Man's replica airplanes flying all over the globe including on big screen in 'Amelia'

Here's something movie buffs might not know.

Before two of the airplanes flew in "Amelia," the Amelia Earhart biopic opening Oct. 23, they first flew over Kansas City.

That's because the planes were handmade made by Robert Baslee, owner of Airdrome Aeroplanes in Holden, Mo., the world leader in making replica vintage World War 1 aircraft.

Producers paid handsomely to have Baslee (pronounced Bosley) make a Morane Saulnier L and a Bleriot XI for the movie. (He's too modest to say how much.)

Why Baslee?

Simple. No one else makes World War I replica airplanes.

The planes were used in flashback scenes in the movie. Now they're in Baslee's backyard.

Baslee, 44, has made about 60 planes. He built four for the 2006 movie "Flyboys" and has sold 500 kits to enthusiasts around the globe, ranging in price from $4,000 to $14,000.

Healways loved to take things apart to see how they work. At 2, when other toddlers were defeated by child safety locks, little Robert figured out how to take the pins out of hinges and remove entire cabinet doors. Later, he disassembled radios, toasters, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, anything he could find. The world of switches, belts and pulleys just made sense to him.

And when he was in high school, he didn't have a car, but he did own an airplane.

It was a KR-2, a small, two-seat sport plane he built in his garage out of wood, fiberglass and an 1800-cc Volkswagen engine. He used it to give friends at Lee's Summit High School rides and have fun flying around the city.

Wait a minute. How did a high school kid from a dirt poor family with below average grades and little help build a real, working airplane from scratch in his spare time?

He shrugged his shoulders.

"No one told me I couldn't," he said.

After an aunt and uncle co-signed a loan, he paid it off with old-fashioned hard work. He had fast-food jobs. He shoveled snow in the winter, raked leaves in the fall. He wanted to cut grass, too, but his family didn't own a lawnmower. No problem. He found a broken one in the trash and fixed it up.

He built that first airplane from plans, working on it with a friend after school, evenings and weekends. In many ways, it was what he lived for. He says the day he got to fly it was one of the happiest days of his life.

After high school, Baslee studied mechanical engineering at several colleges, stopping just short of his degree. This time, he got good grades, because he was doing something he loved. Later, he became a certified air-frame and power-plant mechanic and a certified welder. He has put those skills to good use.

"I grant you there isn't a huge market for World War I airplanes, but I own the market," he said. "There are 19 available in kit form, and they're all mine."