SPORTAVIA AVION-PLANEUR RF4D

Although the Sportavia RF4D had been around since 1966, it wasn't too widely known until May 1969 when Mira Slovak flew one across the Atlantic to win the 1,000£ prize offered by the London Evening News for the best performance by a light aircraft under 5,000 pounds in the Daily Mail Air Race. Using a converted engine, the RF4D was preceded by models RF-01, RF-2, and RF-3 during the years 1960 through 1966. The all-wood single-seater is rated fully aerobatically and combines the characteristics of a sailplane and a small powered sportplane. A single main landing wheel retracts forward manually into a fiberglass cowling. The small tailwheel is steerable, and there is a manually operated brake on the main wheel.