True to the Original – F4C Scale in Poland

Seven years after the European Championship in the scale model category was held, the World Championship took place from July 11–20, 2008, in Wloclawek at the same airfield.

The Swiss team—featuring drivers Andreas Lüthi, Godi Fischer, and Max Schilt, along with team manager Markus Günther—enjoyed the exceptional hospitality and the championship’s flawlessly organized event. Andreas Lüthi celebrated his fifth consecutive world championship title! This time, however, it was a very close race for Andreas; in the end, second-place finisher Max Merkeneschlager from Germany was just 6 points shy of the world championship title—out of a total of over 5,500 points!

The team competition featured 16 participating nations, with our Swiss team securing an outstanding second place thanks to a consistently precise and spectacular flight program. The detailed rankings can be found at:

<http://www.scalemodel2008wch.w3wl.pl/en/index.php?id=results>

The next major international event will be the 2009 European Championship in Norway. It’s just a shame that far too few pilots in Switzerland venture into the scale modeling scene, even though various warbird, vintage, and other friendly flying events featuring scale models take place in our country. Unfortunately, many of these beautiful models are then missing from the Swiss Championship because their owners usually mistakenly believe they aren’t competitive pilots or that their model doesn’t meet the construction requirements anyway.

Anyone who takes the plunge into competitive flying will soon come to appreciate how willing the “top pilots” are to help. What other championship offers such a wide variety of different models as the scale category? No two models are even remotely alike, and every flight demonstration becomes a freestyle routine, almost like figure skating. In addition to the five required maneuvers—including takeoff and landing—pilots can perform five freely chosen flight maneuvers that replicate the original aircraft’s performance. Our FAKO President, Max Schilt, is certainly happy to answer any questions you may have (max@schilt.ch). Now we can only hope that some model pilots will feel inspired to finish their scale models over the coming winter months or get them back in top shape for the next flying season. The team is also looking forward to welcoming supporters who will be joining us at the next World Championship as enthusiasts and aviation buffs.

Text: Markus Günther
Photos: Max Schilt