District II
Gary Fitch, District II Vice President; [email protected]
The Aero Radio Control Society (ARCS) of Syracuse, New York, held its annual funfly event in August at the club field in Marcellus, New York. Club president Herb Ziegler acted as event coordinator, and the event was well attended. The club offered nice prizes to the winners and provided a luncheon to all participants and spectators.
ARCS also sponsors the Syracuse Symposium held every January. President Herb Ziegler was one of five recipients nationwide of the newly reinstated Carl Goldberg Vital People Award. Winners must be nominated based on a history of going above and beyond to support model aviation. Herb wasn’t even aware that Walt Throne had nominated him until he received the award last November. Congratulations!
Events
One of the neatest events I attended last flying season was the Flying Aces Club (FAC) non-Nats free-flight (FF) event held in Geneseo, New York. Ross Mayo is the FAC Commander in Chief and the event contest director. It was amazing to watch this gathering of more than 100 FF pilots compete with a wide range of aircraft. The most impressive aircraft I saw was a scale German jet fighter with a miniature 25 mm hand-built ducted-fan unit that flew almost out of sight. AMA District III Vice President Bob Brown even won the Rapier contest!
North Jersey Radio Control Club (NJRC)
I received a letter from John Deneke of the North Jersey Radio Control Club. He wrote:
- Our club has been in existence since 1954 and flies in the beautiful Skylands of New Jersey in Ringwood State Park.
- Our site is an all-grass field and flightline, and the area includes a pond for float planes.
- The two runways are each more than 800 feet long.
- Members fly nitro, gas, and electric airplanes, helicopters, float planes, and gliders.
John mentioned that the club is actively looking for new members to join them and enjoy this site, which is about a mile up a fire road. He suggested using high-clearance vehicles to reach it. For more information about joining the NJRC, call John at (201) 445-0361.
In Memoriam
This month I must mention the passing of District II member John “Ellis” Grumer of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Ellis was past president of the 350 Flying Circus of Phillipsburg and a longtime member of the Lehigh Valley RC Society in Pennsylvania.
In 1987 Ellis worked with Bob Kopski to establish The Great Pennsylvania Electric Fly, an annual event which has been renamed the Ellis Grumer Electric Fly. Ellis will be greatly missed by his fellow modelers and friends.
Till next month — "Keep ’em Three in the Green."
Gary Fitch 1298 Slab City Rd. Franklinville, NY 14737 Tel.: (716) 341-2813
For a complete listing of district officers and volunteers, please visit the District II website at www.amadistrictii.org or see a previous issue of Model Aviation.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
