RC Plane crosses atlantic

[Delarado]

OMG!

anyone else seen this?

Maynard Hill piloted a radio-controlled model airplane across the Atlantic Ocean - Progressive Engineer Magazine

[debrooker]

excellent story that

[Randall]

Very cool, wonder what the legalities are on somthing like that, not that i care but FPV can be a bit sketch at times. Still what a great guy

[pchristy]

Maynard Hill was something of a legend to my generation. In the late 50s / early 60s, he discovered that many of the records for model flying were held by the Russians and their allies, something no true American would be happy with! (This was long before detente, at the height of the cold war!) So he set about demolishing the Soviet grip on model flying records!

From memory, at one time he held the straight line distance record (model flown down the highway from the back seat of a convertible!), closed circuit distance, duration record, and the altitude record. IIRC one of his flights was in excess of 33,000 feet, though I don't think this was ratified due to some technicality!

Many of his record breaking flights were achieved with a British engine - a Merco 49, modified to spark ignition. (For many years Merco engines were THE engine to which everyone aspired!)

Bear in mind that back then, not only was there no 2.4GHz, but such proportional radios as existed were analogue systems, not digital! He did all this with a Sampey 404, regarded by many as the Rolls Royce of radios at that time!

Special Exhibit 05: Maynard Hill?s Sampey 404s

(Yes, that really is a button marked "start" on the front of the transmitter!!!)

Maynard Hill died in 2011 (Maynard Hill - Telegraph), but right to the end, he was pushing the envelope of model flying! A true pioneer!

[Dedcalm]

I followed the TAM flights at the time, the site with the details is TAM Homepage