In the Air - 2012/08
Buy, Build, and Fly — Sonoran Desert Flyers
"Folks in our hobby love to show off and let other people know how much they know. In this case, it's a wonderful habit and it helps a lot of newcomers learn about our great hobby.
"In tossing the idea around, we found we had a lot of builders who could help put planes together and trim them, and a group of flight instructors who could help get them through the learn-to-fly process. In doing this, we could both help our club grow, and add new members to the AMA, and have some fun to boot! Win, win, win!"
Bob said the club's first Buy, Build, and Fly event required temporary site improvements, and coordinating with its landlord and the city's parks department.
"I would be remiss in not mentioning the acceptance of this idea by our club. We are what I call a 'hard scrabble' club with no field improvements other than a safety fence. This is a function of our arrangement with our town. All our stuff is temporary.
"To field an event was a 'growing together' operation. It brought members who just wanted to fly into a more involved position, and it worked out that they had a lot of fun doing it."
After realizing how successful the inaugural event was, club members created a guide so other groups could hold similar events. Spearheaded by club secretary Phil June, the guide includes information about the event's mission, its concept, background information, how to market and advertise it, how to get sponsors and supporters, how to assign duties and find volunteers, and suggestions for concessions at the flying site.
For the inaugural event, members of the Sonoran Desert Flyers met with the editor of the local newspaper and were interviewed for an article about the event and the club. This helped generate community interest in the event. A sample of a press release is included in the guide for those unfamiliar with seeking media coverage for an event. A guide for writing press releases also is available at www.modelaircraft.org.
The club promoted the event in a local newspaper and distributed fliers at hobby shops. Sample ads are included in the guide, which can be downloaded at www.sonorandesertflyers.us.
Bob contacted the AMA Marketing Department about the program to discuss ways to better promote the event this year. Seeing an opportunity to introduce AMA to first-time model fliers, AMA offered a free three-month trial membership (usually costing $19.95). Thirty trial memberships were given away and 14 became full members.
Bob suggested that clubs located in colder climates promote the event shortly after Christmas, but actually hold it when temperatures begin to rise.
"Possibly an indoor venue for the airplane 'put together' session and some indoor electric model flying would be an ice breaker to whet their appetites to continue the process later in more temperate weather outdoors," he added.
—Rachelle Haughn MA staff
Remembering Richard
Richard volunteered for a second tour piloting P-51s as a combat scout, completing 25 missions before he was forced to bail out when his P-51 engine caught fire over Belgium in 1945. His pilot experience earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, seven air medals, and the Purple Heart.
In 1952 Richard left the Air Force to raise his six sons and returned to work at Eastman Kodak as a toolmaker. He also worked at Fender and Northrop as a manufacturing engineer. In his work career, Richard had nine patents at Kodak, two at Fender, and two at Northrop. He finally had enough of the workload and retired in 1988.
In 1954, Richard approached Kodak personnel about forming an RC model club. The company agreed and offered the club a flying field that was also open to non-Kodak employees. The site was aptly named Kodak Field.
Richard was involved in many facets of model aviation. He flew free flight (FF), control line (CL), gliders, and radio control (RC)—participating in many pylon events. His club, the Radio Control Club of Rochester, held the inaugural New York State Radio Control Championships in 1960, flying aerobatics and pylon. Along with his club, Richard bought 200 Delta Darts and started a program with the city playgrounds department, teaching kids to build and fly.
Using his experience as a manufacturing engineer, Richard built his own vacuum-formed plastic sheet system that he demonstrated at club meetings. He also built one of the first hot-wire foam-cutting systems and demonstrated it at the Buffalo Symposium in 1964.
Richard was a major force in starting five flying sites and also helped form the United Pylon Racing Circuit in 1968, consisting of members from Canada and upstate New York.
After a move to California, Richard sparked an interest in Giant Scale. He cofounded the Century Flyers and flew with the Southern California Airplane Model Pilots' Society. Richard built a Giant Scale Zero, which he flew with the Southern California Show Team.
Richard was a contest director (CD), the president of several clubs, a newsletter editor for 43 years, and served as District II contest coordinator for eight years.
Read more about Richard's life and accomplishments from his point of view in his autobiography available through the AMA History Program at www.modelaircraft.org/museum/whatshere/history.aspx.
—Ashley Rauen, Communications Specialist
Elizabeth’s Visit with Jefferson
By special arrangements, Elizabeth and her family had a private dinner with Jefferson on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. Elizabeth heard firsthand about Jefferson’s experiences. Jefferson presented her with an autographed copy of his book and autographed the picture Elizabeth had created.
Elizabeth used the evening’s information to complete a class project. The memories will last a lifetime.
—Joe Hass, Skymasters [email protected]
History Preserved: Magazines and the Library
The museum’s Lee Renaud Memorial Library is filled with a vast collection of books, magazines, and newsletters devoted to modeling and full-scale aviation. As of June 1, 2012, we have 486 magazine titles.
Sometimes our magazine count can be tricky because magazines occasionally change titles, some more frequently than others. Air Trails had at least 13 variations and changes of its title before it finally became American Modeler.
Even Model Aviation has changed. It was first printed as a news bulletin under the same title, starting in June 1936 when AMA came into existence, and ending in June 1966. In July 1966, AMA transferred to just a section called "AMA News," published in American Modeler, which changed its name to American Aircraft Modeler in January 1968. March 1975 was the last issue of that magazine, and so AMA began producing Model Aviation again, this time in the magazine format much as it is today.
Although we have many full runs of magazines, we still have spaces to fill. There are even a few missing issues of Model Aviation (MA). AMA Headquarters moved a number of times and editions were lost. There was even a story run in a 1950s MA about needing misplaced copies—and they’re still missing. Following is a list of MA issues we need. Please contact the museum if you have any to donate:
- Volume 1: Numbers 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18
- Volume 7: Number 10
- Volume 10: Numbers 1 and 2
- Volume XI: Numbers 5 and 9
- Volume XII: Number 1/2
- Volume XIV: Number 7/8
- Volume XVII: Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10
- Volume XVIII: Numbers 1, 4, and 8
- 1954: March (our issue is missing pages)
For any magazines you may want to donate, please contact Jackie Shalberg ([email protected]) with a list of titles, including month and date, and she will let you know if we need them for our collection.
Please do not send magazines without checking. We have a number of duplicate issues, and despite the rumors, we do not currently sell excess issues. MA back issues are available for purchase through the Membership Department and the museum offers a few duplicates from the library for free. Many years ago a large sale of duplicate magazines, donated specifically for that purpose, was held, but we don’t have sufficient staff or storage room available to do that again.
We appreciate your help making our collection as complete as possible. Stop in during our normal business hours and see for yourself how many magazines we have for your research needs.
—National Model Aviation Museum Staff
Model Aviation: June 1936, November 15, 1947, November 1953, October 1958, and February 1986. Courtesy Lee Renaud Memorial Library, National Model Aviation Museum.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
