The aerobatic version, and the most numerous Fournier ever built
Customers wanted an aerobatic version of the RF3, and the RF4 answered with a reinforced spar rated for aerobatic loads, rod-and-bearing flight controls in place of cables, a rounded fuselage underside, and a redesigned, aerodynamically compensated rudder. Only four were built by Alpavia in France before the practicalities of French production caught up with the company — it closed, and manufacture crossed the Rhine.
Alfons Pützer, the industrialist who had noticed the RF3 at the 1963 Paris show, set up Sportavia specifically to build Fournier's aircraft under licence in Germany. The RF4 became the RF4D — "D" for Deutschland — and went on to become by far the most-produced Fournier design, with well over 150 built and exported to roughly thirty countries. In May 1969, an RF4D flown by Mira Slovak crossed the Atlantic in just over 175 flying hours to win a prize in that year's Daily Mail air race for light aircraft — one of two Atlantic crossings Slovak is credited with in a Fournier, per two separate Pilot magazine profiles of the designer.
The RF4D's forward-retracting monowheel, wing-mounted outriggers, and elegant proportions have made it the type most UK enthusiasts picture first when they hear the word "Fournier" — and, per the club's most recent register survey, the type with the largest surviving UK fleet. A 1968 Soaring magazine test found the fully-loaded RF4 out-climbing and out-accelerating a fully-loaded Cessna 150 on takeoff, on less than half the power. For what it's actually like to own and display one today, Bob Grimstead's own cockpit report on the Magazine Shelf is written from decades of flying his two RF4Ds; the 1968 Soaring piece is there too, with the original US specifications.
Have a correction, a source, or a first-hand account of this type? The Articles Articles section and the contact page are both open for contributions.
Every individual Fournier deserves a history of its own. This type page is the starting point; verified registration, restoration and ownership milestones can be added as the archive grows.
| On the UK register |
|---|
| G-AVHY · G-AVKD · G-AVNY (G-IVEL) · G-AVWY · G-AWEK · G-AWEL · G-AWGN · G-AWLZ · G-BHJN · G-BIIF (was G-BVET) · G-BXLN · G-RFAD |
| De-registered, exported or lost |
|---|
| G-AVLW · G-AVNX · G-AVNZ · G-AVWZ · G-AWBJ · G-AWEM · G-AWGO · G-AXJS · G-AYHY · G-AZIG · G-AZUU · G-BMEM · G-BUPJ |
Updated from the club's RF4D register list, believed correct at 20 September 2026, and the UK list revised 13 September 2026 — not a live feed. Each registration links to its full card on the register; check CAA G-INFO for current status.
G-AVWY, formerly one of the RF4Ds flown by the "Skyhawks" aerobatic display team, suffered a landing accident in 2003 — the AAIB recorded premature gear retraction and a prop strike — but was rebuilt.
G-AVNX was sold in 2004 to a Swedish buyer and delivered by air — Bicester to Landskrona, flown by its new owner over four countries and several days of unhelpful weather. It now flies as SE-XST. The full delivery story, first-person and illustrated, is on the Articles page.
G-AWLZ has been rebuilt from bare wood structure and GRP fuselage to a finished aircraft; the rebuild is documented from workshop photographs on the G-AWLZ restoration page.
Recorded UK incidents on this type (AAIB and CAA MOR records): three fatal accidents — G-AXJS, ditched off Skateraw, Kincardine, 14 October 1972; G-AVWZ, crashed on take-off at Shoreham, 11 January 1981; and G-AZUU, which crashed at Cleeve Hill, Gloucestershire, on 25 July 1982 after an hour of aerobatics practice, gliding wings-level into rising ground with no pre-impact defect found. G-AWGN had two further events (1997, and an engine failure at a display at Stow Maries, July 2023); G-AVKD had propeller damage on landing at Lasham, August 2012. The type's CAA occurrence record also shows a recurring pattern of gear-up or partially-collapsed landings, mostly down to a missed downwind check rather than mechanical fault — worth the extra glance on every circuit. See the Resources page for report links.
N1700 was flown by Czech-born pilot Mira Slovak across the Atlantic in May 1969 in the Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race — 175 hours 42 minutes on an engine little more than a converted Volkswagen, described at the time by TIME magazine as the smallest aircraft ever to make the crossing (read the full story on the article page). It later passed through the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and is now on the UK register as G-RFAD, current at Calcot Peak.
157 construction numbers and every registration recorded against them. 26 carried a UK registration at some point (highlighted); the UK registrations link to their card on the register.
| c/n | UK registration | Other identities, as listed |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | — | F-BMKA |
| 02 | — | D-KIRA |
| 03 | — | no registration recorded |
| 4004 | — | OO-WAB |
| 4005 | — | F-BMKB |
| 4006 | — | F-BMKC |
| 4007 | — | F-BMKD |
| 4008 | — | F-BMKE |
| 4009 | G-AVHY | — |
| 4010 | — | TN-ABUF-OCJO |
| 4011 | — | D-KIRE |
| 4012 | — | F-BORA |
| 4013 | — | D-KNUT |
| 4014 | — | F-BORB |
| 4015 | — | F-BORC |
| 4016 | — | F-BORD |
| 4017 | — | F-BORI |
| 4018 | — | F-BORED-KAQA |
| 4019 | — | F-BORFD-KEVVI-FEWW |
| 4020 | — | F-BORGD-KGWG |
| 4021 | G-BHJN | F-BORH |
| 4022 | G-BXLN | F-BORK |
| 4023 | — | F-BORLD-KUAXD-KWAC |
| 4024 | G-AVKD | — |
| 4025 | G-AVLW | D-KKAO |
| 4026 | G-AVNX | SE-XST |
| 4027 | — | D-KILT |
| 4028 | — | D-KIRI |
| 4029 | G-AVNYG-IVEL | — |
| 4030 | G-AVNZ | — |
| 4031 | G-AVWY | — |
| 4032 | G-AVWZ | — |
| 4033 | G-AZIG | OO-WAC |
| 4034 | — | F-BORN |
| 4035 | — | F-BORMD-KORM |
| 4036 | — | OO-LUSF-BOXE |
| 4037 | G-BMEM | D-KMEMCN-TZZ |
| 4038 | — | D-KAQA |
| 4039 | — | OE-9020D-KEEE |
| 4040 | — | OE-9055D-KAAOD-KIRO |
| 4041 | — | F-BOXA |
| 4042 | — | F-BOXBI-BOXB |
| 4043 | — | F-BOXC |
| 4044 | — | F-BOXD |
| 4045 | — | I-A094I-VOLK |
| 4046 | — | OY-DXWD-KERL |
| 4047 | G-BIIFG-BVET | F-BOXG |
| 4048 | — | F-BOXF |
| 4049 | — | D-KIRUN7719 |
| 4050 | — | D-KIRYN65WTN7521 |
| 4051 | — | D-KISAN2188 |
| 4052 | — | C-FAZOD-KAPAD-KAQEN2187 |
| 4053 | — | D-KAQI |
| 4054 | — | D-KISEN1700FN2189F |
| 4055 | G-AWBJ | SE-UJC |
| 4056 | — | OE-9085D-KAQU |
| 4057 | — | D-KAQYN1771 |
| 4058 | — | VH-TKDD-KDLED-KISIN7720 |
| 4059 | — | D-KISON2179 |
| 4060 | — | F-BOXHD-KHWD |
| 4061 | — | F-BOXI |
| 4062 | — | F-BOXJD-KOXJ |
| 4063 | — | D-KAQO |
| 4064 | G-RFAD | D-KISUN1700GN389GS |
| 4065 | — | D-KISYN2182 |
| 4066 | — | D-KOGON2186 |
| 4067 | — | EC-BOY |
| 4068 | — | F-BOXK |
| 4069 | — | F-BOXL |
| 4070 | — | F-BOXM |
| 4071 | G-AWEK | — |
| 4072 | — | D-KOHA |
| 4073 | — | D-KOHE |
| 4074 | — | LN-BNT |
| 4075 | — | OH-399OH-FIKLN-BNG |
| 4076 | — | D-KOHIN2185 |
| 4077 | G-AWEL | — |
| 4078 | G-AWEM | LN-GRFSE-UYL |
| 4079 | — | D-KOHO |
| 4080 | — | F-BOXN |
| 4081 | — | D-KOHI |
| 4082 | — | PT-DVXD-KOHY |
| 4083 | — | OO-WADD-KAPTPH-DYL |
| 4084 | G-AWGN | — |
| 4085 | G-AWGO | — |
| 4086 | — | F-BOXOD-KANT |
| 4087 | — | F-BPLA |
| 4088 | — | OO-JLB |
| 4089 | — | D-KALBN7723 |
| 4090 | — | D-KFHISE-TGY |
| 4091 | — | D-KOHU |
| 4092 | — | D-KALDI-LUCB |
| 4093 | — | VH-HDOF-BPLB |
| 4094 | — | F-BPLC |
| 4095 | G-AZUU | F-BPLD |
| 4096 | — | OH-367OH-FIA |
| 4097 | — | D-KWAKHB-2004 |
| 4098 | — | OH-370OH-FIB |
| 4099 | G-AWLZ | — |
| 4100 | — | F-BPLE |
| 4101 | — | F-BPLFD-KNUT |
| 4102 | — | D-KALC |
| 4103 | — | D-KALFN66LF |
| 4104 | — | SE-TGXSE-XSK |
| 4105 | — | OH-372OH-FID |
| 4106 | — | OH-371OH-FIC |
| 4107 | — | F-OGDON30X |
| 4108 | — | D-KALG |
| 4109 | — | OH-373OH-FIE |
| 4110 | — | OH-374OH-FIF |
| 4111 | — | D-KEDBZS-UEG |
| 4112 | — | D-KEDCZS-UEH |
| 4113 | — | SE-TGV |
| 4114 | — | D-KEDDN7724 |
| 4115 | — | D-KEDEN1700 |
| 4116 | — | D-KEDFN3476 |
| 4117 | — | D-KEDGN41JLN7726 |
| 4118 | — | D-KEDHJA2110 |
| 4119 | G-BUPJ | D-KEDJN7752 |
| 4120 | — | D-KEDKXB-MEF |
| 4121 | — | F-BPLIN505SE |
| 4122 | — | D-KEDLN7725 |
| 4123 | — | F-BPLGD-KBEOI-BPLG |
| 4124 | — | F-BPLH |
| 4125 | — | F-BPLJF-CPLJ |
| 4126 | — | F-BPLK |
| 4127 | — | D-KEDMZS-UEL |
| 4128 | — | D-KEDNZS-UEM |
| 4129 | — | F-BPLMD-KHJG |
| 4130 | — | OE-9149D-KALHD-KJAID-KJHI |
| 4132 | — | OY-XBAD-KGRUSE-TGU |
| 4133 | — | F-BPLN |
| 4134 | G-PPLO | F-BPLOSE-TRX |
| 4135 | — | F-BPLPD-KJNN |
| 4136 | — | F-BPLQI-BPLQ |
| 4137 | — | F-OCMX |
| 4138 | — | VH-XOSF-BPLS |
| 4139 | — | I-LUCO |
| 4140 | — | F-BPLT |
| 4141 | — | HB-2006 |
| 4142 | — | OH-390OH-FIJD-KKTMSE-TOT |
| 4143 | — | OH-381OH-FIG |
| 4144 | — | OH-380OH-FIH |
| 4145 | — | OH-382OH-FII |
| 4146 | — | D-KALB |
| 4147 | — | OH-474PH-DYK |
| 4148 | G-AXJS | — |
| 4149 | — | D-KEDPZS-UIL |
| 4150 | — | D-KEDQZS-UEZ |
| 4151 | — | OO-YESD-KFSTPH-JFE |
| 4152 | — | D-KABH |
| 4153 | — | OE-9028D-KIXI |
| 4154 | — | OE-9029D-KIGT |
| 4155 | — | D-KARL |
| 4156 | G-AYHY | JA24RF |
| 4157 | — | PT-DVXD-KAIG |
| 4158 | — | D-KBDA |
Identities are shown as recorded in the source list. The order within a row is not necessarily chronological, the list is not a guarantee of current status, and some registrations appear against more than one c/n (D-KNUT, D-KAQA, D-KOHI, PT-DVX and D-KALB), which may be re-use or a transcription error. There is no entry for c/n 4131. Corrections are welcome — email us.
Owned or flown one of these? Email us a photo.
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Own or fly a RF4? Photos are added by hand — use the “Send us a photo” tile above to email yours to James, and it will be added to this gallery.
