Urs Leodolter, organiser of the annual Retroday in Pfäffikon, is a Giezendanner specialist. As a young boy, he learnt how to build and fly from Bruno and Emil Giezendanner, all three of whom were members of the MV Pfäffikon club.
Urs is very fond of the Giezendanner aeroplanes, he owns some original and also replicas of the Giezendanner aircraft.
One big dream was still missing. The replica of the legendary ‘Scorpion 1’.
He has now fulfilled this dream:
I asked Urs to write a few sentences about Scorpion 1.
Urs Leodolter: After the Salamandre was not particularly successful at the World Championships in Goriza, Bruno and Emil Giezendanner built a small prototype series of Scorpions in wood.
Modern, slim design and a very low wing with a large aspect ratio. There were 2 different GRP fuselage moulds in different lengths.
At the 1975 World Championships in Bern, Bruno’s A model crashed during official training. The same frequency was given out twice… He then had to compete in the World Championships with a slightly warped fuselage.
The fuselages of most of the Scorpions had been warped behind the car windscreen.
Scorpion 2 arrived in 1977 with a much higher fuselage.
From 1979, version 3 with a fully geared engine.
I rebuilt my Scorpion 1 using photos and an old fuselage. The colour scheme is similar to the one Bruno had at the World Championships in Bern.
