Radio-controlled aircraft

Lore & Background

The earliest examples of electronically guided model aircraft were hydrogen-filled model airships of the late 19th century, flown as a music hall act around theater auditoriums using a basic form of spark-emitted radio signal. British drone weapons in 1917 and 1918 evolved, and their development continued through the work of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, resulting in the fleet of over 400 Queen Bee UAV Target Aircraft in the 1930s. During World War II, the U.S. Army and Navy used radio controlled planes called Radioplanes as artillery target drones.

There are many types of radio-controlled aircraft. For beginning hobbyists, there are park flyers and trainers. For more experienced pilots there are glow plug engine, electric powered and sailplane aircraft. For expert flyers, jets, pylon racers, VTOL planes, helicopters, autogyros, 3D aircraft, and other high-end competition aircraft provide adequate challenge. Some models are made to look and operate like a bird instead. Replicating historic and little known types and makes of full-size aircraft as 'flying scale' models reach their maximum realism and behavior when built for radio-control flying.

Radio-control scale aircraft modeling is perhaps the most realistic form of aeromodeling, replicating full-scale aircraft designs from aviation history, for testing of future aviation designs, or even to realize never-built 'proposed' aircraft. Full-scale aircraft designs from every era of aviation, from the 'Pioneer Era' and World War I's start, through to the 21st century, have been modeled as radio-control scale model aircraft. Various scale sizes have been built since modern digital-proportional, miniaturized RC gear came on the market in the 1960s, from indoor-flyable electric powered RC Scale models to 'giant scale' RC Scale models in scale size ranges that usually run from 20% to 25%, and upwards to 30 to 50% size of some smaller full scale aircraft designs.

Reader's Guide

Radio-controlled aircraft have evolved from late 19th-century hydrogen-filled model airships to sophisticated scale replicas and high-speed turbine jets. The hobby grew substantially from the 2000s with improvements in motors, batteries, and electronics, while scientific, government, and military organizations adopted RC aircraft for experiments, weather readings, aerodynamic modeling, and testing. The National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, Indiana hosts the world's largest collection of RC aviation history, displaying models from every era donated by the RC community, and offers kit plans for building models from every era.

Distinct from recreational civilian aeromodelling, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) or spy planes add video, GPS or autonomous features, enabling instrumental RLOS or BLOS capabilities used for public service (firefighting, disaster recovery) or commercial purposes, and if in military or paramilitary service, may be armed. The legacy of RC aircraft includes their role in developing target drones for military training, their use in testing future aviation designs, and their ability to bring historic and never-built aircraft to flight. The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) oversees safety certification for turbine pilots, restricting flying of such aircraft to approved AMA sites where only certified turbine pilots may fly.