[LASS Soaring] Got a Cool deal

[Edwin Wilson]

I scan e-bay on a regular basis. Every so often I see a plane I want. 
Most of the time e-bay has been taken over by commercial dealers, but if 
your patient a good deal will every now and then come along. Such is 
what I did during Nat's week. I threw out a very low ball bid on a plane 
I had tried to buy several times before, but the bidding went just too 
high to be worth it. Maybe due to the distraction of the Nat's I won the 
plane I have been searching a long time for. A NIB Airtronics Thermal Eagle.
A little history for some of you. The Eagle was Americas first serious 
production F3B plane. Three meter RG15 foam/obechie wing and tail. Very 
slim Kevlar reinforced fiberglass fuselage. Designed by Mark Allen  and 
distributed by Airtronics. Not many of these kits are left out there. 
When it was new it was considered the top of the food chain for 
competitive sailplanes. The RG15 airfoil took some learning to fly as it 
cruised faster than most planes of the time. Too many times, especially 
during thermal contest, it was flown too slow for the wing to work 
properly. I had a Slegers Spectrum with the RG15 and after a year of 
flying it I was just learning the sweet spot of the plane when it ate 
through the battery leads and wound up in the woods. (Remember cutting 
down the tree Ron?) But what may be more historical important is most of 
todays airfoils can trace their blood line back to the RG15, right down 
to the cusp on the trailing edge. 
In today's molded euro kit market this plane would still be competitive. 
When new it cost $350 a far difference from the $1200 plus of todays 
molded planes.
A cool thought. because of  its fiberglass and Kevlar fuselage it would 
work with the new 2.4 Ghz radios. Hummmm!
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