Only Concorde still flying is a giant hand-built RC version that can loop and roll
- This giant handbuilt RC Concorde is the only one still flying
- It performed loops and rolls at Airmeet 2023
- The to-scale RC Concorde was built by RC designer, builder, and pilot, Otto Widlroither, over three years
Published on Apr 03, 2024 at 6:03 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Apr 04, 2024 at 11:52 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
If you’re feeling nostalgic over the Golden Era of Concorde, you’ll love to know that one giant handbuilt RC version is still sporadically taking the skies.
That RC Concorde was seen doing a loop and roll at Airmeet 2023, an event where RC aircraft enthusiasts gathered in Donauwörth in mid-August last year.
The to-scale RC Concorde was built by RC designer, builder, and pilot, Otto Widlroither, over the course of three years.
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Despite not taking passengers, this indisputable masterpiece is the biggest flying Concorde still in service.
As Widlroither told Horizon Hobby at Airmeet 2023, not one piece of the hand-built Concorde is commercially made and is ‘homebuilt’.
“The aircraft is made of 100% carbon fiber, sandwiched with honeycomb inside,” he said.
“Even the pneumatic cylinders are made from carbon fiber.”
And the RC aircraft enthusiast invested a great deal of his time into the project.
“The computer design took me one year and the production took two years,” he explained.
Europe rules and regulations state that RC aircraft have a maximum weight of 150kg – anything above that becomes a static piece that can’t be flown.
This epic homage to the supersonic aircraft weighs in at a close-to-the-bone 142kg.
This gave Widlroither just 8kg of wiggle room for the smoke system, burner lights, and other finishing touches. stuff.
And the airborne acrobatics were always his intention.
“The aircraft was never built for flying circles. Never,” Widlroither admitted.
“The official approval was 8G positive and 4G negative.”
“This is the only airliner in the world with aerobatic approval.
“It is built for flying and took me three years, but now I can enjoy every minute.”
And he makes the most of every moment.
“There are only two times a year I can fly the aircraft on big air shows because it’s a lot of effort to get approvals and the license to fly it,” Otto explained.
The real Concorde had a maximum speed of Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h) at cruise altitude, over twice the speed of sound.
Despite being retired in 2003, its iconic status remains intact.
It was the only commercial aircraft capable of supersonic flight, enabling passengers to travel at twice the speed of sound and get to their destination faster than ever before.
The first commercial supersonic jet, reaching New York from London in under four hours, it was most popular with business travelers.
But several factors, from ticket prices to a catastrophic crash in 2000, led to the plane’s demise.
The cost of a ticket was astronomically high, costing about $12,000 in today’s money for a round trip across the Atlantic.
Fortunately, after two decades, several companies have entered the supersonic race.
In fact, NASA just unveiled a revolutionary ‘quiet’ jet set for commercial supersonic flights.
The typically loud supersonic boom is reduced
Rather than the typical jarring sound, the sound of NASA X-59 is reduced to a ‘neighbor’s car door down the street being closed’ – making the US Federal Aviation Administration more likely to approve it for flights over populated areas
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
