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WOW! Am I ever excited about 2005! In less
than 30 days, I have contacted each associate
vice president (AVP) and all other official
District IX volunteers which include Contest
Board members, etc. As a result, I am pulling
together a great team for the district.
I still have some contacts to make, but we
are certainly making progress! I believe
critical to the success of District IX will be
strong leadership from our AVPs.
I want to share with you a letter I wrote to
each existing AVP outlining my thoughts as
to the three major areas of responsibility for
their positions:
“First, with your input, I want to divide the
district so that you can reasonably manage
your area. Beginning with our January
Executive Council (EC) meeting, I will
provide you with the agenda and ask for input
from you and our members. As soon as the
draft minutes are released following our EC
meeting, I will provide you with the results of
votes on critical AMA issues.
“Second, since you would be the ‘eyes and
ears’ for District IX, I hope that you will be
attending area club events and posting any
newsworthy articles and pictures to our Web
site. In turn, I will use this as a basis for my
monthly AMA article.
“Finally, I look to your leadership to let
me know when my physical presence is
needed or desired. With your support, I want
to attend at least one event per state per year.
Naturally, this will be dependent upon my
time and budget restrictions.
“Assuming you concur with these job
responsibilities, I would like you to E-mail me
with your current address, telephone, and Email
so that I can accurately reflect your
personal data for the AMA monthly article.”
Now for the biggest news: we have a District
IX Web site! It is www.amadistrict-ix.org.
Please look at what our webmaster Jim Shaw
has built for us. Please let Jim or me know
your thoughts. This will be our chief means of
communications and I hope you will take
advantage of the power of the Internet.
A big note of thanks is certainly due Jim,
for without his expertise we would not have
our Web site. Thank you, Jim!
This is Jim Shaw, our District IX webmaster,
and his Dr.I. Check out our Web site and
give him your input along with a note of
appreciation!
I received a warm invitation from Don
DeLoach, the president of the Magnificent
Mountain Men, Inc. (MMM), Colorado’s only
FF-exclusive club. Don provided a brief
history of the club that certainly bears sharing
with District IX.
“We have a rich history in Colorado dating
back to roughly 1950. At that time, we were
known as the Martin Model Masters because
most of the members were employees of
Martin Aircraft Co. in Denver.
“In 1967, the name was changed to
Magnificent Mountain Men. Immodest, yes,
but as the song says, it is hard to be humble.
Several of our members have represented the
United States on World Championships
teams. We have in our ranks many national
record holders and national champions and
have hosted at least five former world
champions at contests on our field. Two of
our members are members of the Free Flight
Hall of Fame and one is a member of the
Society of Antique Modelers Hall of Fame.
“Currently our club has approximately 40
members. We are unique in that our focus is
on flying instead of meetings and club
politics. We have unlimited access to 35-
square miles of treeless prairie just outside of
Denver, so we love to fly.
“We have eight monthly contests between
April and November, two major AAA meets
in July and August-September, and two
indoor contests in early and late winter. We
average an official flying event once a month,
but we only have a business meeting but once
a year! We just held this meeting in early
December 2004, and it was a great success.
In the back row are (L-R) Jerry Murphy, Art
Hillis, Chuck Etherington, Paul Andrade,
Pete McQuade. Kneeling is Don DeLoach.
The photo was taken at the MMM Monthly,
November 2002. The day was dead calm
with four inches of snow on the field when
we arrived. It warmed to 50 degrees and
wind never got above three mph all day!
Don DeLoach is launching Pearl Grande—a
FF power model—in August 2004. The
model weighs more than four pounds and
is powered by a Rossi .65. It placed second
at the 2004 Nats in Super D.
Ken Kullman (L) is holding an AMA 1/2A FF
model Nit Wit, and Jerry Murphy (R) holds a
Coupe F1G. Note the MMM field in the
background—35-square miles of open
prairie!
“We finalized our flying schedule for 2005
and set a date for our annual awards banquet
(January 29, 2005). Free Flight is alive and
well here on the front range of Colorado! We
are planning a special event for September 3-
5, 2005. It is the 40th anniversary of the
Rocky Mountain Free Flight Championships
(RMC), undoubtedly one of District IX’s
oldest meets.”
40 years is certainly worth celebrating! I
plan to attend and I encourage other District
IX clubs that have special events to celebrate,
to let me know so that I can share your good
news in this column.
That’s it for this month. Until then, fly safely
and most importantly, have fun! Keep in
touch.
Associate Vice Presidents
Max Hansen, 1909 Wisconsin SW, Huron SD
57350
H. Michael Harrington, 6112 Ashton Ct.,
Ft. Collins CO 80525
Fred Hildebrand, 4015 Somerset Circle, Casper
WY 82609-3161
Nathan Lancaster, 3597 S. Kendall Street, Denver
CO 80235
Troy Lapp, 3419 Heartwood Drive SE, Mandan ND
58554
Travis McGinnis, 8027 W. 81st Circle, Arvada CO
80005
Don Moden, 410 Hart St., Salina KS 67401
Jerry Tuttle, 15578 S Navaho Ct., Olathe KS
66062; E-mail: [email protected]; Tel.: (913)
254-0967
Frequency Coordinator
Steve Mangles, c/o Radio Service Center, 918 S.
Sheridan, Denver CO 80226
Webmaster
Jim Shaw, 7945 Newman St., Arvada CO 80005;
Tel.: (303) 421-1738; E-mail:
[email protected]
Colorado/Kansas/
Nebraska/North Dakota/
South Dakota/Wyoming
Mark T. Smith
Vice President
14632 W. 50th St.
Shawnee KS 66216
Tel.: (913) 568-4347
E-mail:
[email protected]
District IX Web site:
www.amadistrict-ix.org
District IX Report
Edition: Model Aviation - 2005/03
Page Numbers: 160