National Model Aviation Day
Has your club registered for National Model Aviation Day? This year’s event will be celebrated across the country on August 15, 2015. Join in the festivities by registering your club to participate. The AMA Foundation, participating organizations, and the National Model Aviation Day sponsors hope to promote the hobby and raise money for a great cause. Proceeds will again be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. Last year, $100,000 was raised to support this charity that provides programs to injured men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces. Working together, we hope to surpass that amount this year and generate many new model aviation enthusiasts.
National Model Aviation Day T-shirts are now on sale for $10. The shirts are available with or without the date, and with or without the Wounded Warrior Project inscription. Clubs are not required to hold their gatherings on August 15; they can select another charity or choose not to hold a fundraiser in order to host an event. The main goal is to celebrate model aviation!
Thanks to the National Model Aviation Day sponsors, we are able to provide registered clubs with event banners for $15. The 2 x 6-foot indoor/outdoor vinyl banners will include the club’s name, National Model Aviation Day logo, event date and time, and the names of the 2015 Platinum Sponsors.
Registered clubs will receive access to the National Model Aviation Day club resources web page. There you will find information about promoting your event, a customizable flyer, state proclamation information, and more. All registered clubs are encouraged to share event details using #NMAD on Twitter and Facebook.
The AMA Foundation would like to thank this year’s National Model Aviation Day Platinum Sponsors: Ready Made RC, HobbyKing, Hobbico, and Horizon Hobby, as well as Gold Level Sponsor Wendell Hostetler’s Plans, for supporting the celebration of model aviation.
Learn more about the event and register online at www.nationalmodelaviationday.org. Register by June 1 to be listed as a participant on the National Model Aviation Day ad that will appear in the August issue of Model Aviation.
San Diego Air & Space Museum Looking for a Few Good Modelers
When I was in California for the AMA Expo earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit the San Diego Air & Space Museum and meet the curator, Terry Brennan. The museum has a fantastic assortment of aircraft and artifacts, and I was also impressed by the number of aeromodeling items on display, including models, radios, and engines. If you visit San Diego, I recommend stopping at the museum.
If you live in the area and would be interested in contributing your time to help the museum preserve, inspire, educate, and celebrate aviation, an opportunity may be available.
The San Diego Air & Space Museum is looking for a few modelers with woodworking experience who would like to volunteer their time in the model shop at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California. Volunteers generally work eight to ten hours a week in a well-equipped shop, building and sometimes restoring historic aircraft models. Please contact Terry at (619) 234-8291, ext. 141, if you would like to learn more.
—Jay Smith, MA, Editor-in-Chief
First National Model Airplane Trophy to Be Displayed
One hundred years ago this October, the first national trophy for a model airplane contest was awarded. That trophy, the Henry S. Villard Trophy, will be on exhibit at the National Model Aviation Museum from June through August 2015 in celebration of this centennial.
Sponsored by the Aero Club of America in 1915, the first national model contest was formatted for maximum participation without the hassle of travel or shipping models to be proxy flown. Instead, the national contest was actually a series of local events. It worked like this:
How the contest worked
- Each club held elimination rounds and the four winners and four runners-up would represent their club at the official contests.
- Official contests were held at places selected by the model clubs during a timeframe set by the Aero Club of America. They were judged by members of the larger clubs.
- There were three events: Distance Flown After Hand Launch, Flight Duration After Rise-Off-Water, and Flight Duration After Rise-Off-Ground.
- The results of the contests were mailed to the Aero Club of America to determine the winners.
- There were cash prizes for individuals, but the Henry S. Villard Trophy went to the club whose members collectively made the largest score during the three months, which was determined by a point system.
The Illinois Model Aero Club won the Villard Trophy in 1915, 1916, and 1917. It was retired to the club. In 1992, the trophy was returned to Henry Villard, who presented it to the San Diego Air & Space Museum the following year.
Henry Villard was born in the U.S. in 1900. When he was 12 years old and living in France, he fell in love with aviation. It was there that he took his first airplane ride and interacted with many European aviation pioneers.
His family moved to the U.S., and his continued fascination with aviation inspired him to sponsor the Villard Trophy in 1915. A later article about the trophy noted that 15-year-old Henry used his own money to sponsor the trophy. Throughout his life, Henry continued to enjoy aviation and wrote two books on the subject.
The Henry S. Villard Trophy will be at the National Model Aviation Museum thanks to a loan from the San Diego Air & Space Museum. It will be displayed in the Nats exhibit, along with some of Henry’s personal items, on loan from his friend Willis Allen of the Allen Airways Flying Museum.
Please visit the museum sometime this summer to see the Henry S. Villard Trophy and watch the museum’s social media for ways to celebrate the centennial of modeling competition.
—National Model Aviation Museum staff
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
