Dr. Keith Shaw Pioneer in Electric Flight

My pal Keith has done so much to popularize electric flight and in particular Radio Control Scale Models. He was admitted to the AMA Hall of Fame for decades of work designing, building and Flight demonstrating his scale models in contests and fun flies all over the Midwest, Ontario Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and even Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona.

Shown below are just a few of his fabulous models

Keith’s model of the 1939 Bugatti Racer that was designed to set a new world

speed record, but never got the chance to fly due to German invasion of France.

The model is built to 1/5th scale with a wing span of 65 inches and weighs 8.5

pounds with retracts. The model is powered by twin Astro 05 brushless motors

turning counter-rotating propellers through Keith’s homemade gear box. The

electric power is supplied by a 4s2p A123 lithium battery pack.

The Spitfire Mk 1A is in Battle of Britain markings. This model, built and flown in 1982 was possibly the first Electric powered WW2 RC model with retracts. It is still flying today with over 2500 flights all with the original Astro 40 Cobalt motor and gear box. It’s Wing span is 63 inches and all up weight is 6 pounds.

Dr. Keith Shaw holding his model of the DeHavilland Comet DH 88 Black Magic, a competitor in the 1934 MacRobertson race from London, England to Melbourne, Australia. The model is built to 1/6 scale, wing span 88 inches, all up weight nine pounds with retracts. The model was first flown in 1984. The model is powered by twin Astro Cobalt 25 motors and a 24 cell Nicad battery pack.

Keith’s model of the outrageous GeeBee R-1 winner of the 1932 Thompson Trophy Race. Keith says that he built this model in 1985 to prove that Anything

could fly on electric power. The GeeBee is built to 1/6th scale has a wing span of 50 inches. Originally the model was powered by a geared Astro Cobalt 25 running on 14 Nicads but is now flying on an Astro 05 brushless geared motor and 4 A-123 Lithium cells. With the new lower weigh of 4 pounds the model is faster, more agile, and surprisingly, quite a nice sport plane.

The CzechMate is a Reno Unlimited Racer that evolved from a Russian Yak-11 training plane. Keith’s model was built in 2005 to 1/6 scale and has a wing span of 62 inches and weighs 10 pounds. Both main landing gear and tail wheel retract. The model is powered by an Astro “Monster” prototype brushless motor that swings a 16x14 prop. The battery is a 10S1P 5 amp-hour Lithium Polymer battery pack. Keith’s model has been clocked at 157 mph in level flight and has absolutely unlimited vertical performance. More recently it was radared at 183 mph in level flight with a newer Lithium pack.

The Mew Gull was Keith’s effort in 1991 to build a true ¼ scale racing plane. This Mew Gull (G-AEXF) was the highly modified variant that won the prestigious 1938 King’s Cup race in Britain. At ¼ scale the span was 74.5” wing an area of 800 sq.in. and weighed 10# with flaps to help control landings. Power was an Astro 60 (scale wind) on 28 cells. Sadly it was lost due to a receiver failure after only five years of airshow flying.

Keith designed and built King Crimson in 1989 to further pursue his study of the Horten Brothers flying wing aerodynamics. It is based on the Horten VIII that was never built. The model is 126” span, 2000 sq.in. area, has retracts, but weighs only 11#. It is powered with four Astro 035 motors on long-nosed Leisure gearboxes, fed by 28 Nicads

The Black Baron is a 1/6th scale model of the famous airshow Stearman flown by Bill Barber, a friend of Keith’s. It was built in 1988 and is 64.5” span, 1200 sq.in. and weighs 9#, powered by an Astro 60 (scale wind) on 24 Nicads, swinging a 16/8 prop. Keith does Bill’s aerobatic routine (with smoke from a cartridge!) in honor of his memory.

Keith’s Zlin 526 was built in 1987 to pursue serious aerobatics with electric power. It is 1/6th scale, 71” span, 720 sq.in., features retracts and weighed 8# with its Astro 60 pattern wind motor running on 24 Nicads. It could do the 21 maneuver FAI sequence of the day. It now flies with a geared Astro brushless 40g on 6 A123 cells and weighs a mere 5.5#.

Keith feels that Art Chester’s Goon is the most streamlined of the 1930’s racers, so in 1994 he built it at ONE-THIRD scale, span 69”, length 80”, but weighed only 14#. It used the then-new Astro 90 on 36 nicads. The complex retract and door mechanism was certainly a challenge. It can achieve level speeds of 100 mph.

The Moeller Stomo was an extremely rare 1934 German homebuilt that could do intricate aerobatics on a tiny 18 hp engine. It was later upgraded to a converted 42hp Zundapp motorcycle engine, and became the inspiration for Keith’s model. He wanted to experiment with scale speed aerobatics, which require very light wing loadings and sufficient, but modest, power. The Stomo is a large model at 28% scale and a wingspan of 84” while weighing only 7.5#. Powered by a geared Astro brushless 40 on 8 A123 cells, it can do excellent detailed aerobatics for over 10 minutes at ridiculously slow speeds, rarely exceeding 30mph. It is a true joy to fly.

To make a statement in Giant Scale, Keith wanted to show that a heavy-metal warbird could fly well with electric power. He chose the Grumman Bearcat in 1996, making it at 18% scale to achieve an 81” span, 1200 sq.in. , featuring retracting main gear and tailwheel. It weighed only 15# with an Astro Cobalt FAI 60 on 32 Nicads turning a 22/16 prop through a 3:1 belt drive.. It could easily do vertical eights and vertical rolls in addition to standard aggressive aerobatics. The color scheme was a rare civilian Bearcat used for airshows and racing. The model still performs well, but the power system has been upgraded to an Astro brushless 60 (still on the belt drive) with a 10s2p A123 pack.

After four years of ducted fan research and testing, Keith made one of his dream airplanes, the amazing Horten IX-v2b. This was a late-WW2 German wonder weapon, a twin jet flying wing fighter. Flown in 1992, it was about 1/10 scale with a 62” wing span, 720 sq.in. of wing area and weighed 6 lbs., powered with two prototype Astro ducted fan motors on 20 Nicads, driving Keith’s homemade ducted fan units. It could exceed 100 mph and do multiple vertical rolls during its short, but spectacular, two minute airshow performance.