on Fagernes Airshow a turbine model flew that probably was the first turbine model sailplane around.
Gudmund Malones is/was both builder and pilot. The model was built from scratch home by Gudmund and was offcourse flown by Gudmund first on the 10th march 2005.

Sadly the model broke in a loop after just 3 days of flying but it got to be filmed a lot before that and also had a onboard camera that gave us super pictures. Onboard video can be found on the DVD sold after the airshow by the club VFKM. It can be ordered HERE

If you want to buy the video from the onboard camera and video from the ground (to support Gudmund on his new projects) we can help you get in touch.
email:   jo (@) grini.no  or phone +47 90898709

Here are some links we have gathered:

History about Fagernes Flyshow 2005 : http://www.vfkm.no/flyshow05/index.htm
Building history Gudmund`s Ventus: IGGnorge.com

Jo Grini and other clubmembers pictures:
http://www.eurofoto.no/show_album.php?aid=632620
Inflight pictures and others from the DVD
http://www.eurofoto.no/show_album.php?aid=632620
First flight (low quality by Jo Grini):
http://www.workflow.as/jogrini/video/ventus.wmv

Video of Ventus by Anders Hauge :
small 20mb http://rc.andersh.com/video/fagerne...tus_medium2.wmv
big 90mb http://rc.andersh.com/video/fagernes2005/ventus2.wmv

Club Haugaland video:
http://www.modellfly.us/hmk/video/videos/ventus.wmv

Other videos:
Helikopter http://www.modellfly.us/hmk/video/videos/helioppv.wmv
Showvideo:
small 33mb http://rc.andersh.com/video/fagerne...005_medium2.wmv
big 162mb http://rc.andersh.com/video/fagerne...rnes_2005_2.wmv

So how fast did it go? Several mentioned "well above 150km/h". Facts are it flew 137-139km/h with 11kg of thrust. The first flights were flown with 9,5kg thrust but on the final flight he also flew with extra smoke and a camera outside so he programmed the turbine a bit. The speed was calculated at both going down, up and in turns. Just a few km/h separated the calculations.

In the real life there are several sailplanes with a turbine. A company in Sweden even sells them ready to go... http://www.jet-rpm.com/

Most known in our time is though the acroversion for airshows and since the video is well known on internet. See video HERE or visit homepage

First known sailplane with turbine might have been the CM8-R13 Sylphe. Prerunner probably to the jet-trainer "Foulga".

VFKM.no - copyright 2005
Jo Grini - jo (@) grini.no