Every since I first saw the Savex L39 Albatros at the 'Showtime Spectacular' when the 'Nationals' was cancelled due to unavailability of Barkston Heath I knew this was the model for me if I ever got a Turbine model.

After going after and missing several opportunities finally I saw this one and grabbed it with both hands.

It came to me ready built, with trailing link retractable undercarriage (essential for our grass strip), all the servos and Wren44Gold turbine. All I had to do was to fit my receiver and then work out how these 'jet' thingies work ;)

After using Spectrum a 2.4gHz for some months now I decided if I could get away with it this would be the 'link' for this project - trouble is there's a total of nine servos on this little beastie and I only had the DX7 Tx and 7000 Rx. A bit of head scratching followed and I worked out I could mix in a couple of channels and use a 'Y' lead reverser to allow me full function with only a seven channel radio system. The Rx was already proven in another model so it was quickly transplanted in my new toy.

It didn't take long for the programming to come to an end and on a beautiful Thursday it was time to see if this model would live up to my expectations of it. I don't take 'hanger queens' down to the strip and if I could get the motor running then it would fly - and as long as it came down in one piece, fly again and again!

Following some furious research, reading, and contacting our club expert on the subject (thanks Alan) we got to the stage where there was nowhere else to go but up, up, and away - and that's exactly what we did. The first take off was taken from one end of our strip as we had no way of knowing how long a run it would need, this turned out to be a waste of time as in less than a third of the total length of the runway she was climbing out into the deep blue. A steady turn, the throttle lowered, and gear up, the knees were knocking pretty badly but I knew it was just another model only with a different power source so it was down to business and some real fun was being had making large sweeping manouvres and coming down the centre of the strip with the throttle wide open to hear the magical sound of that turbine spinning away at 195,000rpm.

The six minute timer came all to soon so it was time to get the gear down, try out the flaps and approach the strip into wind. Although she looked a little high she soon came down and met the floor with a bit less of a flair than I'd have wanted but down she was and in one piece.

A round of applause rippled from the pitt area and I was on cloud nine - what a high! Seated with a brew to try and calm the nerves it was time to reflect and look forward to the next 'hop' of the day.

This time out and the confidence was building right from the off, no need to walk all the way down to the bottom of the strip, sit her down just past the pilots box and lift her off in plenty of time before the runway ran out. Once again, the timer went off but this landing was made perfectly cleanly and in good position on the center of the strip and with the turbine still whistling away it was back to the pitts to shut her down properly - a big learning curve this one ;)

So the time was ticking away and the decision had to be made whether to pack up or have that 'one last flight'. As I said earlier I'm not in the habit of not flying models I arrive at the field with and as the fuel was 'on tap' there was no way I wasn't going to make the most out of the beautiful weather and perfect conditions. The 'one last flight' went without a hitch and the flight characteristics were being explored further and further - no shaking this time but an ever increasing grin on the 'boat race' that won't be wearing off any time soon :D

Packup time and she's now stored safely ready for the next outing - which won't be too far away. This really is a nice little model, a perfect size to fit in the car and fly from our grass strip. Not too hungry on the juice either being a smaller turbine and looking absolutely fabulous in the air this one is a winner for sure.