From Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)
Lausanne, Switzerland, 31 March 2026 – The 2026 FAI F4 World Championships for Scale Model Aircraft will return to its roots this July, as competitors from across the globe will battle for the world champion title in Great Britain, 56 years after the inaugural world championships was held there in 1970.
The event will be run from 9-18 July in Buckminster, Great Britain, hosted by the British Model Flying Association (BMFA) at their headquarters, the National Centre for Aeromodelling.
The event in July will include models from three Scale Classes:
- F4B (Control Line Scale Aeroplanes)
- F4C (RC Scale Aeroplanes)
- F4H (RC Stand-off Scale Aeroplanes)
Preliminary entries show that teams from Europe, Asia, Australia, USA and South America will represent their nations at this event. The reigning champions are: F4B Peter Bauer (USA), F4C David Law (AUS) and F4H Reto Senn (SUI).
“Returning the F4 World Championships for Scale Model Aircraft to the UK has been a long-held aim of the BMFA Scale Technical Committee, and with the creation of the BMFA National Centre and its superb facilities, this dream has become a reality,” explains Event Director Graham Kennedy. “This year’s Championships promises record participation in numerous aspects, with two countries making their F4 World Championships debuts and a record number of Junior and Female competitors. We are looking forward to welcoming participants from across five continents to the UK in July.”
About F4 Scale Models
Competitors in this class of aeromodelling are meticulous researchers, skilful engineers as well as talented pilots. They present areduced-scale model version of a real-life aircraft to the judges, then fly it in a way which illustrates as closely as possible how the original full-size aircraft would fly.
There are two parts to the competition:
- Static: Each pilot is responsible to prepare documentation including 3-sides views of the original, close-up photos that are replicated to the model etc, to the panel of judges who scrutinise the craftsmanship and accuracy against the original aircraft. Scores between 0-10 are awarded for accuracy, colour and markings among other factors. Pilots must declare any parts which have been ready-made.
- Flight: During the three rounds of flight demonstration before the judges, pilots fly compulsory manoeuvres plus a set of manoeuvres of their own choice chosen from a list in the FAI Sporting Code. Tasks include straight-level flying laps, taxiing, take-off, landing, and realism in flight, eg. engine tuning, smoothness of flight.
The points from each of the two tasks are combined: the sum of the static round and the average of the best two flying rounds give the final score.
Event schedule
- 7-9 July: training
- 10-17 July: competition flights
- 17 July: closing ceremony
More information:
https://worldscale26.bmfa.uk/