172 MODEL AVIATION
I WANT TO thank everyone who took the
time to fill out a ballot and vote for me! I
appreciate your support and will do my best to
continue to represent you to the AMA.
I have a large area to cover and have some
great associate vice presidents who work with
me. Please give these people your support as
well. They love model airplanes and that is
why they are doing what they do.
I also want to congratulate Dave
Mathewson on his election as AMA president.
I have had the pleasure of sitting next to Dave
at Executive Council meetings during the past
three years and have learned much from him.
Dave is hard working and always looking
to improve AMA and its services to the
membership. I have great hopes that we can
make many good things come to pass!
The Taildraggers R/C Club (www.taildrag
gersrc.com) held its second annual warbird
fly-in October 21, 2007. This year’s event was
larger and better by every measure.
The club has gained considerable support
from the local businesses and organizations of
Cartersville, Georgia, and the surrounding
area. That and the direct financial support of
the sponsors shown in the photo, helped the
club conduct an impressive event.
The site is on church-owned property, and
the support of the church has also been
immeasurable, including, but not limited to,
providing this year’s food concession. By all
reports the chili was first rate!
Added attractions the club provided
included a car show and an amusement area
for the kids, in the form of inflatable “crawlthroughs”
and “bounce houses.” They were a
big hit.
The main attraction was of course the
Scale models of World War II-era aircraft,
from bombers to fighters to light observation
aircraft. Some pilots such as Barry Herthum
from Summerfield, North Carolina, brought a
fleet of models. Barry had a P-51D, a Stinson
L-5 Air Ambulance, a Junkers Ju-97 Stuka,
and a Nakajima B5N Kate.
Only a couple of models came to grief
with less-than-wonderful landings. Eddie
Dubransky’s Top Flite P-47D cartwheeled on
landing after suffering complete aileron
failure after the first departure turn. Eddie also
brought a fleet of models, including an
immaculate, scratch-built Focke-Wulf 190D.
Other pilots flew Mustangs, Corsairs,
Thunderbolts, Stukas, and there were several
nicely done pre-World War II biplane
fighters. This was not a contest of any sort,
and particularly not a Scale contest, although
all of the warbird models present were highly
detailed and extremely accurate from a scale
perspective. The warbirds present could easily
have done well in Scale competition.
Merlyn Graves made the trip from Saint
Charles, Illinois, and flew his scratch-built
Bristol Blenheim Mk V photo reconnaissance
light bomber and Kawasaki Ki-100 Tony.
Dave Herbert and Jeff McCormick assisted
Merlyn during engine start and run-up prior to
launching a bombing mission.
Yes, bombing mission. Not content with
scratch-building a rarely seen model, Merlyn
included what appeared to be several
thousand scale rivets, finely crafted dummy
radial engines, and a working bomb bay;
however, the sortie failed to destroy the
sacrificial J-3 carcass on the runway.
In the background, the spectator in the
background (with his toddler) is being
directed back to the spectator area after having
walked in front of the large bomber after
engine start to take a picture.
Merlyn and his assistants had the large
powerful bomber under complete control,
even when surprised by the spectator who
managed to get on the runway during active
flight operations. Hats off to Merlyn, Dave,
Jeff, the club members running the event, and
the pilots who gave of their time and talents to
put on a highly successful event where safety
was paramount.
District V
Tony Stillman, District V Vice President; [email protected]
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, US Virgin Islands
Tony Stillman
Vice President
139 Altama Connector,
Box 322, Brunswick GA
31525; (912) 242-2407
www.amadistrict-v.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Alabama:
Jhon P. Russell, Mount
Olive AL; (205) 213-5240
[email protected]
Florida:
Jose Soto, Apopka FL;
[email protected]
Tony Fandino, Hialeah FL
[email protected]
Georgia:
Bob Dixon, Macon GA;
[email protected]
Freddie L. McClellan, Marietta
GA; (770) 402-6570; fred@
amadistrict-v.org
Mississippi:
Terry W. Boston, Byhalia MS;
(662) 838-5541; TBoston1@
midsouth.rr.com
Puerto Rico:
Richard Prann, San Juan PR; Day
(800) 424-1322; Cell (787) 643-
0373; [email protected]
South Carolina:
Roger Marshall, Camden SC;
(803) 432-2347;
[email protected]
Tennessee:
Owen Maupin, Collegedale TN;
(423) 240-3525;
[email protected]
Billy Miller, Blountville TN; (423)
335-2486; [email protected]
Dick Tonan, La Vergne TN;
[email protected]
Safety Coordinator: Red
Scholefield, Newberry FL; (352)
331-8410; redscho@
bellsouth.net
Frequency Coordinator: Jose
Soto, Apopka FL;
[email protected]; (407) 814-9641
Webmaster: Bill Davison
[email protected]
For additional district officers and
volunteers, please see a previous
issue of MA or visit the District V
Web site.
D i s t r i c t V Vo l u n t e e r s
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/03
Page Numbers: 172