Model Airplane Crossed the Atlantic #onthisday #history
9The 12 man team led by Maynard L Hill who helped in the development of early military drones and had previously set 25 model airplane records, constructed 28 versions of their plane over 5 years before perfecting the design.
The plane they chose was called T.A.M 5 but was re-christened “The spirit of butts’ farm” in honor of the farmer, Mr Butts, who allowed them to conduct test flights from his fields and the Spirit of Louis the plane flown by Charles Lindberg when he became the first to cross the Atlantic solo and nonstop by plane.
With an airframe constructed of balsa wood and mylar the plane weighed under 11 pounds when fully loaded and was powered by a gallon of Coleman lantern fuel.
It flew around 270 meters above the Atlantic Ocean at an average ground speed of 48 mph as it made the crossing between Newfoundland and Ireland.
The spirit of Butts’ farm completed the 1,881 mile journey in 38 hours, 52 minutes using GPS guided autopilot and arrived in Ireland with just 1.5 US fluid ounces of fuel left which was only around 44 minutes of flight time.