Here are photos from the early days of RC motorised flight – Munich legend Karl Blauhorn. In the early 1960s, the Munich model flying club IFM München was one of the first model flying clubs in Germany.
Since then, flying has taken place on the Fröttmaninger Heide site. The founding event took place in the casino at Riem Airport. Some of Germany’s best pilots joined the club, led by Hans Schumacher, a graduate engineer. Hans was the manufacturer of the Graupner Bellaphon Tip Tip remote controls at the time and a participant in the 2nd World Aerobatics Championship in England.
Gradually, the boys Karl Blauhorn, Harald Neckar, Wolfgang Kosche and Peter Holzapfel joined. By the way: Peter Holzapfel still actively flies in F3A competitions today.
The young pilot Karl Blauhorn developed into the best aerobatic pilot in the club. Karl slowly blossomed into one of the world’s best pilots. He was a multiple German aerobatic champion. In 1965, he competed alongside Fritz Bosch at the RC1 World Championships in Sweden and achieved an excellent 9th place in the overall standings.
His important aerobatic models were the Charly 13 with a negative V-tail (similar to Curare) and the Charly 14. The basis for these designs was the Taurus by Ed Kazmirski.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Karl stopped active competitive flying. From then on, he devoted himself entirely to his sailing boat. Sadly, Karl passed away at a very young age due to illness.
Thanks to his brother Kurt Blauhorn for providing us with Karl’s own photo album.
We have digitised all of his photos as far as possible. Enjoy the result:
Eduard Werner, Karl Blauhorn, Alfred Höfer (both club members Kermess)
