15. Retroday in Pfäffikon

It’s safe to assume that everyone knows how a Retroday works—and that cervelat is prepared in a particularly fresh way in Switzerland. So let’s focus on the newly built models, but also take a closer look at some ancient, fully functional aircraft.

For example, the author brought along his over 50-year-old Charter for the first time. And yes, the Robbe S-161 servos—which are just as old—still work. Unbelievable! Valentino Fry brought along an extremely rare example of an RC-1 model; his “Fledermaus 3” is likely known to very few people, yet two of them were flying in Pfäffikon, appropriately equipped with combustion engines. →

Or Guido’s perfectly built E-Factor, the very first F3A model ever designed specifically for electric propulsion. Back then, it was powered by 30 rock-heavy nickel-cadmium cells; these days, of course, it’s equipped with LiPos.

It was all not just beautiful, but absolutely wonderful—and once again, the weather was absolutely perfect. So we’re all eagerly looking forward to the 16th Retroday next year and can’t wait to see what marvels it will have in store.

The year is 2010, the year that marked the 50th anniversary of the first RC-1 World Championship, which was then known as radio-controlled model aerobatics (RCMM). Back then, in 1960, an incredible 10,000 spectators were in attendance; the media even reported that engines were “dying.” Of course, they weren’t actually dying—they simply stopped running. At this memorable site in Dübendorf, Urs Leodolter organized the first Retroday to mark this very 50th anniversary.

The response was overwhelming—no one had expected it. Even Sebastiano Silvestri had traveled all the way from San Marino, determined not to miss the spectacle. This success spurred the organizer to make the event a permanent fixture, and so, after a year’s hiatus, Retroday began its annual run starting in 2012. But not in Dübendorf—the military airfield there required an immense logistical effort. So Urs decided to move the entire event to a location no less steeped in history: Pfäffikon, the cradle of electric flight and the venue for the Military Cup.