Aquila Spirit Sailplane Flight to 1,232 feet

Aquila Spirit sailplane flight to 1,232 feet above ground level (AGL)
August 7, 2010, at the Erie Tech Center (Summit, PA).

Back around 1975 or so, RC Modeler magazine ran a feature on a design by Lee Renaud called the "Aquila." It had incredibly graceful lines. Airtronics had not yet produced a kit for it, so I ordered plans and built one from scratch. An unplanned landing caused its demise, but by that time a kit was available, so I purchased and built another Aquila - it was a lot easier that way. It followed me to Robins AFB while in the USAF, and there I eventually bought an ABS plastic fuselage to replace the beaten-up wooden one. I don't recall what eventually happened to that one, but I think I sold it.

A couple years ago, I bought an Aquila kit off of eBay, and then ended up re-selling it later. I wish I hadn't done that because they are rarely seen. Plans are available now for the Aquila; however, I really didn't want to cut out all those parts again. So, instead, I decided to buy a Great Planes Spirit 2-meter sailplane kit and "bash" is a bit to resemble the Aquila. The result is what you see in the photos on this page. It's not an exact likeness, but the lines are definitely more graceful that the somewhat square Spirit.

I have dubbed my new sailplane the Aquila Spirit, both to recognize the contributions of both models as well as to suggest the intention to build a model in the spirit of the original Aquila.

Modifying the Spirit kit was not a lot of extra work, and the additional materials necessary are minimal. For instance, the added curvature at the bottom of the forward fuselage was accomplished by simply super gluing the die cut balsa back in place in that area, then cutting and sanding the new profile. The exact shape is not critical - just get some curve in there. I also replaced the 1/8" square fuselage edge balsa with 1/2" and 3/8" triangular stock to allow for more extensive rounding than what is possible with the stock Spirit. The Aquila had a very rounded shape, more even so than what the Aquila Spirit has.

Read the entire article at
http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/aquila-spirit.htm

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• aquila
• spirit
• glider
• sailplane
• flight
• video

[RFCafe]

Thanks for the comments. The Aquila Spirit is a name I created to describe the Great Planes Spirit 2 meter glider to look somewhat like an Aquila. The foll story can be read on my website.

airplanesandrockets(dot)com/ai­rplanes/aquila-spirit.htm

[Gage2k5]

Very impressive! I have not heard of a "Spirit" version. I have an original Aquila I built in the late '70's and flew it under a cumulous cloud until I could barely see it. I got scared, and thought I lost it in the cloud. Finally after throwing up the spoilers and applying full rudder, it finally lost altitude & landed safely. I still fly it occasionally and love it. Mine is orange & white like the original scheme. I noticed this just happened a couple of days ago. Thanks for posting video.

[RFCafe]

@Gage2k5 You're welcome. The "Spirit" version is one I invented to convert a stock Great Plane 2-meter Spirit kit into a pseudoAquila sailplane. I, too, had an Aquila in the 1970s, and had a similar experience as yours when losing it visually. I popped the spoliers, set in a little rudder, and searched frantically for the plane. It was not very high when I finally spotted it nearly on top of a nearby high school. My first Aquila I built from RCM plans since Airtronics had not kitted it yet.

[matrix49A]

@RFCafe Hi I have an Aquila Grande kit I never built. Had 2/3 of a nice Aquila but trashed it.