District IX
Oh, the dog days of summer! I trust you all are getting plenty of stick time and enjoying the friendships that are at the heart of this great hobby of ours.
This month I'd like to feature three very progressive clubs and hope that someday you'll get a chance to fly with these people because they are all fantastic gentlemen.
Wichita Radio Control Club (WRCC) Auction
Good flying bud Walt DeFrees and I spent a couple of days in Wichita with friends from the WRCC.
On Friday afternoon, WRCC members John Newmann and Jerry Shumann took time out of their busy schedules to give us the grand tour of their RC Big Birds museum. Words can't express the quantity and quality of these beautiful airplanes that John and Jerry have built throughout the years. After our tour, Jerry invited us to his home so we could see his latest project: a giant, scratch-built B-17.
As you can see from the picture, the fuselage is nearing the final building stages. Many of the components are specially ordered because nothing like this has ever been attempted. The wingspan alone will exceed 15 feet and the all-up weight will exceed 200 pounds. John and Jerry promise to keep us posted on the progress of this monster.
The Shawnee Mission Radio Control Club (SMRCC)
The Shawnee Mission Radio Control Club (SMRCC) heard an informative and entertaining presentation by a World War II B-17 waist gunner. One of my favorite flying friends, Darrell Watts, reported on an outstanding SMRCC meeting held in the spring.
More than 60 members, guests from other clubs, and spouses attended this special SMRCC club meeting to hear Roy Shenkel tell about his experiences in World War II. He told about his training, flying, experience as a POW, and finally his liberation.
Two of many stories were about the time when his airplane was shot down. He bailed out at 25,000 feet and, because of lack of oxygen, passed out. He came to just in time to open his parachute. Moments after he opened his parachute an Me-109 whizzed by roughly 100 yards away with a P-51 in hot pursuit. Then two more 109s flew by less than 50 yards away. They were so close that he waved to the German pilot and the pilot waved back.
In the prison camp they were fed principally black bread and cabbage. The recipe for black bread (from German records) consisted of barley, sugar beets, sawdust, and straw.
Mr. Shenkel was introduced by Gary Swanson. Mr. Swanson volunteers for a Library of Congress project where he interviews World War II veterans. He records their stories and gives a copy of that interview to the veteran's family. Another copy goes to the Library of Congress to preserve this history. To date Mr. Swanson has interviewed more than 850 veterans.
If you are looking for a good club meeting program you might seek out a World War II veteran who has an interesting story to tell.
Hutch Bunch Gives Back to the Community
In a couple of days I will be going to visit this small but mighty club. The club is one of our newest Gold Leader Clubs and I make every attempt to award these plaques in person.
Good flying friend Jim Harris sent the following about his club's newest achievement:
"The Hutch Bunch RC Club in Hutchinson, Kansas, has been working with the Kansas Children's Museum to promote model aviation to children and their parents. About a dozen models of various types were displayed for 30 days in the museum last fall, and recently the club donated a complete model flight simulator to the museum.
In the picture above, club president Gordon Warnken is showing museum director Pamela Gould how to operate the simulator. Pamphlets were left at the museum with club information for those who are interested."
Next month I want to write about some of my travels to different clubs around the district including my trips to Toledo and the Joe Nall. Until then, have a great day and have fun!
Mark
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
