The wing’s the thing – the flying wing

I’m getting grumpy again. Maybe one day I’ll tell you the full story but for now let’s just say it all comes down to the flying wing…

A little bit of history…

To find out where the story begins we have to look back through the mists of time. I was around 15 years old and had a Futaba Attack 2 channel radio. My first real success with radio control flight came from a bungee launched “Bullet” glider. It was an ugly thing made from EPP foam and covered in reinforced packing tape (sound familiar?). I used a bungee to launch it and spend many an afternoon crashing it into the dirt as I mastered the simple controls.

Fast forward a little to my mid-twenties and I had a little more cash. Brushless motors and LiPos were still in their infancy. Most of us were running the Mabuchi 540 sized Cobalt 05 motors with machined helical gearboxes and heavy NiMh packs. If you were rich then Axi, Hacker, Jeti and Flight Power were the names to go for. I wasn’t so my first foray into this new technology was a tiny gold 4500kv inrunner and 1000mah 3S pack that could just about manage a whopping 5C.

I had a Sanwa 4ch radio (analogue only, no computer in those days) and was building my first flying wing – a Zagi. The Zagi was a medium sized EPP foam wing that really set the standard when it came to flying wing design. Available in a few different styles, I had opted for the additional vac-formed fuselage pod that converted it to electric pusher power. With my hot brushless motor and a tiny 6×3 prop the Zagi used to scream through the air like an EDF. It was so much fun and I was hooked.

That was a long time ago now and since then I’ve flown everything from scale to large scale aerobatics. Brushless motors and LiPo batteries became more affordable and I have owned everything from the tiny 250 size to huge 4.5kw motors. The flying wings threaded in and out of the story along the way but really came back to the fore when I discovered FPV flying.

So why get grumpy about a flying wing?

The point I was trying to make (in my usual meandering manner) is that my experience with both EPP models and flying wings spans over two and a half decades. So when I saw a comment the other day on one of my Instagram posts that read “I didn’t know you were into fixed wing stuff” it stopped me dead in my tracks.

“The multirotor thing was a bit of an accident”

The multirotor thing was a bit of an accident. I bought my CNC to make some fixed wing UAV components and only cut the original R220 because the Blackout was out of stock constantly. One thing led to another and I ended up with the Red20RC store as you see it today.

It was never my intention to pursue the mini quad scene as far as I have and if you look back through the older Red20RC articles you will see it is full of flying wing stuff.

Moving on then…

Flying wings are making headlines once more. Team Legit’s Wild West Wing Races were a huge success and as a result we are seeing some mini quad sellers carrying a token wing in their lineup. Even the mini quad “superstars” are giving it a go.

I’m a pilot and a fixed wing pilot at that

It’s time then that I left the mini quads to the new Red20RC Team Pilots and got back to my roots. I don’t want my name to be forever known as a multirotor brand – I’m a pilot and a fixed wing pilot at that.

Look out for more flying wing builds and articles in the future but for now it’s time I went flying…