NARRAGANSETT - If you see two guys gazing at a remote-controlled airplane winging its way through the Narragansett sky, don't accuse them of goofing off during work hours.

They and the plane are in fact at work, documenting the landscape, and, in a sense, mimicking history.

The remote-controlled airplane with a camera mounted underneath the wings has a close relationship with Nate Bousquet of Narragansett, and his dad Don, the cartoonist.

Young Nate, 24, took up his father's aviation bug at the age of 6. Together, they built models, and studied famous aviators, including Alberto Santos-Dumont of Brazil.

Santos-Dumont made the first officially observed, powered controlled flight in Europe in 1906, three years after the Wright brothers made their historic first flight near Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In 1907, he designed the "Demoiselle," which placed the pilot beneath the wings between the wheels. He found it difficult to check his pocket watch to monitor his flight time and it is said that Louis Cartier subsequently developed a wristwatch for men, which Santos-Dumont popularized.

But closer to home and to this century, Nate Bousquet can be seen on sunny days in Jamestown, Narragansett and other South County locations flying his pound-and-a-half, camera-equipped, radio-controlled airplane, named -- in honor of Santos-Dumont -- the "Demoiselle Photographique," which Don Bousquet designed and built with his son.

They both hope it will wing its way into being a wage-earning device.

No, the airplane doesn't make trips to Hawaii, lose luggage or serve peanuts to passengers. But it does carry a digital camera which can be controlled from the ground to take aerial photographs. The camera is placed where the pilot would be -- making Nate the pilot not only of the plane, but also of the photographs.

"There are not many people who can fly one of these things," says Don proudly. "There's an element of danger to it. A wind can come up and crash it into The Towers, or into a seagull, or into a person walking along."

Or a malfunction could crash their $1,400 dollar plane and $350 camera into the ocean.

For those reasons, they sought insurance, which was no small task, said Don Bousquet.

Much of Nate's life has been devoted in some form or fashion to aviation, and to a lesser degree, to taking photographs.

He flew a normal-size aircraft solo at age 19, and said he is close to finishing work on his pilot's license.

"I've always been interested in any kind of aviation," he said. He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island who majored first in engineering and then in journalism, and has worked both at Wakefield's Benny's and Narragansett's Sears surrounded by appliances, tools, technology and machine parts.

"This is what I want to get into right now," he said, nodding at the equipment, which also reflects his interest in cameras.

The Bousquet boys, older and younger, say they can take aerial photographs much clearer and closer than from an airplane.

So this Bousquet-bonding hobby is unfolding as one-part entrepreneurial, one-part invention, and a big part fun.

Father and son gaze with glee as the "Demoiselle Photographique" skims the area near The Towers, Narragansett.

"Look at that baby go," admires dad of his invention, while a calmer Nate remains focused on the flight.

"Notice how quiet it is," adds Don, again admiringly.

Bousquet and Son, as they refer to themselves, have been experimenting with cameras and radio-controlled airplanes for more than a decade.

The hobby started out as a father-son bonding project, says Don, who though most often associated in Rhode Island as a cartoonist, (25 years with The Providence Journal) feels a tug from his drawing desk set up in the garage to the aviation materials which surround it.

"I have no interest in flying an airplane. Anyway, where can I go that's better than Narragansett?

"I just love airplanes. I love the way they look when they fly and I love the way they look on the ground.

Some people, he said, like vases from the Ming Dynasty.

He, as well as Nate, just like airplanes. Always have.

"We built a few radio-operated airplanes," Don said, noting that one in particular sat in the attic for a while.

Nate got after him to finish it, and before Nate turned 7, "He soloed a radio-operated airplane," his dad notes.

Don explains the mechanics of the picture-taking plane: "The aircraft weighs only a pound and a half, and can remain airborne for up to 30 minutes on a battery charge. The motor is a state-of-the-art brushless electric motor. The batteries are the latest lithium polymer units.

Because it is so small, and so light-weight, they can send it up and land it almost anywhere, they say.

Though the hobby has been "a way for us to spend time together," it has also developed a demand from those looking to have their property photographed. The Bousquets have approximately 10,000 photos logged into their camera archive, and get requests each week to snap more.

Though obstacles can be many with this light-weight plane -- "a bee can fly into his eye, or the wind can come up" -- Bousquet the elder said "we haven't lost any yet.

"But we are always stretching the envelope to see what we can do."