Original Air-100 article from Looping Magazine

And a third classic French VTPR glider article graces this site, courtesy once again Laurent Berlivet of Jivaro Models. The Air-100 is another famous Breton VTPR glider, right up there with the Excalibur in being synonymous with the French VTPR aerobatics tradition.

The Air-100 is unique amongst VTPR gliders in that it is a scale model of a very successful French sailplane from the late 40s and early 50s, the Arsenal Air-100. To this day, the fullscale glider holds the world sailplane flight endurance record of 56hrs 15min set in 1952 by Charles Atger near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in France.

R/C models of the Air-100 have been flying in Brittany and the Alps in France since at least the 70s and 80s, and are definitely implicated in “proto-VTPR” flying in Brittany as evidenced below:

(Above photo from the Air-100 VTPR thread on RCGroups. More great vintage Air-100 and other photos on Mes trucs volants.)

Here are some more Air-100 models flying this past summer at Ménez-Hom. Aren’t they beautiful to behold!!

Enjoy this presentation about Eric Poulain’s magnificent 5m Air-100. It is a true classic!