students of UCI’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) have taken on the unique challenge of building a full-scale replica of a World War I Marine Corps biplane, the Curtiss JN-4, “Jenny.”

Amid an environment that seeks to mirror the professional world, such a project not only translate transportation theory into practice—welcoming complex, real-world problems to find solutions—but looks toward industries, societies, and other organizations to join together to provide funding, mentorship, and, above all, inspiration.

Building a WWI Jenny

While pursuing his doctorate in geophysics, Glenn Roquemore also worked for the Naval Weapons Center. At the China Lake facility he was given the opportunity to fly backseat in two fighter aircraft—the Skyhawk and the Corsair. But to participate, he needed to take egress and ejection seat training. “You’ve got to do the dunk tank,” he explained. “And you have to do ejection training.” At that time his preparation took place at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. 

That air station may have shut down in 25 years ago in 1999, but is now being singled out to house something transformative—a new aerospace museum. Which has brough Roquemore full circle. You see, he loves planes—he is secretary and education committee chair of the Flying Leathernecks Heritage Foundation (FLHF), but he also knows students. He spent nearly three decades working at Irvine Valley College (IVC), 18 years as president of the California community college. 

“It was actually Brigadier General Mike Aguilar who took up the project and worked with the City of Irvine to move [a shutting museum] back to where it started,” Roquemore explained of the one-of-a-kind collaboration. And while the work id began with Aguilar, FLHF, and UCI MAE, it was the current MAE Department Chair, Professor Julián Rimoli, who worked with Roquemore to offer students the opportunity to build the 1917 biplane for the new museum.

Engineering students deadline

With the museum set to open in 2027, the students tasked with building the plane have no choice but to work at a good pace. Currently at work in the museum’s restoration hangar (just 200 yards from the future museum site), “all the aircraft will roll easy over there,” Roquemore explained. 

Shooting for “Smithsonian quality,” The Flying Leatherneck Museum plans to greet visitors entering its doors with a historic A-4E Skyhawk jet above them in a rectangular hall. Visitors will then come to a rotunda. “And hanging there will be this Jenny.” 

“The Jenny was a trainer for some of the very first aircraft in combat, and the very first one for the Marines,” Roquemore explained. This means that pilots would work with the JN-4 Curtiss Jenny first before migrating to the DH-4 De Havilland—the first Marine Corps aircraft used in combat. The original plan for the museum was to build either the Jenny or the DH4 (similar to the Jenny, but bigger). He spent about a year conducting research, trying to locate plans, and finding parts.

It was then that a board member came across a Jenny that had crashed years ago. The museum made the purchase thinking it would be fairly straightforward. “We knew we didn’t have the tail section, but [we pretty much had everything else]” Roquemore explained. “We even have the engine.”

That is when they turned to finding students who “would be interested in taking on this project,” he said. Eighty students came forward. It was then that Roquemore—having been a professor and a college administrator—said to himself, “This is gonna be tough to manage.” However, he ended up being pleasantly surprised. 

“There at UCI,” he explained, “they build drones, they build aircraft, all of which are in competitions. They also build rockets” so this type of project was no different and completely doable.

Engineering the biplane

Leading the project from UCI’s side are mechanical engineering graduate students Silvia Tinelli and Stuti Patel project managers of the team. And MAE Professors David Copp and Jacqueline Huynh serve as advisors. Copp and Huynh developed a course so that the students would receive credit for their work. 

Tinelli—who leads the project overall as well as the wing team--explained that they began “with a bunch of parts, and a bunch of drawings, and blueprints.” It was up to the students to plan on how to tackle the problem. 

Going through all the plans, they found they had not only incomplete sets of plans for the Jenny but two different variations of the aircraft, with one being a Canadian version. They also were given boxes and boxes of connectors, cables, and brackets. These parts needed to all be indexed back to the drawings. The drawings all have numbers on them, and each part has a number, so they got all of that categorized.

There are many aspects of engineering that are involved in constructing a 1917 biplane, especially one that will eventually be suspended from the ceiling of a museum. The students split into teams working on the engine, wings, fuselage, and tail.

And while the aircraft is being built as a replica, the teams are following engineering specifications (but not FAA-approved for flight). Some of the more elaborate project work includes 3D scanning and printing the exposed parts of the engine, propeller, and radiator to reduce the weight of the aircraft that will be hanging. The suspension wires and hang points will be designed and produced by the students. And the museum has decided to display the 1917 OX-5 engine beneath the aircraft as a separate exhibit. 

The students are working on the plane as the museum is being constructed. According to Roquemore, if the rotunda wall is built first “we can’t get the airplane in there,” he said. So the students have a very real deadline. 

The plan is to hang the Jenny in the rotunda and then construct the cylindrical non-load-bearing wall. All other (more than 18) aircraft will be hung after the Jenny. “We have to be ready so that the rest of the move-in can be completed prior to opening day. The day set for the museum opening ceremony is a moving target, but the first quarter of 2027 is our hope,” Roquemore explained.

Cathy Cecere is membership content program manager.