In 1967, Phil Kraft was the FAI pattern world champion flying his own design Kwik-Fly Mk III.
Even though there were more elegant models, especially this one became famous, probably just for winning the world championship, and was built and enjoyed by many modelers all over the world. Here is Phil Kraft showing the original world championship Kwik-Fly and – even more in the foreground – his own design and make radio. He pioneered proportional radio control and exploited the potential of this new technology with his own model designs.
The Kwik-Fly has to be the end point of that stage in the evolution of R/C model flying when for the first time the equipment allowed full and real control of the model. It seems typical for Phil Kraft that he found the simplest and most efficient design to reach the goal. Another classic from designer Phil Kraft, the Kwik Fly III was the third generation in the Kwik Fly line, and was the 1967’s Nationals and International winner.
The concept of the Kwik Fly Series was to design an aircraft that was a basic and simple approach to a competition aircraft, producing a simple and capable aircraft which, to quote the designer “grooves through manoeuvres”. The low-wing model Kwik Fly MK3 is a well-engineered design that is one of the top-class from a flying point of view. The flight characteristics are so balanced and uncritical that even the RC pilot who wants to deal with aerobatics can easily use it as a training model.
