The world of radio-control airplanes can be pretty insane. While I personally don’t know a whole lot about the technical side of things, people have started to build some really large RC replicas of famous airplanes. The 1:24-scale Boeing 747 is pretty spectacular, but this particularly enterprising modeler built a 1:2-scale Saab JAS 39 Gripen. Yes, that’s the “Born From Jets” Saab, who have built fighter planes in Sweden for more than half a century along with their quirky road cars. The Gripen is the frontline, delta-winged fighter (not to be confused with Delta Wing Fighter) in service with the Swedish Air Force and its design was radical at the time of its late 1980s introduction.
In short: It’s a pretty cool plane and we’re glad that someone decided to build a half-scale RC replica of it. The video’s description says it weighs 100 kilograms (~220 pounds) so that’s a pretty serious replica airplane. The RC pilot puts it through its paces in front of the German crowd with a couple of low-speed paces before turning up the wick. And just as it streaks over the runway in full view of everyone at that particular RC airport, the vertical stabilizer rips away and in just a couple of seconds, the repliSaab is floating gently back to terra firma as pieces.
We feel pretty bad for the guys on the Saab’s crew, who have to pick up the shards of what must have been thousands of hours of work in full view of everyone else.
In the HS athletic field next to our house, guys would fly their rc and tether planes on nights and weekends. The next day we would survey the carnage and collect the pieces as trophies. Model planes of the ’50s were far less sophisticated but equally as frail.
That R/C plane looks big enough to carry a real pilot.
Although in retrospect, it’s a good thing they didn’t try it.
RC folks refer to picking up pieces as “the walk of shame”.
I’ve seen small scale RC jets top over 200 MPH, wonder what top speed this plane could have achieved? Talk about money disintegrating in mid-air! Ouch!
Of what I’ve seen from my days in the military, it looks about as reliable as a real Russian MIG.
And from my days as a mechanic, it looks about as reliable as a real Saab.