although they were not the first arfs i believe in the mid or late 1980's "Royal" came out with the first ply and balsa wood film covered arfs and were very popular. they had a high wing trainer with a flat bottom wing and then you could buy semi sym. wing for it. they had a sportier shoulder wing version also. even then they were about $99.00. some people back then thought that was outrageous to pay that for them.