With their high horsepower engines to give them tall vertical lines, and their blinding fast roll rates, the mono planes started taking over as king of the hill in the competition world. These aircraft maintained high levels of energy and could sustain very high G-Loads. Pilots loved the way the mono planes performed and more importantly, so did the judges. Not only did it perform better but with its larger wing span and straight leading edges, it showed better giving the mono plane pilots higher scores.

Soon the Pitts, which had dominated competition for so long, was now considered obsolete. Airplanes like the Extra, Sukoui, and the CAP were taking their pilots to the top of the medal podium. This created a problem. The cost of these new high tech mono planes was cost prohibitive to many pilots. These aircraft could cost in excess of $200,000 US dollars.

Would be and former competitors were discouraged with the fact that aerobatic competition was now something only person with a very healthy income could participate in. A cry was sent out and the International Aerobatic Club listened. Plans for a low cost high performance aircraft were discussed. It would have its own class of competition where all airplanes were equal and it would be up to the pilots to out perform each other rather than someone’s superior aircraft. Hence the concept of a One Design competition was born. Question was, what design would be used?

A gentleman by the name of Dan Rihn stepped up to the challenge. Dan had been involved in the aerobatic community for years and was well respected as a pilot and an aircraft designer. He designed the DR107 single place monoplane. This aircraft had great performance and yet it was in par with other homebuilts that were on the market when it came down to cost. Dan kicked around a few names for the new aircraft but since it was designed for the One Design Class the name stuck. The IAC now had the aircraft they were looking for. Rules were drawn up for the class.

The One Design proto type was built and rigorously tested by many of todays top aerobatic pilots. Routines from basic to unlimited aerobatics were flown as the One Design proved itself. Inputs from the pilots were taken and improvements were made. Final plans were then drawn and are marketed by Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Company.

We would all like to thank Mr. Rihn and the other key individuals for all the time and effort they put into making the One Design a reality.