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Spotted this at an Air Show yesterday and managed to get one photo before my xx&88%^$$## digital camera ran out of batteries.

Air show publicity claimed it to be the World's largest radio-controlled model plane.   Personally I think that it was a practical joke on the crowds despite a guy standing out front pointing a radio-control unit at it.  A second person flew inside it but it was stated that he didn't fly and was only along for the ride - yeah right.

Anyway, the plane had about a 15 foot wing span, and a similar fuselage length.   It was powered with a 65 HP Rotax engine and is classified as a micro-light (at least here in New Zealand.)

It flew like a dream, about 130 knots, and from the ground just looked like a real Spitfire.

Feature of the day for me were demo's from a beautifully restored Catalina Flying Boat.

The weird looking shape behind is a small amphibian.

sweet... kinda strange though why he made it RC if he could sit in it oh well

Nice one Bazza, do you have any more info about this?

Mark

sweet... kinda strange though why he made it RC if he could sit in it oh well

Daz. I think from what Bazza is saying that this was a joke. I doubt very much that anyone would be daft enough to sit in a R/C aircraft while someone else flew it from the ground (oh I don't know though ) or that this would be allowed at any air display in the world.

i think it's the SA 180 Silence, a small high-tech ultralight airplane which is -in the opinion of the guy from "fliegerrevue"- very much fun to fly. it's powered by a four-piston jabiru-engine (59kw) and its weight is just about 350kg! this gives her a top speed of about 250kph and a maximum flight level of 4500m. it can resist up to +6Gs and -4Gs.  i don't know anything about the price,but it seems to be quite cheaply for such a beautiful high-tech aircraft.

any gmax guys in here who have a bit of free time? *hint,hint*

-edit: oh,sorry. the plane on bazza's pic ain't the "silence",but it looks very similar to it. however,this is the real "silence":


and this is the official site:
http://www.silence-flugzeugbau.de/

Ozzy,

I'll try and find out a bit more for you - this may not be easy as I'm pretty sure it's not a local plane and just flew in for the day - obviously it would have flown very far all things considered.

The local radio station are still burbling on about it being radio-controlled.     I agree with "the exploder" in that I can't see authority given to play around with something that size over a City area and crowds.

Bazza. I'm sure you're right & that this was a joke. It reminds me of the trick by the "crazy pilots" in the old days when they used to pick out someone from the crowd for a flight. Then the "instructor" got out to fix something & the plane took off without him. I've seen similar things quite recently at various displays. I'm sure it would be illegal for a R/C aircraft to carry a passenger. LOL

I rather like the look of Silent's "SA 180 Silence" (is that a coincindence or what? ).
Despite what I've said about replica Spits I wouldn't mind one of those myself.

Well some more info on this kite apparently its "ZK-JNM, L M Harris, Spitfire U/L" according to one of my sources.
Here is another gorgeous snap. I love it in silver. V.Nice

Bazza what have you started?

If any of you guys have a spare one of those lying around that you don't want...

Will

The weird looking shape behind is a small amphibian.

That amphib is a Seawind homebuilt, similar to this one.....

That's the one, quite a neat piece of engineering.  There were three amphibians at the show, two like this one and one with a "pusher prop.", that's not counting the Catalina.

Where was this shot taken Rifleman ?

I took this shot on Vancouver Island at Courtenay Airpark,....a 5 min walk from where I live. I have more shots of it, but had this one posted already and just reloaded the link to it.
The bird was built by a couple of co-owners who live in Vancouver B.C., I believe.

Great stuff.     Why I asked about the location is it looked familiar however, I've never been there.  On a number of occasions I have been told that your part of the world is very similar to New Zealand where I am, and the background could be anywhere over here.