A Success Story Continues: How Miniature Aircraft USA Came to Bavaria

In *Modellflugsport* 3/2023, I featured the Whiplash Turbine, a turbine trainer from Miniature Aircraft USA. Following that article, I received numerous inquiries asking who exactly Miniature Aircraft USA is. To address this, I’d like to briefly review the company’s history in a sort of biography, while also looking ahead to its future. The name X-Cell is familiar to many pilots who have been flying RC model helicopters since the 1990s. Thanks to the successes of Curtis Youngblood and Cliff Hiatt, Miniature Aircraft’s X-Cell models became known worldwide. Let’s now rewind to the beginnings of the Miniature Aircraft USA brand.

In 1984, development began on the company’s first model helicopter under the X-Cell brand name, which laid the foundation for many further developments and successes. From the very beginning, the developers placed great emphasis on kits made exclusively from high-quality materials.

After several prototypes, the breakthrough came in 1987 with the launch of the first two models, the X-Cell 50 and X-Cell 60, giving rise to the highly successful X-Cell series, which remains in production to this day. Until the mid-1990s, the models were almost exclusively available in North America; only a few kits found their way into the hands of European RC pilots.

Driven by the rapid advancements in battery technology at the start of the new millennium, Miniature Aircraft USA also made the shift toward electric propulsion and, in 2004, introduced the ION—the first electric helicopter in the company’s history.

With the development of the Fury series—which remains successful to this day—the company made the leap across the Atlantic, and many European dealers discovered the brand for themselves.

Over the years, Miniature Aircraft USA grew to become one of the largest model helicopter manufacturers in the U.S. and maintained a wide-ranging distribution network in over thirty countries. In the U.S. alone, the company supplied over 2,000 dealers in the 1990s.

In Switzerland, too, there had been one or two importers after the turn of the millennium, but unfortunately, the momentum quickly fizzled out.

In 2009, the Schoonard family withdrew from the company for family reasons, and the business was sold to the American company Flyco Holding, based in the state of Montana. The company has remained true to the “Made in the USA” trademark, and all parts have continued to be manufactured in the United States. The company, now owned by Flyco Holding, subsequently developed the first models, which still make up a large part of Miniature Aircraft USA’s product line today.

Due to increasing competitive pressure from the Far East and falling prices in the RC helicopter market, Flyco Holding decided in 2015 to sell Miniature Aircraft USA.

Worthy buyers were found in the German couple Josef and Judith Schreiner, who not only appreciated the value of Miniature Aircraft USA but also made the company’s philosophy their own. Today, the company is headquartered in Gaissach, Upper Bavaria, near the town of Bad Tölz. In 2016, the company moved into its new, approximately 300 ^m² business premises. Josef Schreiner first encountered the X-Cell models in 1997 at what was then the F3C World Championship in Turkey. As an F3C pilot, he came to appreciate the qualities and excellent gliding characteristics of the X-Cell mechanisms.

Inko Thim was also involved from the very beginning. Even back then, he was convinced by the models’ wide range of performance capabilities. As the general importer, Thim distributed the X-Cell model range throughout Europe and sold them in his own model shop. Unfortunately, Thim has since passed away, and his model shop has closed as a result.

Thanks to its robust mechanics, which never failed to impress, this was just the thing for pilots who wanted to enjoy their model for as long as possible. So it was simply a matter of “refuel, fly, refuel, fly.” The decision to acquire Miniature Aircraft USA stemmed not only from a love of the hobby and the X-Cell brand, as well as technical interest, but also from the goal of turning the hobby into a career in the future. Josef Schreiner brought the necessary expertise not only from his many years of experience as an active pilot but also from his academic studies. In addition, in his early years, Josef designed tuning parts for various mechanisms and manufacturers, which had been distributed by Inko Thim up until that point.

It took months for the container with the parts and assemblies to be shipped from the U.S. to Germany. To ensure the kits could be offered at competitive prices, an international network of suppliers was established. The parts for Fury, Whiplash, and other models are now manufactured in Europe, Asia, Germany, and the U.S. Quality control and the pre-assembly of components, as well as the final assembly of the kits, take place in Gaissach, Germany. The company remains true to the founders’ philosophy regarding materials: high quality and durability in all situations!

Due to high demand, as well as a personal passion for the classic models from Miniature Aircraft USA, the Schreiner family resumed production of spare parts—previously discontinued—for older models from the company’s history. Over the past few years, this has led to a veritable “vintage craze” in the modeling community and prompted many pilots to dig their old X-Cell and Fury models out of the basement and get them airworthy again.

Through continuous development and improvements, Miniature Aircraft USA became—with the market launch of the “Whiplash Turbine” in the summer of 2020 (featured in Modellflugsport 3/2023), becoming one of the few manufacturers on the market to cover all propulsion types (nitro, gasoline, electric, turbine) with a single model family.

The global availability of replacement parts has been expanded and optimized. The international sales network has been and continues to be steadily expanded.

As mentioned earlier, the Whiplash Turbine was introduced in 2020 and has quickly become a very popular turbine trainer. The 700 series size is ideal for quickly logging a few turbine flights after work, since the helicopter fits ready-to-fly into almost any car trunk. This is not a conversion kit; rather, the helicopter’s mechanical components were specifically designed for the TS 45i turbine powerplant from Turbine Solutions. A version for the X45H turbine powerplant from Xicoy followed in the summer of 2022.

In early 2021, the Fury 55 was replaced by the new Fury 57, which features a new rotor head designed for greater rotor blade angles of attack. In addition to reducing weight, the gear ratio was adjusted for current engines such as the O.S. 55 and YS 60.

The Whiplash 730E and Whiplash Gasser have been optimized, and several tuning parts are now available for the gas-powered model, such as a new clutch system and various options for today’s high-powered engines.

In 2018, the company took over imports from swiss-scale-helikopter.ch. As a result of the reorganization at swiss-scale-helikopter.ch, Modellflug Kompetenzcenter Schweiz GmbH in Notwil has been responsible for this since November 1, 2023.

The new Interceptor from Miniature Aircraft USA was unveiled at RotorLife in March 2023. The new Interceptor is the first mass-produced model helicopter designed specifically for the second-generation O.S. GT15HZ-II gasoline engine.

Modellflug Kompetenzcenter Schweiz GmbH is currently resuming pilot training and retraining in various disciplines in Switzerland using models from Miniature Aircraft USA. Additionally, starting in the 2024 season, the two flight schools—Flugschule Wicki and swiss-scale-helikopter.ch—will use models from the Whiplash series, including a turbine trainer.