Worlds Largest RC Plane Crash

The world's largest radio control plane, the 1:5 scale B-29 Superfortress, with a Wingspan of 29.5 Ft and weighting in at a whopping 300 pounds.. It crashed.

Currently resides in Ankeny, Iowa at the Iowa Heritage of Flight Museum at the Ankeny, Regional Airport. Where the expo was located.

[Dreez]

I feel so bad for those people who worked on that RC-plane.  Imagine the amount of hours they put into that. and it doesn' matter if you like RC or not, you have to respect their passion.   Must've been heartbreaking.

[nytram]

As a modeler I feel for the builders. That was heartbreaking. :(

[cloudstreets]

If only there were more people to say, “Nice and easy” he might have made it.

[rodneyhiemstra]

This was in the 80's at the RC Aviation Festival in Ida Grove Iowa. It was built to be ptrt of the striking back show that was put as part of the show which included a battle between large scale rc warbirds built from kits manufactured by Byron Originals. This plane was rebuilt after this crash(and many others) and was finally retired when the show was discontinued. As far as I know it still exists in Ankeny, Iowa.

[mikeuhlir]

RIP to all who were taken to soon. I will never fly in an RC plane again after seeing this tragedy.

[rodmact]

Number 82 is proudly on display at the the Iowa Aviation Heritage Museum next to the airport at Ankeny, Iowa - all beautifully rebuilt.

[dynodon]

There are four chainsaws missing their engines.

[atticstattic]

That is the coolest crash I never saw.

[kamca]

2:03 - "Squeeze it out, buddy..." I'm sure the operator did just that when he realized the crash was inevitable!

[ROCKSTARCRANE]

Actually, putting it in the trees may have caused far less damage than impact with solid ground. Many a pilot/passenger have survived real crashes into trees because of the reduced G-forces...

[LICKYDICKYDOO]

That looked seriously underpowered right from the off!

[mcleodmichael]

Total respect for the passengers. Didn't see a single parachute. Every soul on board rode it all the way down.

[simplywonderful]

I believe this was originally from Byron Originals, of Ida Grove, Iowa, who built this B-29 and other 1/5 scale warbirds for their Pacific air battle re-enactments in the late 80s. I used to attend them each year, and they were fantastic!

[donaldparlettjr]

The three words I fear at an r/c airplane get together"I lost it!"

[pschroeter]

This is the first RC plane that impressed me with its engine sounds. I kept thinking too bad there wasn't a button that cut the engines and fired a ballistic parachute out of the fuselage.

[garyglockhoff]

This B-29 was part of the ByronOriginals show in Ida Grove Iowa. It was a great show featuring real WWII war birds and unique RC models. The Godberson brothers closed down the show after a tragic crash that killed the pilot of a Zero. The radio technology during the 70’sand 80’s wasn’t what it is today and there were more than one person trying to fly that machine. As I remember, it had a 28 ft wingspan.

[togmeister]

Wow... Apparently runways are there for decoration... I love how the plane takes off right next to the runway on the grass instead of on the runway.

[jimhobelsberger]

I was there that day and saw the B-29 crash! It was certainly a very sad event. The B-29 was part of an annual R C show (back in the 1980's) in Ida Grove, Iowa called "Striking Back." The show was put on by Byron Originals. I would attend every year. Watching this video brought back many wonderful memories of attending that event as it was always a very enjoyable time.

[TheHassleFreeZone]

So helpful for the pilot to hear "Nice and Easy" several times from one of the idle hands....

[krozareq]

In the 40s, a covert team of Japanese agents planted those trees. They knew that one day the day would come.