James builds the largest RC glider and breaks the record

This airplane is going to be the largest RC plane I've ever built

It's going to have loads of wing area, loads of lift, and it's going to be very lightweight

Engineering YouTuber James is attempting to build a glider, fitted with a powerful solid fuel engine

which is usually intended for large model rockets. James' plans are inspired by 1950's JetX design of a small glider powered by a long-burn rocket motor

Wow. James is experimenting with different wing shapes and tail designs

to figure out which will work best to successfully launch the glider before he adds the rocket

The final aim is to manually launch the craft, then remotely fire the rocket engine to gain height

before the craft returns safely to the ground. And if that didn't sound complicated enough

his aircraft has to be over eight feet to become the new record holder. Probably the simplest rocket plane I'll ever make

Melted the wings off Right we learned quite a lot from that prototype

Now what we need to do is go back to the workshop and figure out how to scale it up to make it giant-sized

James's main problem is making a design which is light but also strong enough to fly

The design is using lightweight carbon fibre tubes as well as light ply and boulder wood to make a traditional wing structure

The aim is to create a wingspan of 19 feet. I should name it the albatross. Why

Because they have a big wingspan. Just discovered we had too many wing ribs, so I've removed one

It's the problem with winging it. Now for the next attempt. Release

We need to make it stronger. Sacrifice the weight, make it stronger

With this new conclusion, James goes back to his workshop to make it stronger and more stable for the next flight

flight Yes Oh yes finally What a relief No problems whatsoever Now time to add the rocket

James is recycling an old carbon fibre model rocket, which will be a very strong option

Right, well, we've finally got everything ready for the first test flight with the rocket engine

So we are going to do two test flights. The first one's going to be

the smaller rocket size and then the second rocket engine is the massive one which is

going to be quite spectacular hopefully okay and then we're going to start

walking forwards okay yeah keep going keep going keep going keep going keep going

keep going keep going keep going keep going keep going now Yes. Okay, coming down, going to try and land it in the other field. Establishing glide slope

That worked so well

Better than I thought it was going to actually. Ready? Walk forward

Now for the next attempt. Run, run, run, run, run, run. Run

Bring it around coming in for a landing. Oh, yes

That was brilliant! That was brilliant! That was absolutely fantastic. I can't actually believe that works

And James has successfully broken the record with the largest windspan being 5.9 metres