Edward J. Kazmirski – 1st F3A World Champion in 1960 in Dübendorf

The year was 1960. On July 23–24, the first World Championship for radio-controlled model aerobatics (then known as RCMM) took place at the Dübendorf airfield near Zurich. In front of nearly 10,000 knowledgeable spectators from around the world, the U.S. team surprised the entire world elite with their small, fast low-wing models, which until then had been considered rather uncontrollable. The standout performer of this World Championship was Edward J. Kazmirski (USA), who named his model “Orion.”

Ed Kazmirski (1921–2007) from Illinois was an active model aviator for only a relatively short time.

From 1950 through the mid-1960s, he designed numerous revolutionary models for aerobatics. In 1960, he won the U.S. Nationals and thus qualified for the first World Championships in Switzerland. Together with Bob Dunham (Orbit – MFS 3/2010) and Harold deBolt, he formed the successful American team.

The Americans’ victory with their lightweight aerobatic low-wing models ushered in a whole new era that spread across the globe. Models such as the “Orion” and its successor, the legendary “Taurus,” became the blueprints for dozens of “home-built” models.

The Top Flite company released three of Kazmirski’s models as kit versions. The first kit to be released was the 1960 championship-winning model, the “Orion.” The “Taurus” was a further development of the “Orion” and was successfully flown by Kazmirski at the 1963 World Championships in Belgium—Kazmirski took third place with it. The “Tauri” followed as a small, easy-to-handle entry-level aerobatic model. All three models were manufactured and distributed by Topflite over

decades. Their flight characteristics are so good that these models are still being replicated even today.

All three models were carefully built from plans by Guido Patroncini and can be admired not only on the ground but also in the air at the “50th Anniversary Aerobatic Retro Day” on August 21 in Dübendorf.

Info: www.leodolter.ch

Orion with an Orbit transmitter.

Taurus with an F&M transmitter.

The Tauri trainer with a power transmitter.