The story behind this RC project that took nine years to complete.
At the 2017 Top Gun Scale Invitational, there were many amazing aircraft flown by some of the best pilots in the world. One of the standouts on this year’s flight line was an unusual aircraft in the form of a Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” that was totally scratch-built by first-time Top Gun competitor Lance Campbell of Columbia, Missouri. Lance did an amazing job and earned second place in the Expert class. The Blackbird scored an impressive 99.167 static points, and at the Top Gun awards banquet, Lance also received the Engineering Excellence award, sponsored by Robart Mfg., as well as the Critic’s Choice award, sponsored by Zap Glue and Model Airplane News. Using Futaba radio gear, Lance flew the SR-71 to a total flight score of 195.709 points. The 85-pound SR-71 is 13 feet long and is powered by a pair of JetCat 140-RXi turbines.
After the competition, we had a chance to catch up with Lance to get the inside story on his amazing award-winning and super-smooth-flying Blackbird.
Model Airplane News: Why did you choose the SR-71 for a project?
Lance Campbell: To be honest, the moment I decided to do it, I wasn’t expecting it. Quite a while ago, I was really interested in doing a Ziroli B-25. I planned a trip to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum [National Museum of the United States Air Force] in Dayton, Ohio, to gather documentation photos to start the project. When I toured the museum, I first saw the SR-71 in person. As I looked at the SR-71, I was just struck with the notion that this was too cool of an aircraft not to do—and to try to do it justice as accurately as possible. There was also an appeal to try to do something unique. Even today, you can count on one hand the people that have done a scratch-built SR-71 and made it to the flying field with it.
How did you develop your plans?
This story is from the October 2017 edition of Model Airplane News.
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This story is from the October 2017 edition of Model Airplane News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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