''The Spirit of Butts' Farm'' (also known as TAM 5) was the first

model aircraft A model aircraft is a small unmanned aircraft. Many are replicas of real aircraft. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models. Aircraft manufactur ...

to cross the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

on August 11, 2003. The aircraft was launched from

Cape Spear Cape Spear (french: Cap d'Espoir) is a headland located on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland near St. John's in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. At a longitude of 52°37'W, it is the easternmost point in Canada and North ...

⁽⁾ near

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Ameri ...

, and landed at Mannin Beach ⁽⁾ near

Clifden Clifden (, meaning "stepping stones") is a coastal town in County Galway, Ireland, in the region of Connemara, located on the Owenglin River where it flows into Clifden Bay. As the largest town in the region, it is often referred to as "the Capi ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

38.9 hours later. It was recognized by the FAI as a double world record flight for its duration of 38h 52 min 19 sec and straight-line distance of using an autopilot, and using the

Argos System Argos is a global satellite-based system that collects, processes, and disseminates environmental data from fixed and mobile platforms around the world. The worldwide tracking and environmental monitoring system results from Franco-America ...

for telemetry to track the flight's progress; the team's use of technology also spurred the FAI to create new record categories. The aircraft was controlled by autopilot for >99% of the flight in a manner similar to that used by the

Insitu Aerosonde The AAI Aerosonde is a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to collect weather data, including temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and wind measurements over oceans and remote areas. The Aerosonde was developed by Insitu, and ...

UAV "Laima" that crossed the Atlantic in 1998. The flight used 99.2% of its fuel and left only (or 44 minutes of flight time) remaining when it reached its destination. The aircraft was built by a team led by Maynard Hill, a retired

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sci ...

. Hill had previously set 25 model airplane records and was inducted into the Model Aviation Hall of Fame in 1977. ''The Spirit of Butts' Farm'' was the 25th of 28 airframes the team had built in the attempt to cross the Atlantic; the five best models were selected for actual transatlantic flight attempts. The 25th airframe was the fifth selected for the record attempt and was redesignated TAM-5. Later, describing his reaction to learning that the flight had been successful, Hill said, "I just grabbed my wife, hugged her and cried like a baby." The aircraft was named after R. Beecher Butts, an aviation enthusiast who allowed the use of his farm for testing of the aircraft. The name echoes that of the ''

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

'', the aircraft used by

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

in his transatlantic flight. The aircraft is on display at the National Model Aviation Museum. A backup plane for the transatlantic effort is in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum. An article on the flight can be found in the October 2003 edition of Model Aviation Canada magazine. The Society for Technical Aeromodel Research (S.T.A.R.) was organized to help support the costs of the project.

References

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External links

Official page
wit

Popular Science article "World Records: The Mylar Miracle
Radio-controlled aircraft Aviation records