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| STANDARD DATA: Seats 1. Gross wt. 804. Empty wt. 584. Fuel capacity 10. Engine 40-hp Volkswagen. PERFORMANCE: Top mph 122. Cruise mph 112. Stall mph 46. Initial climb rate 690. Range 422. Ceiling 19,700. Takeoff run 427. Landing roll 328. |
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.
