District V Report - 2003/09

166
SEVERAL CLUBS are honored this month
as our Club of the Month. The AMAC,
Airmasters Model Airplane Club, formerly
the Albany Model Airplane Club, was begun
before World War II. It is one of the oldest
clubs in America. AMAC sponsored a big flyin
on its Lee County field. I was there all day.
Pictured above are Charlie Smith (L); then
Mike Savery, president; Mary Savery, vice
president; Charlie Phillips, secretary and
treasurer; Mike Elam, member.
Harold Mahoney (L) and William Clark are
shown above. William is the Public Works
Director for the Lee County Land. He lives
in Albany. The plane is a 35% Edge 540 with
a 105-inch wingspan.
The few square inches on this page cannot
permit a description of this fine AMAC club.
The District V Web page, www.modelair.org,
has 25 pictures of this AMAC fly-in. The
AMAC is one of our Clubs of the Month.
I attended the Columbus/Ft. Benning RC
Flyers Spring Fly-In at its Ft. Mitchell field.
As always, the club had a huge turnout of
fliers and spectators.
Pictured above is contest director (CD)
Chris Joiner on the left. Chris is a
prominent leader and promoter in his area.
Next is Rick Conklee, club treasurer; Albert
Mock, vice president; Earl Williams, club
secretary; Art Miller, president.
I only have room for one more picture for
the Columbus/ Ft Benning bash. I like people
better than models so here we are.
This snap above describes perfectly what
our hobby is all about when not flying,
sitting around watching the action,
watching others fly, enjoying the festivities,
and enjoying the day. Here are Mike Murry;
Glenn Manning; club president Art Miller in
the background; Mickey Ward; Stan Grett;
Justin McNeal; Mike Brown; Josh McNeal;
Chris Brown.
This fine organization is a Club of the
Month. The District V Web site,
www.modelair.org, has 20 pictures of this
affair.
Have you ever heard of a Spad airplane?
What about a Spadfest? I never heard of any
such thing until I went to Memphis,
Tennessee, on May 17. The Millington
Barnstormers RC Club held a Spads over
Memphis affair.
Spad means Simple Plastic Airplane
Design. All the airplanes I saw were
handmade by the fliers for $6-8 per airplane,
less the engine and radio rig. All of the
fuselages were made of plastic gutter pipe.
The wings are of a corrugated plastic called
Coroplast, similar to plastic cardboard.
Pictured above is a 96-inch span aircraft. It
weighs 15 pounds. The wing made of a
plastic corrugated substance; the fuselage
is one long plastic gutter. Louis Rankin (R)
built it and Jeffrey Agoes flies it.
The field was swarming with fliers from
Tennessee, Kansas, Alabama, Texas, Georgia,
and Louisiana. All had $7 airplanes and all
were flying perfectly.
Pictured above, (lower L) Dean Tuinstra
from Wichita, Kansas; Bobby Young from
Memphis, Tennessee; club president Cliff
McNabb; Charlie Pierce, Bartley,
Tennessee; and Collin McGinnis.
There are 20 pictures of these fine fliers on
the District Web site. The Millington
Barnstormers is another Clubof the Month.
The Knox County RC Society (KCRC)
held its annual Senior Pattern Association
(SPA) contest in Knoxville, Tennessee. The
SPA flies Pattern but in a somewhat more
relaxed mode than the National Society of
Radio Controlled Aerobatics (NSRCA)
style.
The KCRC club officials posed to allow
me to take this snap. (L-R) Past president
Ben Oliver; Joel Hebert, club treasurer
and scorekeeper/bookkeeper for the SPA
blast (Joel worked tirelessly the entire day
that I was there. KCRC is lucky to have
him.); club secretary Mike Foley; vice
president Phil Cope; club webmaster Ed
Hartley in the background; Mike’s son
Jordan Foley, club sergeant at arms; CD
Johnny Pritchett; club president Jerel
Zarestky; Jim Scarborough, newsletter
editor.
I must pay homage to CD Johnny
Pritchett. Good contest director!
The KCRC is a Club of the Month.
Twenty pictures of the KCRC blast are on
the district’s Web site.
Clubs honored as Club of the Month will
receive cloth patches for all the members, a
framed plaque signed by AMA’s Executive
Vice President Doug Holland and me, and
we are working on a 12 x 18-inch flag that
clubs can fly at their field.
I attended the Fayette Flyers’ King Peach
Electric Championships in Fayette County,
Georgia. The models were big, electricpowered
gliders. Not too many showed up
because of inclement weather day before.
Here is one of the best pictures I ever
took. This scene has everybody in it who
showed up at the King Peach Electric
Championships. (L to R) Andy Anderson,
Mike McGowan, Randy Hawkins, Tommy
Vinci, Dave Mason, Doc Comiskey, Ernie
Schlumberger and his pretty wife Clare,
Jimmy McClenny, Gene Crow hiding in the
rear, Rick Vaughn, and three generations
of Elmores: Carl, Lowell, and Scott. There
are 12 pictures on the Web site.
District V Report
Alabama / Florida / Georgia /
Mississippi / Puerto Rico /
South Carolina / Tennessee
Jim McNeill
Vice President
617 South 20 Avenue,
Birmingham AL 35205
Tel.: (205) 322-2127
Fax: (205) 252-2654
E-mail: [email protected]
District V Web page:
www.modelair.org/