Ian's Rittinger P-51 Maiden Flight
Flying at the LVRCS Field
2008 April 8

The pilot in this video is Ken Reiber (at launch and trim), Andy Kunz (about 30 seconds), Ian Kunz (to landing).

The plane was taped by Caleb Kunz.

The wing is different than shown in Mark's plans. It was built with standard ribs (Airfoil Ritz 3-30-13), 1/4" spruce spars, and sheeted with 1/16" balsa. It should be able to withstand a few G's ;)

Entire Flight (42 Meg)

Proud Owner

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HISTORY

I started building this plane at the 2004 Toledo show in the motel room. I finished the fuselage, then set it aside. In November 2006 I had Ian "put together a kit to finish that plane so I can give it to a friend." He did. I took the fuselage and kit over to my friend Ellis Grumer's house and proceeded to finish it in his shop. For Ian's birthday (early December) he got a shiny plane, almost ready to fly.

I had built the plane around a brushed Plettenberg 290/30/4 like I used in my boats. It was WAY too heavy - we would have to add a bunch of weight to the tail to get the balance anywhere close. Instead, I saved my pennies and bought an E-Flite 950KV (EFLM4015A). Ian did the mods to remove the old firewall, open a hatch, and install a new firewall farther back.

As soon as some great weather came along, I hurried home from work and took Ellis with his new Sky Cruiser (MA plans) and Ian with his P-51 out to the field. Ken Reiber is a fantastic pilot and he was willing to stick around a few minutes to fly the two new birds for us. (BTW, Ellis Sky Cruiser flew really well too. It'll be the raffle item at the LVRCS Electric Fly.)

Ken took the P-51 up, and it only needed a little right and down trim. It was rolling, spinning, and looping - as well as hands-off straight-and-level - in just a few minutes.

There were a few changes from Mark's design. Mark had a foam core wing. Since I'm not too big a fan of foam I changed the airfoil to a Ritz 3-30-13 (an almost perfect match to Mark's TLAR airfoil) using Profili 2.19 to draw the 7 ribs with spars. The other change was to remove most of the dihedral.

Most of the flying was done at about 1/2-3/4 throttle (usually 1/2). When we did hit full power, the plane very quickly accelerated. It was surprising just how quickly it would rocket along!

We're looking forward to lots of successful flights with this. Ian had no problem landing it even in a 10mph crosswind (when you're desperate to fly, the wind isn't a problem :)

After the first flight, Ian spent time hand-cutting the letters from vinyl and attaching them. The insignia were leftovers from a GWS Corsair kit.

Thanks to Mark for an excellent design. Next stop - his Spitfire Mk I.