AMA Thanks Its Lifetime Supporters
The Academy recently welcomed Life Members Calvin L. Earl, South Weber UT; John M. Brown, Albuquerque NM; Ryan Hladky, Kansas City MO; and Jonathan Elie, Hopewell Junction NY.
For information about becoming a Life Member, contact AMA Headquarters at (800) 435-9262.
—AMA Membership Department
AMA Presents the AMA Foundation
The AMA Foundation officially launched January 10, at AMA Expo 2014 in Ontario, California. The AMA Foundation was developed to inspire financial support for aeromodeling as a hobby, sport, and scientific pursuit, a legitimate and essential part of our communities, and a vital component of the aeronautical continuum.
The primary areas of focus for the AMA Foundation include education (scholarships) and youth programming, preservation of the hobby through support of the National Model Aviation Museum, club support, and government advocacy.
Donors receive special designation for supporting aeromodeling. The AMA Foundation has many levels of support. Contributors receive gifts when they enter a new level. Levels also include special designations for corporate and club donors.
The foundation offers giving opportunities for those who have begun the process of planning for the future by drafting a will or other financial investments.
All donors who give $10 or more will receive a donor icon on his or her membership card.
Please visit the AMA Foundation website at http://amafoundation.modelaircraft.org for more information about the areas the foundation will support, donor programs and opportunities, and more. If you have specific questions, or would like information sent to you, please contact Mandee Mikulski at [email protected], or call toll free at (800) 435-9262, extension 277.
Art Laneau
1925–2014
An AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame inductee—who worked behind the scenes to help put AMA on the map and keep the Nats afloat—has died.
Arthur “Art” E. Laneau, a Lifetime AMA member who served as president of Ambroid Company, the first liquid cement business, passed away January 14, 2014. Although Art never built a model airplane, he joined the AMA in 1954 when the organization had fewer than 10,000 members and was struggling with severe financial problems. Through his efforts, Art saw AMA membership increase to roughly 160,000 members.
One way that AMA grew was through the Nats. When the Nats were first held, they were called the Navy Nats because they took place at Navy Air Bases across the country. Much of the success of this annual competition can be attributed to Art, who worked for 12 years to improve relations between AMA, the Navy, and the Hobby Industry Association of America.
“Without the Nationals (Nats), the Academy may have disappeared back in the 1960s,” Art wrote in his AMA History Program biography. “Twice the Dallas Naval Air Station tried to have the Nats dropped, and both times, I was able to reach admirals and get extensions. During those six years of extended Navy support, the Academy started to come to life until the Navy finally dropped the Nats and the AMA was able to handle it practically on its own,” he wrote.
Art was appointed chair of the Model Aeronautics Division of the Hobby Industry Association of America, and helped secure the AMA a free booth at its annual trade show in Chicago. This provided an opportunity for Art and AMA officials to meet with manufacturers and others and to convince them to support the Academy’s growth.
In his lifetime, Art served as a single-engine Navy fighter pilot during World War II, served as president of Ambroid Company from 1952-1970, was named an AMA Fellow in 1966, and was inducted into the AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996. He lived with his wife, Pauline, in Florida until his death at the age of 88.
The Candy Bomber
Things were tough in West Berlin in the summer of 1948. The Soviets blocked all roads and railroads leading to the three Western-held sectors of Berlin. To provide food and other necessities of life to the stranded people, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) began an aerial supply operation, which became known as the Berlin Airlift. For 462 days, planes flew to Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, loaded with food, clothing, even coal. Local children flocked to the fence surrounding the airport to watch the planes land and take off again.
One pilot, Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen, walked out to the fence one day while his plane was being unloaded and met some of the children, who asked him for candy. He only had a few pieces of gum on him, which he gave with the promise he would drop them some from his plane on his next trip. He told them they would know it was him because he would “wiggle” his wings.
On his next flight, the pilot wiggled his wings as he approached the runway, and had the flight engineer push three bundles of candy out of the plane. The bundles were attached to homemade parachutes crafted out of handkerchiefs. Halvorsen had no way of knowing if the bundles reached their target or drifted off to parts unknown, until he took off and saw the children waving three handkerchiefs. Lt. Halvorsen continued to drop candy and became known as “Uncle Wiggly Wings” to the children.
Among the growing crowds of children was a young girl named Gerda. Eventually she moved to the United States and had a son named Marc.
Marc Niehus, a resident of Coralville [Iowa], grew up to become a professional pilot and a member of the Iowa City Aerohawks, a radio-controlled (RC) model airplane club. Each year the club puts on an airshow for the public, with a candy drop for the children in attendance. However, strong winds scrubbed that flight during their show on Sunday, Sept. 8. The club was also going to pay tribute to the original candy drop, flown by Lt. Halvorsen so many years ago.
Niehus spent a year or so building a 1/6-scale RC replica of a USAF Military Air Transport Service C-47 cargo plane, one of several types of aircraft utilized in the famous airlift. He gave it a custom paint job honoring Halvorsen with teal, red and black striping to coincide with the ribbon airmen were awarded for the humanitarian mission. A special tail decal commemorates the Berlin Airlift with German and American flags, and the name “Rosinenbomber” is spelled out along the fuselage. Translated, it means “Raisin Bomber,” or “sweets (candy) bomber.”
With the wind creating a dangerous crosswind-landing situation for the fragile aircraft, Niehus wasn’t able to fly the beast, which features a fully detailed cockpit with pilot and co-pilot and pallets stacked in the cargo area. Instead, the plane was wheeled to the center of the main runway and Gerda was brought out from the crowd to stand with Marc and the plane, while Richard VeDepo read the story of the candy bomber. As a round of applause echoed across the wind-swept field, mother and son embraced.
The Aerohawks, not wanting their younger guests denied a sweet treat, hand-tossed the candy that would’ve been dropped by RC plane around the south end of the field before turning the youngsters loose to scoop up the goodies.
The bottom line: pilots have a sweet spot for kids.
—Chris Umscheid
Solon Economist
History Preserved
Kansas City Contest Photo
In 2009, the National Model Aviation Museum archives received a panoramic photograph from donor J.D. Foster, delivered to the museum by his friend, Don Davis. It’s a great picture of contestants who attended the Annual Miniature Airplane Contest, on October 2, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Someone at Boeger Studio of Topeka, Kansas, handwrote the location and date of the event on the original before copies were made. Although no contestant names were listed, J.D. was able to provide some of that information and more about the photo’s provenance.
According to J.D. (via Don), the framed photo hung for years in Pop Schreiber’s hobby shop. The shop’s name has been identified by different sources as either the Model Aircraft Institute (which sponsored the contest pictured), or Country Club Aero Supply (in the book “Do You Speak Model Airplane,” by Dave Thornburg). Its location was in the neighborhood of 95th and Holmes in Kansas City, Missouri.
J.D. worked at that hobby shop, and Pop gave the photo to him. He applied yellow stickers to the front of the glass to identify contestants. J.D. had some help from a relative of his, Frank Lilly, who attended the contest. Names, nicknames, or best guesses are handwritten on the stickers: Jim Amis; Gene Salway; Leonard Muholkand[?]; Don Zimmerman; Frank Lilly; C.O. Wright’s son, Motorcyc. Fat.; Howard Deerdorf; Willobhy; Crawford or Tarpy; Pop Schrieber [sic]; Mitch Crawford, Topeka; and Drawbridge Guy.
A piece of rigid plastic was placed on top of the glass with numbers written in white ink to help others identify the individuals. The numbers on the plastic run up to 71 (Frank Lilly is 17). A few people in the background are unnumbered, but most of their faces are blurred.
After the numbers were applied, J.D. remembered another gentleman flier’s name and added a white sticker to the plastic layer, cut into the shape of an arrow with “Jess Clark” written on it.
Thanks to the studio and J.D., we have a good start on researching this event. However, we would like to have all of the contestants’ names as well as more information about the contest itself. What events took place? Who won the contest? What interesting stories came from that event?
We will be posting the photograph showing more detail in the museum’s online blog (http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amamuseum/). If you know any of the people in this photograph, or have any documentation or memorabilia from this contest, please contact us. You can call at (765) 287-1256, extension 511, or write to: National Model Aviation Museum, Attn: Jackie Shalberg, 5151 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302.