Tom Lowrie and His Acro Sport IIS

This amazing 40% scale aerobatic biplane is scratch-built

- Gerry Yarrish

Ask any scale modeler what his favorite airplane is and you’ll get countless replies. But ask about aerobatic biplanes and only a few favorites come up. At the top of the list, of course, is the famous Pitts Special, but true biplane fans will also check the box for Paul Poberezny’s Acro Sport biplane. President of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Paul designed his single-place Acro Sport in the 1970s as an easy-to-build homebuilt project plane. Shortly after that, he designed a two-place version, the Acro Sport II, to carry a passenger and help check out new pilots. Over the years, both versions of the Acro Sport have remained popular designs for EAA homebuilders wanting an aerobatic capable biplane. Construction plans and material kits are still available today. While filling in as a static judge at the recent National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA) Northeast Scale Qualifier in Goshen, New York, I met Tom Lowrie who flew a beautiful yellow-and-black 40% Acro Sport IIS. I’ve always had a soft spot for the standard Acro Sport biplane, so I asked him more about his beautiful multiwing aerobat. Here’s what I learned.

Model Airplane News: Tom, please tell me about the full-size Acro Sport IIS and its owner.

Tom Lowrie: The full-size Acro Sport IIS (ASIIS) I chose to model was built by a friend, Chris Murley, who I helped teach to fly RC back in the late ’90s when he was a youngster. Chris is from Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, where he also has a business building and maintaining full-scale aircraft. Chris is part owner of Griggs Aircraft Refinishing and the owner of Wolf Aircraft.