Jim McNeil! Vice President 617 South 20 Avenue, Birmingham AL 35205 Tel.: (205)322-2127 Fax: (205) 252-2654 E-mail: [email protected] Web page: http://www.modelair.org/ Frequency Coordinator, Jim McNeill Associate Vice Presidents <• James Alvis, Jackson MS (601) 956-4978 Malcolm Boartfield, Marietta GA (770) 977-4126 Ron Chidgey, Pensacola FL (850) 476-8639 Rod Gier, Cocoa FL (321) 636-2148 Michael Gregory, Greenville SC (864) 244-8660 Louise Izzo, Wintersprings FL (407) 699-4929 Richard Jackson, Charleston SC (843) 744-4575 David B. Lindstrum, Orlando FL (407) 894-3097 Joseph Micalizzi, Fajardo PR (787) 863-9163 Fred Mulholland, Tampa FL (813) 962-7020 George Perryman, Smyrna GA (770) 436-6001 Nancy Riley, Lake Placid FL (863) 699-1215 Melvin Sires, Aiken SC (803) 649-4073 Jim Stewart, Gardendale AL (205) 631-6968 Ward Van Duzer, Gainesville GA (770) 718-0122 Lee Webster, Manchester TN (615) 728-3283 Bud Williams, Johnson City TN (423) 477-0772 THE CAMDEN SC Kershaw County Flyers is our District V Club of the Month for June 2002. This is a small club with only 30 members. Each member has worked hard to help acquire, improve, and maintain the splendid flying field the club members enjoy today. A heroic effort by all 30 members has created a strange place for the modelers to enjoy. A few years ago the Kershaw County Flyers moved from a privately owned field to another privately owned field, but were not allowed to pave or improve anything. Then an opportunity arose in which the club might be allowed to create a tenancy-at-will with the county on a piece of land. Could all conditions be met? The land is near a park and had been used as a city dump for everything. Occasionally, areas where garbage had been covered over exuded deadly methane gas. These 13 vents go down into the affected area and allow methane gas to escape when it builds up. This is part of the field, but not the flying part. Doyle Allen Sr., acting for the club, presented the county with safety regulations the modelers would adhere to, AMA rules included. The county liked the rules and had a few rules of their own including "no wallowing on the ground by anybody of any age" and "no digging of any nature more than 18 inches below the surface." Could this small club make this place work? Sure they could. All the club members went to work with a vengeance. Roger Marshall, the secretary/treasurer of the club, used some county-owned equipment to disk and flatten the capped off landfill on the runway part. Robin Fleming, Vance Davis, and others helped with the turf and grass. Jim Pardue, 86, a construction supervisor, sat around and told the workers what to do. The plan worked fine. Upon proper application, two grants were eventually made to the park for club improvements. A $21,000 grant, 80% from the state and 20% from the county, was used to install an electric gate, a pavilion with an enclosed room under it, and an observatory for a 10-inch telescope implanted near the model airplane pavilion. Doyle Allen Sr., the county recreational director and a member of the Camden Chamber of Commerce, encouraged a local astronomy club to use the same field for a big telescope installation. A second grant of $10,000, 80% state money and 20% club money, was obtained. This was used for irrigation, sod control, and runway. ; •,--;-•,-.,. i..ui. •-' •••..<:...•. ..'. (•{.., '.'• See the fat dome Doyle is standing next to? It's right next to the pavilion and houses an 8 x 10-foot lens telescope to view the stars at night. See the nice pavilion and enclosure, tables, concrete floor, bleachers, and a steel fence at the flightline? None of this came easy. Almost every club member helped with sawing, nailing, and the like. Doyle Allen petitioned a local correctional center for a 10-man work-release group on weekends to help the club members cut, saw, pound, nail, pour concrete, etc. and the pavilion was created. Doyle Jr., Marvin Marczas, Craig and Vance Davis, Buff Miller, and everybody else helped. Today the club has been in the park six years, has a 20 x 40-foot paved runway, with a 300 x 60-foot grass runway parallel. All the members in the little club cooperate in maintenance. I took this on the Saturday afternoon of their Fourth Annual Pattern Classic. Nobody was flying because the weather was too lousy. In the background is the fat telescope dome. Included here are Vance Davis; Robin Fleming, club president; Doyle Allen Jr.; Contest Director (CD) Marvin Marczas; Roger Marshall; and two other important club members. For its vision, courage, and hard work, the Camden Kershaw County Flyers is our District V Club of the Month. A wood-framed, glass-encased plaque is being mailed to the members. You can see more of this club and other clubs on your District V Web site, www.modelair.org/. The Web site has hundreds and hundreds of color pictures. You might see yourself. New additions include The Joe Nall SC fling; the Jackson MI Magnolia Classic; Ocala Big Bird; Henderson TN Magic Valley; Savannah GA TriCounty RC; Perrine FL Aeromodelers; and others. I was invited to the Johnson City RC club to meet everybody and answer questions and I accepted. •Tlfr Some of the officials of the Johnson City RC include Derwin Cartmel, secretary; Alan Butler, newsletter editor and webmaster; Raymond Allen; Steve Weller, president; Bud Williams, CD; and David Campbell, vice president. Bud has been appointed an AVP for Eastern Tennessee. Families like to come out to flying fields and watch, too. (L) Dick Plum and his bride Pat; (R) a father and two sons, Bobby, Matt, and Chris Quillen. They are watching the Johnson City RC fliers.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2002/09
Page Numbers: 161
