Kelly,

You are abslolutley correct. The original "Challenger" was lost when Seans' ferry pilot crashed en route between airshows. The current aircraft WAS scratch-built, but is a lot like the older aircraft, so perhaps "New design inspired by the Pitts" is more accurate than "Highly modified Pitts".

In a full size aircraft a "High" thrust to weight does not necessarily mean in excess of 1 to 1, and many "Prop Hanging" figures are possible by having the wing, while mostly stalled, producing a little lift in the prop-wash. (A stalled wing still produces some lift, but the co-efficient of lift reduces as A of A increases post-stall.)

3Dmike,

That's an interesting looking aircraft. What's the engine? An M-14PF?