Aero Friedrichshafen is over. At the beginning, show organizers said it was their biggest yet, measured by the number of exhibitors. Aero trails AirVenture Oshkosh in this measurement but only slightly. In other words, it’s big …big enough that it’s hard to see everything of interest.
In the past days, I’ve covered 16 aircraft that I found interesting and I had to skip many others. I simply did not have the hours needed to visit every exhibitor to hear their story, even if it might be a great one. The show is that rich a target environment for a journalist covering Light-Sport Aircraft, Sport Pilot kits, and ultralights.
So Many Airplanes,
Not Enough Hours…
ScaleWings SW51 — When I reported this aircraft in 2018, the “Walter Mitty story” went on to become one of the most popular articles of the year on this website. On social media promotions it also attracted more attention than any other aircraft that year.
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Get Your Walter Mitty On — SW51 Coming At You Soon!
Many pilots who first set eyes on the SW51, a precisely faithful 70%-scale imitation of the famous North American Aviation P-51 Mustang managed to utter a single word: “WOW!”
Can you blame them? Look at this bird. The shape is classic and the detail is exquisite, finished down to the last rivet to mimic the famous World War II American fighter. Except, it’s a kind of fake. I better explain.
We’ve seen this spectacular execution of Hans Schwöller before. It was then called FK51 and we reported it earlier in more detail as to its construction. Now welcome ScaleWings Aircraft.
Thanks to his youthful associate, Christian von Kessel, SW51 has been refunded and reenfranchised, bringing it to reality. The earlier producer group stumbled and this amazing construction never reached market.
Can you handle a machine that looks this awesome? As you hear Hans and Christian state in the video, SW51 is easy to take off and land and docile in flight.
FK Lightplanes/ScaleWings SW51 Makes Maiden Flight
(This article has been updated in June 2018 to reflect a new manufacturer.)
At Aero 2013, I covered one of the most interesting replica airplanes I have ever seen in many years of scouring airshows for light aircraft of interest. My videographer and I did a video story about this exciting project. The airplane was again displayed at Aero 2014 though not in such a high traffic location but that hardly dampened enthusiasm. No question … FK Lightplanes continued their approach of great showmanship in displaying the most authentically realistic reproduction of a 70% scale P-51 Mustang you can imagine. Most replicas have to approximate some qualities but FK Lightplanes and their design partner, Austria-based ScaleWings AeroTec, made what they are now calling SW51 into something different. It has detail beyond what you can envision without seeing the construction in person.
First named FK51, SW51 reproduces the 100,000 or so rivets and screws that put together an original World War II vintage P-51 Mustang.