Great Video Documents Early Electric RC Plane
Posted on October 30, 2008 by aaronredbaron
During my exploration of YouTube, I came across the earliest example I have ever seen of an electric model.
Based on the information provided in the video, this early example of an electric powered RC was powered by a 30 volt Silver Zinc battery pack with a motor drawing 8 amps. Despite what the announcer of in the video said, Silver Zinc batteries were not the miracle energy source for the future. With the all up weight of 7.8 pounds, the model had approximately 30 watts per pound of power. This was probably barely enough to maintain flight. A safe minimum for flying a model airplane is usually 50 to 75 watts per pound. Modern high performance electric models often have 150 watts per pound or more. This interesting part of model aviation history gives a good idea of what those early flights were like; short, and under powered. The model appeared to stall on launch and probably crashed before they had any good footage, but the clip is still interesting none the less.
