[1] The company was founded in California by Warren Erberspacher, Jim Kern, and Ken Thoms after collaborating on the Johnathan Livingston Seagull biplane racer of 1973.

The founders were inspired by the scale fighter designs of Marcel Jurca of France, as well as the KR-1 wood and fiberglass construction.

The series all share a common conventional landing gear design that is electrically retractable.

The aircraft were initially powered by 1600 cc Volkswagen air cooled engines of 70 hp (52 kW) using Lloyd Paynter’s gear reduction units driving 3-blade Fahlin props, but later Continental O-200 and Lycoming O-235s were used along with the Rotec R2800 radial engine.

[1][3][4][5] The company announced plans for a multitude of replicas that shared the basic layout.