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Older aeromodellers will be familiar with Fred Militky: the German engineer who designed the free-flying, electric-powered "Silentius" back in the late 1950s, and the "HI FLY" radio-controlled electric glider introduced by Graupner in 1973.

But Militky worked on manned flying too. On October 21, 1973, the first electric-powered manned aircraft - the MB-E1 (Militky-Brditschka Elektroflieger No. 1) – took to the skies in Wels, Austria.

On 27^th April 2013, Frenchman Bernard Bilquey’s hot air balloon recorded the longest Stationary Flight Duration (Indoor 229) in Vesoul (FRA): 1 hour 49 minutes 41 seconds.

Aeromodellers have to look on the large variety in aeromodelling as both a risk and an opportunity. The many highly specialised competition classes make it a real challenge to communicate the sport to the general public.

Six Categories

* F1 Freeflight

* F2 Control Line

* F3 Radio Controlled Flight

* F4 Scale Model Aircraft

* F5 Radio Control Electric Powered Aircraft

Model helicopter pilot Ennio Graber won the FAI F3C World Championships for the second time last year.

The 37-year-old physical education teacher, who lives in Vira Gambarogno in Switzerland, has enjoyed an illustrious aeromodelling career – as well as being crowned World Champion on two occasions, he has been European Champion three times.

He credits his father’s passion for the sport of aeromodelling for making him such a successful competitor.
We caught up with him to find out what it takes to become an aeromodelling champion.