I think that the success of the Russia proved that there was and maybe
still is a market for these lighter sports ships. I also sorta think
that they saturated the market, and I also think that if the Russia
had the "look" that we sailplane pilots have come to expect, that they
would still be in business. That is, if their price stayed somewhat
the same. If the Apis was around at the same time as the Russia, I
wonder how many Russia's would have been sold? Given that the price
point was very close and the appearance of the Apis is so close to
what we "expect" I think the Silent may have been around, but don't
think there was a US distributor at the time.

Brad